Waitrose never quite hit the heights of big brother John Lewis at Christmas – trying to combine the two was never a good idea – so kudos to Saatchi & Saatchi (which now handles both, was adam&eveDDB) for essaying something different.
A Christmas crime mystery as someone’s nicked the Christmas dessert (No.1 obs.) with Slow Horses actor Dustin Demri-Burns leading the investigation. Lots of other (fairly) well-known thesps too. All will be revealed, presumably, in the follow-up before Christmas.
Saatchi CCO Franki Goodwin says: “When an idea is so good and the brand is so loved that actors we’re not typically used to seeing in ads show up and steal the scenes – and the pudding – you know you’ve got a Christmas treat on your hands.
“We talk about culture a lot in this industry, but this campaign bridges the gap between Christmas advertising and big audience entertainment. This is an entirely new direction for Waitrose at Christmas, one that we believe a brand as celebrated by British food lovers can only achieve.”
Will audiences recognise all the actors from the new world of streaming? Good way of highlighting the (missing) product.
Lots riding on the follow-up but A for effort.
MAA creative scale: 7.5.
