“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

Morrisons’ Christmas Ad Highlights the Hassles of the Holiday Season

Morrisons 2012 Christmas Ad

UK supermarket chain Morrisons has sparked controversy by taking their 2012 Christmas ad in a unusual direction, highlighting the hard work and hassles that come with the holiday season. From decorating the house, to watching the needles drop from the tress, or (literally) wrestling with the turkey.

The reviews on Morrisons’ Facebook are mixed, with some fans appreciating the dark humour of the ad, while others commented that they found it depressing or sexist.

The ad was created by agency DLKW Lowe and directed by Si & Ad of Academy.

[via Ad Age]

UK

John Lewis’ Christmas Ad Follows Snowman on Epic Shopping Journey

John Lewis Christmas Ad - The Journey

UK department store chain John Lewis is out of the gate early with their 2012 Christmas ad. The ad follows the quest of a snowman who one morning mysteriously disappears, leaving the snow-woman behind as he heads off on an epic (but very slow) journey over mountains, through flocks of sheep, across streams, over highways and past raucous gangs of snowball-throwing . The special purpose behind the quest is finally revealed upon his return on Christmas morning.

This year’s ad features a remake of Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s classic ‘The Power of Love’ by English singer-songwriter, Gabrielle Aplin. John Lewis ads from past Christmas’ since 2008 have featured versions of other classic songs, including Slow Moving Millie’s (Amelia Warner) rendition of The Smiths “Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want” in 2011, Ellie Goulding version of Elton John’s “Your Song” in 2009 (which went on to reach #2 on the UK singles chart), 2009 saw Taken By Trees record Guns n’ Roses’ “Sweet Child O’Mine“, and in 2008 Matt Spinner performed the Beatles’ “From Me to You“.

‘The Journey’ was created by adamandeveddb.

UK

Coca-Cola Plays Santa to Bogota Cabbies on Christmas Eve

Coca-Cola Plays Santa to Bogota Cabbies on Christmas EveI’ve never had to do it, but I can imagine that working Christmas Eve has to be high on the list of things that suck. However, for a few lucky cab drivers in Bogota a long evening of ferrying passengers around the city took a turn for the better.

Coca-Cola Colombia had the cabbies pickup and deliver Santa Claus to a very special destination; to their own homes. There they were met by their excited families (and a few Coca-Cola elves) for a special Christmas Eve party.

While the cab drivers got to spend the rest of Christmas Eve with their families, Santa took over their cab for the rest of their shift.

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.

Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam Hosts Awkward Virtual Holiday Dinners via Skype

Weiden + Kennedy Virtual Holiday PartyThe folks at the Amsterdam offices of ad agency Wieden + Kennedy have taken the experience of the awkward holiday dinner to a whole new level thanks to technology.

They’ve created a Virtual Holiday Dinner Party by attaching small flat screen monitors to the top of five robotic life-size dolls dolls seated around an elaborate holiday table setting. People from around the world attend the virtual dinner party as guests via Skype with their face appearing on the screens mounted on top each doll. Facial-tracking software follows your face and rotating the doll’s body and the guest’s view of the party.

This is the second year that the agency has hosted the Virtual Holiday Dinner, and spaces can be reserved for one of the 20 half-hour sessions happening on Dec 15, 16 and 19.

To liven up the conversation, guests can choose from one of three dinner conversation themes that come complete with on-screen scripts. ‘The Business as Usual Dinner’ puts the guests in the middle of an agency client holiday sit down (oh, the hilarious awkwardness), while ‘The Resolutions Dinner’ features a series disturbing resolutions for the new year, and ‘The Overly Friendly Holiday Dinner’ will surely have you wishing for the holidays to be over as soon as possible.

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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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Canadian Tire Lights Up Toronto’s Union Station With Christmas Spirit Tree

Canadian Tire - Christmas Spirit TreeBefore the days of WalMart, Home Depot and other big box stores most of us watched our parents buy strands of Christmas lights from Canadian Tire to gracefully outline the silhouettes of our houses. Times have changed, but Canadian Tire is still there to supply us with illuminated Christmas spirit; and in 2011 the iconic Canadian brand is helping to light up the Grand Hall of Toronto’s Union Station thanks to the power of mobile and social media.

The Canadian Tire Christmas Spirit Tree is a state-of-the-art 30 foot tall installation consisting of 3000 LED lights powered by the positive messages of Christmas spirit being exchanged on Facebook, Twitter and posts to ChristmasSpiritTree.ca. The white lights represent social networks like Facebook and Twitter, red lights represent posts on blogs and forums, green lights represent news articles and blue lights represent the messages posted at the ChristmasTreeSpirit.ca website.

But apparently it’s even cooler than that. Our favorite (we use it at Delvinia) social media monitoring platform, Sysomos, is used to track a number of holiday keywords including “reindeer” and “elf”. The light bulbs then react to the data, shining brighter or dimmer according to the sentiment of the messages.

The Canadian Tire Christmas Spirit Tree is on display in-person at Toronto’s Union Station and on a live video stream at ChristmasTreeSpirit.ca from December 12-26 from 6am to midnight. There are floor mat ads and column advertising in the lower GO concourse directing commuters upstairs to the Grand Hall to view the tree in person.

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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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Swedish Retailer Has Customers Suffering for Savings with Xmas Carol Torture Challenge

Pause Xmas Carol TortureI’ve never worked in retail, so I can’t imagine how people that work in stores keep it together from listening to Christmas carols played over and over and over again during the holiday season.

Swedish electronics retailer Pause and Geneva Sound Systems is putting their customers to that very challenge. Visit the X-Mas Carol Torture site and start listening to the cheery sounds of Jingle Bells on permanent repeat. The longer you can listen the more you can save (up to 25%) on purchases at the store. To keep you from simply walking away or stuffing cotton into your ears while you listen, you must click on Santa Claus when he randomly says his Ho Ho Ho’s. My personal best is a paltry 3:09. The discount will be sent to your email or directly to your mobile phone.

The visitors who can manage to listen for the longest are eligible to win one of three Geneva sound systems. But that won’t be easy, the top contender as of today somehow managed to listen for an incredible 2 hours, 32 minutes and 16 seconds.

But things could be worse though, at least they are not streaming Justin Bieber’s ‘Under the Mistletoe’.

The site was created by Stockholm agency Åkestam Holst.

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