25 days of Ausmas: Rob Martin Murphy, Ikon Communications on New Zealand Post's Festive Fibs
Every day an advertising creative from Australia and New Zealand will offer their own favourite Christmas campaign from over the years as we celebrate the best work from the festive period the world over and hear their views on what is best in class.
Favourite Christmas ad ever?
Hmmm, that’s a bit of a stretch.
I mean, there’s a whole bunch of them that I really, really like/wish I’d done [delete as applicable]. Some of which have already been expertly covered here, no doubt.
However, to pick a favourite is like asking me to pick my favourite child.
And I only have one of those. Sorry, son.
Trawling through the memory banks then, and disqualifying John Lewis for reasons of ‘everyone will choose one of those’, certain ads did flash before my eyes like, in no particular order, ‘#Justino’ from the Spanish lottery in 2015, Harvey Nichols ‘Walk of Shame’ from 2011 and 2013’s ‘I spent it on myself’, the German supermarket Edeka’s ‘Time to come home’ in 2015 and even the 2014 short film ‘Love is a gift’ made by Phil Beastall for a reported £50 (which goes to show, that when you have a great idea and you’re not flogging anything other than love itself, money is the least of your worries).
One ad did catch my eye from this year’s crop though.
It’s for New Zealand Post.
I love it for its universal truth – we do sometimes tell white lies to our family members in an effort to keep ‘important’ things, like Christmas presents, under wraps.
I love it for its restraint – yes, there’s emotion, but it’s not the usual sickly sweet Christmas kind. It’s the natural bond and love that this family have for each other that is played out beautifully.
And I love it for treating the viewer with respect, knowing that they’ll have the intelligence to work out the story for themselves – case in point, the last scene when the mum asks the postie if he’s sick of Christmas and he replies that no, he loves it and mum looks for his nose to grow. Of course, it doesn’t. Nice touch.
Throw in a Fleetwood Mac track sung by a choir (who doesn’t love Rumours?), and the neat little line ‘Keeping Ho Ho, Hush Hush’ and well, damn you Kiwis, you’ve done it again. You even managed to give every Australian an early Christmas present by not winning the World Cup. Is there anything you lot can’t do?
Rob Martin Murphy, executive creative director, Ikon Communications
Check out the latest holiday ads from Australia and New Zealand here, and keep an eye on The Drum's ongoing Christmas coverage.