I caught this treat of a TV ad last night, and it is – for me – by far and away the best of this year’s Chrimbo crop.  a simple and elegant piece that taps into our collective sense of Christmas spirit.  more celebrities than you know what to do with are on display, but none one of them is trying to sell us groceries or boost their own profile.  rather, they’re all  doing exactly what they do best – laughing, hugging, loving, crying and – in the case of the Grinch – scowling their way through the festive season.

if I had one critisim, it’s that this ad doesn’t need an end line, or a tag line for that matter.  the suggestion that the montage featured movies ‘for the people you love’ is not only implicit, but negates against people drawing their own – and therefore more powerful – conclusions as the what the ad is conveying.  and as for ‘get closer’, well that doesn’t mean anything at all!

but it’s absolutely the right move for HMV, who are never going to compete with the
online retailers on price.  instead they’re reinforcing their
associations with movies, the objective presumably being that over the
next few weeks, as we all negotiate our ways down our respective frenetic
highstreets, we see that Jack Russell and make a detour into it’s store over
others.  time will tell if with this effort HMV manage a Merry little Christmas themselves… I supsect it may just work!