Becci Nadin, deputy creative director at TBWA\MCR.
Levi’s
I came across a quote this week: “Peaceful hands make the worrier an enemy to himself.” And it resonated. So, the thought of how many occupied hands it took to create, craft, and painstakingly stitch together fills me with Christmas joy. Stick that in your AI stocking and let’s all celebrate with a Baileys. Maybe we can believe after all. The track? Love it. The peril? Yes please. Someone once told me Levi’s jeans were the most ill-fitting jeans they’d ever tried on. Since then, they conjure up stiff, crispy, uncomfortable denim to me. (Unpopular opinion btw)… so, this change of strategy was welcome. On a scale of 1 to fuzzy it left me in ‘Tiny Tim makes it home for Christmas’ territory.
As for other emerging Christmas trends, I’ve not seen my standout yet. I didn’t hate the irony of Debenhams’ ‘Some places just pull you back in.’ John Lewis resonated as a mum of two, soon to be three young kids. With Argos I was that little girl circling her list, and now I’m the chief organiser of magic in our house. But alas, no Sainsbury’s ‘plug socket in the nativity’ highlight just yet. My favourite trend is purely the fact that Christmas ads are still the industry’s Super Bowl moment, with a lot of hardworking agencies, clients and production companies doing exactly what they do best.
Amy China Wire, VP of Teads Studio UK
The Let’s Get Fuzzy campaign from Levi’s is a creative masterpiece – a truly brilliant example of the intricate craftsmanship that goes into great storytelling.
Gus the Fuzzyeti is a clever way to showcase the Levi’s winter collection of knitwear and is guaranteed to capture attention in the cluttered festive advertising period.
Some of the vey best festive campaigns this year are animated, from Barbour’s film featuring Wallace & Gromit, to Aldi’s much-loved Kevin the Carrot. Christmas hones in on nostalgia and that sense of magic, and there is something special about traditional animation that brings those feelings to life. I’d love to see Gus make a return next year for more adventures.
With AI-generated content becoming more popular, it’s interesting to see brands lean more into traditional creative techniques. Nostalgia and emotional associations are difficult to replicate through AI. But that doesn’t mean AI has no place in advertising. It can be a fantastic tool for enhancing creative assets and bringing ideas to life across different platforms. Ensuring that there is originality and a strong emotional connection is what really makes a campaign memora
