Ads of the Week: from Louis Vuitton’s ‘Holiday House’ to Maximum Effort’s ‘Sexmas’

Louis Vuitton: Holiday House by Roman Coppola

Luxury French fashion house Louis Vuitton tapped into the imagination of Roman Coppola for its enchanting disco-themed Christmas commercial. ‘Holiday House’ was directed by Augustus Punch, creative directed by Roman Coppola and stars English-French actress Stacy Martin.

Set to the toe-tapping tune of Candi Staton’s Young Hearts Run Free, viewers are taken on a magical journey with Martin as she’s transported through the logo-embellished luggage to a world filled with ski resorts, whimsical fluffy clouds adorned with lavish bags and finally to a sequin-filled joyful festive party scene.

The captivating film was co-produced by advertising production company La\Pac and The Directors Bureau, and has been initially released on social media.

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Hims: Have Sexmas by Maximum Effort Productions

Ryan Reynolds’s agency Maximum Effort and telehealth brand Hims are encouraging ‘Sexmas’ with a suggestive ad highlighting the important topic of erectile dysfunction.

In typically lighthearted fashion, the spot begins with the camera sweeping across an advent calendar, and a man’s hand begins to open each of the boxes to uncover a delicious chocolate treat. As the video reaches its climax, on the final day he opens box 25 to uncover a little blue pill instead. The ad finishes on the tagline: ‘Unwrap each other this year’.

Hims wants people struggling with erectile dysfunction to visit its website as ‘intimacy is a gift every loving relationship deserves’. The brand offers a free consultation where people can potentially receive medication for issues they are facing.

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Monster: Nerve by Clayton Vila

Energy drink brand Monster has unveiled a short film detailing the true story of American free ski phenomenon Colby Stevenson’s 2016 near-fatal car crash. Written and directed by filmmaker and fellow skier Clayton Vila, the video is an epic nine-minute emotional retelling of Stevenson’s brutal road to recovery.

The spot begins with Stevenson and a friend driving late at night in the pitch darkness through snowy mountains when, unfortunately, he falls asleep behind the wheel. The truck dramatically flips and veers off the side of the road and into a ditch.

Viewers are then taken on an emotional journey where the Olympic skier tries to recover from the sustained injuries and possible brain damage, which doctors fear could result in him never skiing again.

It’s an epic tale of human resilience, which ends on a positive note as the audience eventually sees Stevenson make a full recovery and get back out there onto the slopes.

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The Call Before Christmas by Wonderhood Studios

Working from home has become a way of life for a lot of people, and with that comes the dreaded never-ending slew of Zoom calls. But what happens if you get stuck on a call for the rest of time? Wonderhood Studios has imagined this frankly terrifying thought in its new Christmas campaign that hopes to encourage people to truly switch off over the holidays.

Starring Kerry Howard and Daniel Barker, the dark comedy begins with a family patiently waiting on their dad to finish up work for the year so they can start the festivities. As the wife goes up to her husband’s office to check on him, she shockingly finds that he is in fact stuck inside his laptop.

As the video progresses, viewers watch the family try to make the best of the strange situation by including Dad in the usual holiday events. Condemned to spend Christmas from inside his laptop, he patiently sits on the table watching everyone eat their dinner, tries to thank his daughter for a gift that he cannot physically open and hilariously attempts to have sex with his wife, which predictably doesn’t go as planned.

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Wildfarmed: A Story About Bread by Lemonade Money

Bread, good isn’t it? Toast, bagels, sandwiches – all top meals. But what if the deliciously doughy food item was actually harming the Earth? ‘A Story About Bread’, produced by flour-brand Wildfarmed alongside the creative minds of Lemonade Money, will have you questioning everything you thought you knew about that loaf in your bread bin.

The 7-minute trippy film takes viewers on a ride, beginning with a larger-than-life loaf hurtling towards our planet from space. Upon impact, we see the crusty bread enter into a 90s acid house scene as narrator Tim Blinkhurst relays the tale.

