Lidl and TBWA Put Pre-Conceptions About Their Wine to the Test in Latest ‘Lidl Surprises’ Ad

Lidl and TBWA\London launch the latest commercial in the ‘Lidl Surprises’ campaign. The most recent ad takes us to the South West of France to explore the stunningly crafted origins of the grapes in Lidl’s St Emilion Grand Cru wine. 

Wine enthusiast, Jojo, is invited to a Saint Emilion vineyard to dispel her doubts on the quality of Lidl’s signature red. Greeted by Christian, a winemaker and supplier of the grapes used in the St Emilion Grand Cru, Jojo is led on a candid tour of the vineyard. The pair spend the day harvesting the perfect variety of grapes and Jojo’s scepticism is quickly banished after touring the site and observing Christian’s expertise and meticulous inspection of his harvest.  

The spot is the eighth in the series of the ‘Lidl Surprises’ campaign where the value supermarket is debunking consumer apprehension by challenging social media sceptics. The campaign has seen them invite a variety of people to experience the provenance of its produce first hand. 

For the latest shoot, Lidl, TBWA\London and Rogue Films partnered with French production services company, Jake Productions to provide local technical support and expertise on shooting in the vineyard. Specialists in shoot locations in France, Jake Productions are fresh from servicing ‘Dunkirk’ and Sky Atlantic series ‘Rivieria’. 

Whilst the picking locations were loosely predetermined, organising the shoot in line with the vineyard’s real-time harvest was no mean feat, as Xavier Wakefield, Producer at Jake Productions, explains: “During the picking scenes, the grapes had to be rushed back to the vinification laboratories within two hours. The French winter had been harsh so, naturally, our need to shoot a TV commercial was second to the winemakers’ need to harvest their surviving grapes,” says Xavier. “It was a military-like joint operation between cast, crew and suppliers that made the project successful. As it turned out, the very grapes featured in our picking scenes were the absolute best of all the 2017 crops!”

Rogue Films has worked on the long-running campaign since its inception. On collaborating on the project, Maddy Easton, Producer at Rogue Films, says “Jake Productions offered logistic and financial solutions with strong production skills to handle the complex logistics of this shoot. They had great attention to detail. They overdelivered and were great fun. I’d work with them again in an instant.”