British Royal Mint Commissions £12,000 Christmas Pudding

Royal Mint Commissions £12,000 Christmas Pudding

Putting a silver coin into the Christmas pudding is a long standing tradition amongst British families. The coin is thought to bring good luck and wealth for the following year to the person who finds it. That luck would begin with not choking on the coin while enjoying the dessert.

This year the British Royal Mint has commissioned actress, writer and now cake-entrepreneur Jane Asher (yes, the same Jane Asher who was engaged to Paul McCartney in the 1960s) to create an extravagant and regal Christmas pudding, based on a 200 year old secret family recipe containing festive spices, dried fruits and blanched almonds.

The most expensive ingredient in the dessert is 35 rare silver and coins, including five 2013 uncirculated £5 Sovereign Gold coins each worth £1,900 and thirty Silver Sixpences.

[via PSFK]

UK

London Creative Shop Designs Wrapping Paper Inspired by Cold & Flu Viruses

WCRS Wrap-up Project

With cases of homelessness in the UK increasing by 31% in the last two years, London creative agency WCRS looks to raise awareness of the issue with The Wrap-Up Project.

With the onset of winter, people living on the street become even more vulnerable to sickness. With that in mind, the agency has created a series of colourful Christmas wrapping papers which feature graphical representations of the viruses for the common cold, influenza and pneumonia as snowflakes.

The papers are available on ebay in packs of 3 (£8), 5 (£12.50) or 10 (£24), with all proceeds supporting the work of London charity St Mungo’s, which helps people transition to a new life off the streets.

[via Design Taxi]

UK

Budweiser UK Launches Knitbot, a Twitter-Powered Sweater Knitting Machine

Budweiser Knitbot

It looks like this year big brands have discovered the lowly holiday sweater, and have made it a part of their marketing campaigns leading up to Christmas. First out was Coke Zero’s Sweater Generator contest, where fans could create a mockup of a holiday sweater using the online tool. The 100 sweaters with the most votes will be produced and awarded to their creators just in time for the holidays.

Budweiser UK has launched a seasonal sweater-themed promotion in support of designated drivers. The brand is using Knitbot, a Twitter-powered knitting machine that responds to tweets that include the hashtag #jumpers4des.

The Knitbot will work around-the-clock for 10 days (November 26 to December 10) creating the red sweaters that include images of the Budweiser’s iconic Clydesdale horses. On December 11, designated drivers in the UK can apply on the Budweiser UK Facebook page for a chance to win one of the creations.

[via PopSop]

UK

Coke Zero’s Ugly Holiday Sweater Generator Will Leave You in Stitches

Coke Zero - Ugly Sweater Generator

The ugly Christmas sweater has become as much a part of the modern holiday season as secret Santas, awkward office party passes and those reindeer antlers that people put on their cars.

What started as an ironic statement about ’80s holiday fashion has since gone mainstream now with dozens of online sites and trendy boutiques offering up the best of the worst ugly holiday sweaters.

Coca-Cola and it’s agency Droga5 have jumped all over the trend and have launched the Coke Zero Sweater Generator. Customize your sweater by choosing the color, patterns and decorative elements.

Whether you decorate your sweater with porpoises, snow cobras, dinosaurs or roasted turkeys, you’ll want to share your creation with your friends. The top 100 vote getters by December 1 will actually have their sweater produced just in time for the holidays.

[via Ad Age]

USA

BMW Switzerland Recruits Backseat Singers to Create the World’s Fastest Christmas Song

BMW Switzerland - Fastest Christmas Carol

So, just how do you create the world’s fastest Christmas Song?

BMW Switzerland and their agency Draftfcb, Zurich first recruited a group the brave singers of Zurich A Cappella, and suited them with safety gear and strapped them into a new BMW M135i. Then set them loose on the Circuit de l’Anneau du Rhin with Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters pro driver Martin Tomczyk at the wheel.

Between squealing tires and screaming passengers the group did manage to get through a few verses of Jingle Bells before their adventure was over.

Not satisfied withe simply terrorizing vocalists, BMW Switzerland recruited illustrator, Gavin Patterson to create artwork for the ‘World’s Fastest Christmas Card‘ while riding shotgun with BMW precision driver Urs Inauen. The resulting art required labels to help identify Santa and his presents among the marker scribbles.

World’s Fastest Christmas Song

World’s Fastest Christmas Card

[via Ads of the World]

Switzerland

Brazilian Telecom Company Connects Kids to Santa with a Magical Payphone

Oi Magical Payphone

I still do a ‘double-take’ when I notice a payphone on the street. It seems almost inconceivable (and yes, I said that like Vizzini in ‘The Princess Bride’) that this used to be the only way we had to get in touch with someone when we were out-and-about.

