Thinkbox
Waitrose short “The perfect gift”, starring Keira Knightley and Joe Wilkinson as an unlikely pairing after romance blossoms at the cheese counter, is the November/December winner of the Thinkboxes award for TV advertising creativity.
Leaning into Love Actually vibes, the four-minute film shows good food and love are for everyone. “The thinking was about us entertaining and inspiring,” says Waitrose’s chief customer officer Nathan Ansell – the same logic as last year’s Christmas whodunnit “Sweet suspicion”, which won the Thinkboxes award 12 months ago. “Good marketing should entertain and inspire as opposed to interrupt.”
The starting point for the idea was Waitrose’s new platform, “The home of food lovers”. The challenge was to represent how such an exacting consumer feels about food during the festive period.
“We knew early on we wanted to create a romcom with food at the heart of it. To truly captivate Britain’s collective hearts, we had to go with a genre that is one of our most enduring loves,” says Stacey Bird, Wonderhood Studios’ executive creative director.
“It also helps that the genre is no stranger to having food playing a starring role – Bridget’s blue soup, Keira’s banoffee pie, Sally’s pastrami sandwich, to name but a few. So, once we knew our genre, it was all about writing the best story to bring it to life.”
Read the full article on Campaign.co.uk.
Waitrose and Partners: “The perfect gift”
- Agency: Wonderhood Studios
- Creative team: Jennifer Ashton; Oliver Short; Jack Croft; Stacey Bird; Aidan McClure
- Client: Alia Ahmad, senior advertising manager
- Production company: Biscuit Filmworks Director: Molly Manners
John Lewis: “Where love lives”
- Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi
- Creative team: Franki Goodwin; Will John; Pete Ioulianou; Ollie Agius
- Client: Amy Tippen-Smith, brand marketing lead
- Production company: Iconoclast
- Director: Jonathan Alric
Tesco: That’s what makes it Christmas”
- Agency: BBH London
- Creative team: Ash Hamilton; Sara Sutherland; Matthew Chong; Simon Finn
- Client: Alicia Southgate, head of marketing
- Production company: Biscuit Filmworks
- Director: Jeff Low
Save the Children: “The one delivery that matters”
- Agency: Ace of Hearts
- Creative team: Richard Brim; Dalatando Evans de Almeida; Mike Hughes
- Client: Kate Hewitt, director of brand
- Production company: Biscuit Filmworks
- Director: Dan DiFelice
Sainsbury’s: “The unexpected guest”
- Agency: New Commercial Arts
- Creative team: Ian Heartfield; Dan Seager; Steve Hall; Dan Bailey; Brad Woolf
- Client: Holly Tavana, food campaign manager
- Production company: Rogue Films
- Director: Sam Brown
EE: “The Christmas double”
- Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi
- Creative team: Samuel Simmonds; George Coyle; Will John; Ben Mooge
- Client: Niamh O’Connor, brand campaign manager
- Production company: Magna Studios
- Director: Phoebe Arnstein