It begins with retellings of the Great Fire of London, the French Revolution and the origins of the ‘superfood’. As the intense video progresses, viewers are made aware that many of the loaves they buy daily are full of bleach and emulsifiers, which are ultimately harmful to the environment.

Is our appetite for bread destroying the Earth when it could be healing it? Co-owned by Groove Armada DJ Andy Cato and presenter George Lamb, Wildfarmed aims to create a market for farmers that rewards quality rather than quantity.

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Tinder: You're Not For Everyone by Mischief @ No Fixed Address

In celebration of Tinder’s exciting new explore feature, where swipers can navigate through profiles based on interests, the creative agency has released two light-hearted spots that highlight the niche interests of some of its users.

The series of ads celebrate the ones who like you just the way you are, weird quirks and kinks included. Into doing astral projection sitting on your living room floor or watching hot dumb people on reality TV shows? As the videos state, it’s not for everyone, but it is for someone.

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Metro: Letter from Santa by The Good Agency

Metro has shown itself to be in touch with blind and partially sighted readers as the first national newspaper in the UK to run a braille front cover.

Partnering with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), the collaboration amounts to a print run of 15,000 special editions distributed at nine central London transport hubs in support of the charity’s ‘Letter from Santa’ campaign.

To coincide with the International Day of Disabled People, commuters and travellers were presented with a custom cover wrap that highlights how far we still have to go to create a genuinely accessible world.

The creative by The Good Agency sees curious readers presented with a QR code on the inside cover to translate the cover letter and find out more about what it is like to navigate a world designed around vision when you have limited sight.

‘Letter from Santa’ is headed by 12-year-old Kiera Mills and highlights how Christmas can be a particularly challenging time of year for 14,500 visually impaired children.

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Stella Artois: Stella Please by Mother

Celebrity chef Marco Pierre White returned to our TV screens in an appeal to drinkers to mind their manners when ordering a Stella Artois this December.

In tribute to hard-pressed hospitality workers during the Christmas party season, the drink brand has rebadged itself ’Stella Please’ in an effort to encourage drinkers to be more considerate.

The public service announcement offers customers £1 off their pint for simply saying ‘please‘ when ordering a Stella at select venues. For each pint ordered over the month, Stella Artois will also make a donation to Hospitality Action to provide more tangible support for those on the frontline of the service economy.

Fronting the campaign with a flurry of expletives carefully drowned out by the pouring of a pint, Pierre White swears like a trooper to put rude customers in their place and demonstrate that it does pay to have good manners.

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Volkswagen: Electric Wrapped by Taxi

Volkswagen has ensured its fleet of electric vehicles is music to the ears of Spotify listeners after sponsoring a themed takeover of the streaming service’s annual playlist of the year’s biggest hits.

Spotify Wrapped has become #Electricwrapped for the takeover, which powers an all-electric future today through choice songs such as Drake’s Charged Up, Katy Perry’s Electric and AC/DC’s High Voltage.

The purposeful twist on the annual musical round-up reaches the ears of millions as people readily share their personal most played tracks on social media, with celebrities such as Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ariana Grande and Chance the Rapper in the vanguard of this new tradition.

Volkswagen may seem an unlikely fit for this phenomenon but ‘A Year in Electric’ has provided the perfect opportunity for a spot of up tempo dance and electronica amid a diverse line-up of tracks linked to its Spotify account, which references green energy, electricity and the environment.

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Bank of Montreal: Wrap the Good by FCB Canada

Bank of Montreal (BMO) and FCB Canada are playing their part to cut down on landfill waste this Christmas while supporting women-owned businesses by creating custom recyclable gift wrap that double as ad space.

’Wrap the Good’ supports Canadian female business owners who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, with official stats showing that more than a third have weathered a decline in revenues of at least 30%.

The colorful wrapping is printed with dozens of gift ideas complete with a QR code that guides the curious to an accompanying Pinterest board that houses hundreds of shoppable products from qualifying businesses such as Blume, Remix Snacks and Mme L’Ovary.

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That’s just for starters. Check out the best work from our Creative Works section here and don’t forget to vote.