Singtel matches a sad busker with a hopeful child to encourage connections at Christmas
Singtel’s 2018 Christmas ad takes on the theme of connecting at Christmas, but this year's campaign takes the tone away from the family theme and instead, looks at the magic of more unexpected connections.
The ad, called ‘Grace’s White Christmas’, still has the usual emotional roller coaster one has come to expect from Christmas adverts, but takes less of a saccharine flavour by featuring a down and out busker as its co-star to a hopeful young girl.
The busker is hoping a Santa Claus outfit will help him strike it luckier as he takes to the streets to sing songs such as ‘White Christmas’ alongside his cute canine pal.
The girl, who is excited for Father Christmas but feels a bit confused about how he will get down a chimney in Singapore’s famously high rise properties, sees the busker and runs away from her grandma in the supermarket. This adds a bit of an uncomfortable emotion to the story, as the reader is left wondering how her family feels while she is off getting in the way of the busker's work.
Eventually, the busker is warmed by her insistence on petting his dog and the big spoiler moment is when he decides that the young girl should have his dog, despite the poor busker earlier telling the girl that she’s lucky to even have parents because he does not have any. It is not clear as to whether he has many friends either, but in the end, he certainly does not have a dog anymore.
Ultimately it is a story of putting others before oneself and connecting with people that one normally would not, which is a heartwarming message for the holiday season.
“When we drilled down to what’s important when celebrating Christmas, it’s about giving and connecting, and doing so beyond one’s immediate family and friends. Very often, the pressures of modern living can distract us from this,” said Lian Pek, vice president of group strategic communications and brand at Singtel. “Our wish for Christmas is for more meaningful connections which can sometimes be found in the most unlikely of places. At the end of the day, I’m sure we all agree that the act of giving always makes the giver richer in spirit.”
The emotional storytelling route is now an expected style of Singtel, which takes these tactics across a few of Singapore’s most celebrated festive holidays, such as Chinese New Year and Christmas. Singtel’s previous Christmas campaign “Ah Ma’s Christmas” went viral with some 5.8 million Facebook views and almost half a million YouTube hits. Similarly, Singtel’s Chinese New Year offering “Mr Lim’s Reunion Dinner” saw 9.4m views on Facebook and 1.2m views on YouTube.
The ad was made and produced in-house alongside Akanga Film Asia and will first air on Singtel TV and social media channels from 22 November to the end of the year.