Brazilian telecom provider ttp://www.oi.com.br” title=”Oi” target=”_blank”>Oi, and their agency NBS created a Magical Payphone with a direct connection to Santa at the North Pole. Actually, Santa was played by two actors from Retiro dos Artistas (an institution that takes care of retired artists), who could watch the children’s reactions via a remote camera

But chatting with Saint Nick was only the start of the fun for these kids. As they spoke with Santa, lost elves wandered by, and gifts seemed to appear out of nowhere (thanks to sneaky members of the production crew). But there was more, Santa asked the kids to find the star on the pay phone, once pressed it triggered a 3D projection, snowflakes and a Christmas choir.

[via Ads of the World]

Brazil

“Same Dress” Drama Erupts Into an Epic Laser Battle in Harvey Nichols Holiday Ad

Harvey Nichols - Same Dress

Harvey Nichols is not afraid of courting controversy in their advertising campaigns, as evidenced by last year’s Christmas ad ‘Walk of Shame‘.

While this year’s Christmas ad seems less controversial, it’s may still seem very familiar to any woman who’s spent considerable efforts searching for, and selecting, what she thought was that special, unique dress, only to come face-to-face with someone (assuming a woman) wearing the exact same thing.

While I don’t dare speak for all guys, if I spot another dude wearing the same or similar thing at a party, it simply validates that I may have made a good fashion decision.

But, Harvey Nichols’ Christmas ad shows that only way to truly resolve this awkward holiday party situation is to stage an epic laser battle. Even the chihuahua gets pulled into the laser-battle action.

The ad was created by the London offices of Adam & Eve/DDB.

UK

Season’s Beatings: CP+B Staff Stare Down Snowball Cannon for Make-a-Wish Foundation

Crispin Porter + Bogusky's Nutcracker 5000 Snowball Cannon Raises Funds for Make-a-Wish FoundationContraptions controlled remotely by internet users were one of the trends seen among agency promotions this holiday season. Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam hosted a series of virtual holiday dinners using monitors attached to robotic dolls; Chicago’s DesignKitchen created the Arduino-powered Holi-Cray-Matic which triggered a snow machine or twinkling lights in the company’s conference room for every 40 tweets that used the #holicray hashtag; while the LA office of Saatchi & Saatchi hosted Nog Pong, where visitors could try to dunk a ping pong ball into a red cup using a robotic arm.

Earlier this afternoon a few of the folks over at the Boulder office of Crispin Porter + Bogusky served themselves up as snowball cannon fodder to raise finds for the Make-a-Wish Foundation.

The brave staff members threw caution to the wind and positioned themselves in front of the compressed-air powered snowball cannon, dubbed the Nutcracker 5000. Visitors from around the world queued up over the four hours to take their turn and control of the cannon, while others tuned in to watch the live feed.

Once the snowballs stopped flying, the agency had raised 15,000 for the Make-a-Wish Foundation.

Skittles Invites Visitors to ‘Gif Rap the Rainbow’ for the Holidays

Skittle Gif Rap the RainbowWith Christmas quickly creeping up on us, Skittles is here to add it’s usual weird and colourful spin on holiday greetings.

The Skittles ‘Gif Rap the Rainbow‘ website lets visitors create a holiday greeting for their family and friends by combining animated GIFs with a backing track. Back tracks with whimsically titles such as ‘Make it Reindeer’, ‘Holly Atcha Boy’, ‘I Saw Mommy Dissin’ Santa Claus’, and ‘Yo Yo Yo’.

The Skittles campaign comes from the creative folks at BBDO Canada with design and development help from Scott Hiers, Pixelpusher, Fatbox, Apollo, Lunch and Family Style.

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Toledo Agency Creates ‘Guess the Wrapped Gift’ Game for the Holidays

Hart: 12 Days of ChristmasToledo-area ad agency Hart Associates has launched a game of ‘guess the wrapped gift’ on their web site.

Each week day morning at 10 am for 12 days leading up to Christmas, photos of a mysteriously wrapped gift will appear on the agency’s web site. The person who can correctly identify what’s inside the wrapping can win it. If no one has guessed correctly by 1pm, the agency will begin posting clues each hour.

The agency states that for those who would rather not accept the gift, they will gladly donate it to a local charity in the winner’s name. So far they’ve given away an Ugly Doll, Silly Putty and the Logo Board Game.

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