What's that expression people use for when the cat's away? In this case, it's Santa who exits, leaving his elves to mind the home front as he departs to distribute their year's labors.
And off-duty elves can party! The work, set to Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida Loca," was created by Leo Burnett for travel and leisure company Tui. In it, you'll find Elf on a Shelf-type dolls setting off for a sun-soaked holiday jaunt the minute Santa's reindeer hit altitude. Digital Signage Display
There's something creepy about dolls with mostly inanimate faces getting into hijinks, but the minute-long spot quickly invests us in the fun. There's a zeal here of shaking off the well-mannered employee shtick and cutting loose with peers. Two elves find love (or at least a memorable hookup), and there's a moment of pure glee when one ignores Santa's check-in call.
“Shaking up the yearly offering of Christmas clichés, our first Christmas campaign celebrates the feeling of downing tools and soaking up some much needed ‘me-time’," says Sara Ali, director of brand and content at Tui U.K. and Ireland. "We are always looking for different ways to engage with our audience as part of our 'Live Happy' promise, so we're very excited to spread some festive cheer this year."
Ten custom puppet elves were created by London-based model-maker Andy Gent from Arch Model Studio. His bonafides include Wes Anderson works like Isle of Dogs, Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Grand Budapest Hotel, plus Tim Burton's The Corpse Bride.
Directed by Alex Boutell of Rogue, Tui's Christmas ad went live yesterday on Channel 4 in the U.K., during The Great British Bake Off finale and I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here! To support it, elves-gone-wild will take over Tui's social channels, sharing "Elfies" of their adventures. A sweepstakes will see 12 people win a Tui getaway, and an "Elfie AR filter" will rock Instagram and Facebook.
“We all know how hard Santa works, but what about all his little helpers? Surely they deserve a well-earned Tui holiday for all their efforts!" says chief creative officer Chaka Sobhani at Leo Burnett U.K. and global. "As we enter the cold winter months, we hope this campaign gives us something to look forward to and plan for the summer.”
Ah, summer. We've already forgotten that was a thing.
ADVERTISING AGENCY: Leo Burnett CCO: Chaka Sobhani EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Mark Elwood CREATIVE DIRECTORS: Rob Tenconi, Mark Franklin COPYWRITER: Matt Wood ART DIRECTOR: Tom Loveless PLANNERS: Aileen Baker, Beth MacKenzie BUSINESS LEAD: Lauren Martin ACCOUNT TEAM: Robert Ellen, Daisy Jackson, Libby Matthews, Selen Demirel, Ruben Forde CHIEF PRODUCTION OFFICER: Emily Marr AGENCY PRODUCER: Dominique Strouthos MEDIA BUYING AGENCY: Essence Mediacom MEDIA PLANNER: Mehr Chughtai PRODUCTION COMPANY: Rogue DIRECTOR: Alex Boutell
EDITOR: Leo King - Stitch Editing PRODUCER: Tom Farley POST-PRODUCTION COMPANY: Black Kite Studios AUDIO POST-PRODUCTION COMPANY: Wave Studios MODEL MAKER: Arch Model Studio PHOTOGRAPHER: Rob Tenconi
TUI: GLOBAL BRAND AND CONTENT DIRECTOR: Toby Horry DIRECTOR OF BRAND AND CONTENT UK&I: Sara Ali HEAD OF GLOBAL ADVERTISING/MEDIA: Felicity Walker GLOBAL HEAD OF CREATIVE/BRAND ID: Christian Torres SENIOR GLOBAL ADVERTISING/MEDIA MANAGER: Jennifer Litherland GLOBAL ADVERTISING MANAGER: Jessica Briggs
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