CHI & Partners and Independent’s Gary Freedman launch ‘Ready For Take Off’ for the UK retailer
UK retailer Argos launches its 2017 Christmas advertising campaign, breaking last night with high profile spots during ITV’s Emmerdale and Channel 4’s Gogglebox.
The 60-second ad, created by CHI & Partners and directed by Independent’s Gary Freedman, transports viewers to a magical Argos distribution centre where a troupe of Argos elves help Santa to deliver gifts across the country at record speed on bright red super-sleighs.
In a Christmas advertising first, three children will also have the opportunity to feature in the ad themselves. From Tuesday 7 November, parents can visit Argos’s Facebook and Twitter channels to submit an image of their child using the hashtag #ReadyForTakeOff. Three winners will be selected and will appear on national TV in the Argos csampaign for a whole day each on Friday 10, Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 November.
What’s more, everyone will get a chance to see their child’s face in a personalised social media version of the advert which they can share with loved ones. Again, they simply need to upload their child’s photo on the Argos Facebook or Twitter sites and include the hashtag #ReadyForTakeOff.
Gary Kibble, Marketing Director at Argos, says: “We love this edge-of-your-seat, high-energy Christmas campaign, which aims to surprise and delight across all channels – showcasing Argos’s Fast Track delivery commitment to getting customers what they want, how and when they want it, faster than anyone else.
“Over the Christmas period our teams will deliver 1.7 million items to customers’ homes and process 27 million in-store transactions, and the go-getting elf in the story reflects our hard-working and dedicated colleagues who often go the extra mile to make Christmas happen for our customers.
“We hope our super-swift, stop-at-nothing Argos Christmas elves help us once again to break the traditional retailer advertising mould by adding some excitement, energy and above all speed to the nation’s Christmases this year.”
Yan Elliott, Joint Executive Creative Director at CHI&Partners, adds: “Argos is ‘Ready for Take-Off’ this Christmas, and we wanted a thrillingly fast-paced campaign that would really bring to life the lengths Argos will go to make Christmas special for families across the country, in the fastest way possible. We and AllTogetherNow are particularly proud to help make Argos the first UK retailer to personalise its Christmas advert across both TV and social media – and we can’t wait to see Argos fans everywhere become part of the action.”
The Argos ‘Ready For Take-Off’ ad forms part of a 360° campaign extravaganza spanning TV, digital, print and in-store and social media activity. Media buying was through PHD, PR through Hope & Glory and point-of-sale and digital display through PSONA.