A squad of animated miniature heroes set to save Chrissy in Asda’s new campaign via Havas London
In the lead-up to Christmas, Campaign Brief is shining a spotlight on the season’s most anticipated campaigns from around the globe. As these campaigns roll out, we’ll be rounding up the highlights to keep you in the loop.
With the countdown to the festive season officially on, Asda has today (Sunday 3rd November) unveiled its new brand campaign for Christmas – a delightful adventure that follows an animated team of gnomes who rise up from the snow to save Christmas – with five iconic new characters stealing the show.
Premiering across Asda’s social channels today, before airing on TV for the first time on 6th November at 8.15pm on ITV in the Coronation Street ad break, the 90 second brand ad, created by Havas London, is set to the iconic theme of The A Team – the beloved 80s TV show about a group of commando mavericks tasked with daring rescue missions.
The creative opens on two Asda colleagues, Maggie and Bill, staring out of a store into a huge snowstorm. Maggie is visibly concerned; “every road is closed between here and Sheffield, how are we going to get the store ready for Christmas?”
Bill, with the benefit of experience, picks up a gnome and presses its nose – sending a gnoming signal to hundreds of gnomes across gardens, pub shelves and tower blocks nationwide, who answer the call for help. When the team of ceramic heroes arrives at Maggie and Bill’s store, they immediately get to work creating delicious treats in the kitchen, preparing gifts on shelves, and transforming the store into a Christmas wonderland, ready to help make this the UK’s greatest Christmas yet.
With the sun coming up, chief Gnome, Max, announces “It’s time to go Gnome”. As the gnomes depart in Asda delivery vans, leaving a perfectly prepared store ready for Christmas. The film ends with Chris Rea’s famous Christmas classic, with the lyrics adapted to ‘Driving Gnome for Christmas’.
Alongside the wider cast of hundreds of Asda gnomes, five hero ‘gnomies’ take centre stage in the campaign, including the charmingly reckless adventurer Max, fabulous drag artist and fashionista Gnicky, gourmet chef Gnibbles, cool as a cucumber surfer Gnarla, and the perfectionist party-planner Gnorma.
Having been imagined for the festive campaign, Asda has created the five character gnomes in real life, and they will join Asda’s iconic ‘Mrs Claus’ gnome on shelves from 7th November for customers to buy.
David Hills, Chief Customer Officer at Asda, commented: “Asda’s gnomes are long standing favourites with our customers and they were staring us in the face as the obvious characters for our Christmas campaign – a very Asda way for us to showcase our breadth of offer.
“Our priority is to make sure our customers can have their best Christmas possible with great quality food, general merchandise and amazing George clothing & home items all under one roof. Our customers can trust that they will get the best quality they expect from the festive season all at Asda’s incredibly low prices. From decorating their home and dressing for the party season, to consuming award-winning Exceptional mince pies and truly show-stopping centrepiece meats and desserts – all with Asda’s uncompromising value promise.”
Vicki Maguire, Chief Creative Officer at Havas London, says: “Asda’s gnomes are not just iconic, they’re much loved by all – taking pride of place in people’s homes and gardens up and down the country. Bringing them to life this Christmas continues Asda’s focus on humorous, warm brand campaigns that tap into what customers really care for and love about Asda and its offer.”
The brand film was directed by ‘King of the Super Bowl’ Bryan Buckley and produced by Hungry Man, with the 3D design of the gnomes created by Emmy-winning character experts Legacy Effects. The animation and post-production handled by the multi award-winning Rascal Studios.
As well as the hero film, Asda’s Gnome of Christmas concept features throughout Asda’s channels, including OOH, Press, in-store, online, PR and social. Asda’s social team, working with social agency Born Social, launched the ad on their channels with an accidental ‘leak’ by the hero gnomes, who couldn’t wait to share their Christmas spirit. Meanwhile, Asda’s PR team, working with agency Cow, have breadcrumbed gnome hints through events and stories in 2024, with them even appearing on huge OOH sites during key sporting events throughout the year – teeing up the arrival of the gnomes for Christmas.
A teaser will also appear on ITV and STV on the 2nd of November and the gnomes will continue to pop up throughout the festive season, showcasing ASDA’s food and decorations, as part of the channel’s continuity bumpers during commercial airtime.
Asda’s gnomes have long been popular in stores with characters ranging from the Mini Unicorn, bride and groom gnomes, to a dancing Santa. The retailer has sold over 100,000 festive gnomes over the last four Christmas periods, and has a dedicated buyer tasked with gnome handling.
Client: Asda
Creative agency: Havas London
Chief Creative Officer: Vicki Maguire
Executive Creative Director: Dan Cole
Executive Creative Director: Andy Garnett
Senior creative: Alex Jones
Senior creative: Emily Camacho
Junior creative: Oscar Frost
Junior creative: Muskaan Razdan
Chief Executive Officer: James Fox
Managing Partner: Dave Owen
Senior Account Director: Perla Perlini
Senior Account Manager: Peter Churchward
Account Executive: Thando May-Mtindi
Head of Social: Shelley Portet
Head of Film: Louise Bonnar
Production Lead: Sarah Cowen
Senior Producer: Adam Henderson
Producer: Sian O’Halloran
Assistant Agency Producer: Hilary-Nyce Aremu, Kezia Claydon and Ella Myerscough-McClymont
Business Affairs: Simon Sole, Marta Kisluk and Claire Lillis
Creative Production Director: Hannah Levy
Creative Producers: Dean Trendler and Andrew Stevenson
Strategy partner: Lee Barber
Strategy Director: Jack Lewis-Barclay
Strategist: Francesca Johnston
Chief Design Officer: Lorenzo Fruzza
Senior Designer: Sam Kallen
Senior Designer: Luke Remon
Senior Designer: Miles Niblett
Senior Designer: Sarni Strachan
Junior Designer: Sam Adams
Media agency: Spark Foundry
Managing Partner: Kat Broomhead
Client Partner: Louise Davies
Account Director: Clare Miles
Account Manager: Maria O’Hanrahan
Production company: Hungry Man
Director: Bryan Buckley
Managing Partner: Matt Buels
Executive Producer: Matt Lefebvre
Producer: Camilla Cullen
DoP: Hoyte Van Hoytema
Production Designer: David Skinner
1st AD: Joe Carter
Editing: Cabin Editing Company
Editor: Chan Hatcher
Edit Assistants – Magda Plugowska, Craig Griffiths, Victoria Man
Senior Producer: Caylee Banz
Executive Producer – Kayt Hall and Ruth Minkley
Post Production: RASCAL
ECD/VFX Supervisor: Andrew Barnsley Wood
2D Lead: Chris Tobin
3D Lead : Dan Newlands / Phil Maddock
Animation Director: Jimmy Kiddel
Lead Animator: Rémy Herissé
Colourist: James Bamford
Head of Production: James Beck
Executive Producer: Colin Oaten
VFX Producer: Ellie Thwaites
Character Design – Legacy Effects
Co-Founder – Alan Scott
Character Designer – Bodin Sterba
Sound – 750mph
Mix: Sam Ashwell
Sound Design: Sam Ashwell and Mark Hellaby
Head of Production: Olivia Ray
Music House: THE HOGAN
PR and Activation: Cow PR
Social: Born Social
Content: Shoot The Moon