Christmas is the time of the year we celebrate love and togetherness; the time we want to be close to family and friends. However, it's a little difficult for Henry Hedgehog, the hero of the Erste Group Christmas campaign because all the other animals in his class are afraid of his sharp quills. But, thankfully his friend, a squirrel, comes up with an ingenious solution which she presents to him on Christmas Day.

Brief:

The aim of the Erste Group’s 'First Christmas' campaign is, to encourage people to believe in their dreams whilst having a reliable partner on their side who believes in them too. The initial thought was that an instrumental piece would be best suited to help tell the story to bring a warm feeling to the viewer, to show that even when it seems the world is against you, love and friendship will prevail. 

Solution:

Five instrumental musical options were presented and one-off brief vocal idea, working to black & white WIP structure of the animation. One instrumental option was chosen for progression but as the film started to develop, the vocal idea was re-visited with a few lyric suggestions from the creative team and the track was re-worked and then finalised between music production studio, composer and the creative agency.

"Rain To Snow" Lyrics:

So this life has given

Everyone a present

Beautiful shiny and new

Everyone but you

Golden ribbons, diamonds

Line everyone’s path that

Lead to wide open doors

Everyone’s but yours

Wide open doors

Hold on

Keep on

Even when the road seems very long

Ooo Ooo Ooo

Open your eyes

Even if it’s cold now

There’s one thing you should know

Rain will turn into snow

All the rain turns to snow

The Singer: Alee Kinder

Alee is a 23 year old indie pop singer from London who Mike had worked with before. The song was written with her soft voice in mind.

Relevance:

The simple lyrics follow Henry’s on screen story, explaining that sometimes in life you don’t always have what you want, but there will be a way…through friendship, love and patience. 

Results:

After only 21 days the viral campaign reached 500 million media impressions and 150 million views. Not only in Austria, but also in the other Erste Group countries, Croatia, Romania, Serbia and Hungary. From there it went and won the hearts all over the world. Henry’s Christmas story was posted on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, where over 5 million shares, likes and comments helped spread the word about Erste Group and their campaign First Christmas #believeinyourself.

The client later commissioned Mcasso to develop a 3 minute song after the positive response to the music online. The track was extended and released on Spotify, Apple Music etc. in time for Christmas, gaining 120,000 streams in its first week of release. 

The client’s only brief the Agency was three words… “Make us cry”