Ad of the Day: Morrisons celebrates the trusty oven glove this Christmas

Created by Leo Burnett, the 60-second spot depicts a family preparing a traditional Christmas dinner but joined by a group of singing oven gloves. Starship’s 80s power ballad ‘Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now’ is the song in question.

The ad shows the gloves breaking free from their drawer and conducting a choreographed dance as they protect the food and family from cooking mishaps. Tim McNaughton from The Bobbsey Twins directed the spot.

Morrisons’ chief customer and marketing officer, Rachel Eyre, says it was vital to consider Morrisons’ shopper demographic and so decided not to show an “overly glamorized” Christmas. "We’ve instead represented the work that goes into hosting to prepare and deliver a great Christmas for the people they care the most about,” Erye says.

After the Covid years and now the cost of living crisis, Eyre says the industry is now “quite used to being thoughtful about reflecting and being sympathetic and sensitive to the current reality of customers in any advertising that we produce.”

"We want to be there on the side of the hosts at Christmas. If you’ve hosted at Christmas, it’s a really big deal, but it’s really hard work, and there is jeopardy along the way,” Eyre says.

It’s the first Christmas campaign from Leo Burnett after Morrisons appointed it at the beginning of the year. Mark Elwood is executive creative director at Leo Burnett UK and says its populist appeal is important in its marketing.

For this campaign, Elwood explains it was essential to be representative of every host, which he acknowledges is very different from other brands in the grocery space.

"Everybody wants to do their very best on that day, and what that very best means for certain people with less financial security, they still really want to try on that day. And I think that’s reflected in this spot without being overreaching,” he continues.

#GloveOke TikTok competition

Morrisons has taken a prime ITV slot to release the ad on Monday October 6 which will lead to a wider campaign running across radio, press, digital display, social media and out-of-home. To support the hero content, Leo Burnett has also created ten 20-second products and offered specific adverts for TV and VOD along with Magic radio and Immediate Media.

The supermarket will engage shoppers on social with an interactive oven glove karaoke competition by getting people to post their gloves and sing with the #GloveOke. It has recruited influencers to share the competition on TikTok.

Morrisons is not the first supermarket to anthropomorphize a glove this Christmas, with Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney voicing a pair of mittens in M&S Food's festive spot.

“Just having a simple vehicle that everybody has in their kitchen up and down the nation felt like a just a wonderful way of kind of bringing something a bit of different Christmas magic,” Elwood says.