CHI & Partners Enlist Technicolour Yetis for Festive Argos Campaign

Argos has turned to speed, adrenaline and excitement for its 2016 Christmas advertising campaign, following last year’s extreme snowboarding ‘Just Can’t Wait for Christmas’ spot. This evening, the retailer will unveil another high-octane spectacular – this time featuring five eight-foot tall, neon yetis, hurtling through the streets of a snowy town on ice-skates to deliver Christmas goods at extraordinary speed.

Created by CHI&Partners and directed by Henry Scholfield through Caviar, the 60” ‘Christmas Yetis’ advert is a whirlwind of excitement, energy and colour, reflecting the market-leading speed of Argos’ Fast Track Same Day delivery service and 60-second in-store collection promise. Set against an exclusive adaptation by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra of Danny Elfman’s “What’s This?”, the spot creates a palpable sense of excitement and anticipation.

It was shot in camera on a purpose-built skating track in the picturesque centre of Warsaw, and stars five semi-professional ice skaters – with more than a century’s experience collectively – as the yetis. Based on the folklore that yetis move twice as fast as the average human, the Argos yetis leap and carve round corners like lightning on their skates – collecting, playing with and delivering Argos’ top products as they go, from Beats headphones, Virtual Reality headsets and Dyson vacuum cleaners to Fitbit, GoPro and Furby products.

The yetis are led by Peter Hallam (in orange), twice British Figure Skating Champion and holder of five international Gold medals as well as two silver medals at the Senior British Figure Skating Championships. The remaining blue, pink, green and purple yetis are played by George Southall (in blue), who is recognised as one of the best amateur freestyle skaters in the UK; professional Adrian Jack (in pink), a principal in Disney on Ice; and professional ice hockey players Brad Slade (in green) and Kevin McGlynn (in purple).

The campaign will break on TV today, and will be supported by print, video-on-demand and paid digital through Mindshare. AllTogetherNow, CHI&Partners’ sister agency within The&Partnership, will be creating a supporting social content campaign featuring the yetis, including a ‘Yeti Unboxing’ series on YouTube – with the yetis doing the unboxing – following the award-winning success of its ‘Toy Unboxing’ series for the retailer last year. It has also been hinted that the yetis may be making public appearances as part of a consumer PR campaign from W Communications.

Stephen Vowles, marketing director at Argos, said: “What we love about this fun, fast-paced campaign is that it beautifully captures the spirit of excitement and anticipation surrounding Christmas. Fun loving and friendly, these larger-than-life, speeding yetis colourfully bring to life the role that Argos hopes to play in the Christmases of families nationwide this Christmas – and the skill, speed and precision that make us market leaders, with our super-speedy, same day Fast Track Delivery and Fast Track Collection services.”

Jim Bolton, deputy executive creative director at CHI&Partners, said: “This campaign brings out the excited Christmas-Eve kid in all of us who just can’t get to sleep, they’re so eager for the big day to arrive. We hope our loveable yetis bring excitement to thousands of British households this Christmas – reminding us of the joyous, fun-filled experience the festive season should be.”

The campaign follows Argos’ 2015 spot ‘Just Can’t Wait for Christmas’, in which skiing and snowboarding champions showcased their speed and skill on a mountainside in Chile’s Valle Nevado.