We know you’ve all been waiting with bated* breath to see whether your agency’s card will make it into one of our completely arbitrary, no-order-whatsoever holiday roundup posts (no you haven’t). You probably want to compare the work of rival shops to that of your own in order to score some sort of bragging rights (no you don’t).
Anyway, we promised another round or four, so here you go: a few more of the many holiday cards we’ve received from agencies at home and abroad, infused with varying levels of non-denominational holiday-themed cheer.
First, kbs+ Canada reminds us that it was marketers–not Norse mythology–who gave us the fat red Santa we know and love. “The Brands of Santa” asks, what if other big brands had their chance to tell the jolly guy’s origin story?
Artist Sharif Tarabay seems like an agreeable guy, and we like his work too. The video is a nice reminder that so many of the cultural touchstones that our society holds dear were originally created to sell us stuff. The site includes all 12 of his illustrations and we’re partial to Santa the Marlboro Man.
But what about Santa as…Donald Trump? Chicago’s Plan B, which calls itself “the Agency Alternative,” made a faux attack ad arguing that Santa’s had his time and the country would prefer to see a fresh face atop that big belly.
What if the Christmas season worked like a political campaign? It would be even uglier. The closing quote from Trump himself is gold, though.
Anomaly Amsterdam posed a very different question about Mr. Claus: what if he were a she?
You have to like the naive sexism on display among these young Brits. As one girl accurately puts it, “I don’t really know anything about this.”
Speaking of things we don’t know anything about, Campbell Ewald went for a more basic approach with a very modest and completely achievable goal: peace on earth and good will among men!
The agency recruited employees at its various North American offices along with local residents to show us the universal sign for getting along with our fellow human beings.
Good luck with that.
PNYC had the same basic idea: they’ve gone from trolling Kanye to making some friendly suggestions to the less egocentric members of our species. (Wait for it.)
On a more conceptually ambitious note, Cincinnati’s northlich took on Dove’s “Real Beauty” in an effort to “think beyond gratuitous garland and ornate ornamentation.”
We didn’t quite get what they were going for, but the agency will make a donation to the Cincinnati Parks each time someone watches the full video.
Next, Ogilvy New York joined Sheryl Sandberg in declaring an end to boring, sexist stock photos with “Stock Standard Christmas,” created in collaboration with Getty Images. The nonsensical entries range from “woman with wood looks for dates” and “setting up booty call during conference call” to this “sad lanky man-boy” whose stocking came up empty because Santa confused him with every other (white) dude who works in an agency creative department.
They’re all still as pricey as stock photos tend to be, but the proceeds will go to the World Childhood Foundation USA.
The people at brokaw in Cleveland had almost the opposite idea: GIFs of staffers doing things that will never appear in stock photos like, say, drinking on the job!
On a more upscale note, New York’s Red Peak turned the four traditional Christmas herbs into what is effectively a pitch for its own services, wherein each represents a different selling point:
Sage, for Account Management that provides sage counsel;
Parsley, for Strategy that parses through the data;
Rosemary, for Design that is never just a garnish; and
Thyme, for Production, that is always on time.
…and now we have Simon and Garfunkel ringing in our heads.
Finally, you know what we love most about Christmas? The shameless, exhausting consumerism.
UK-based animation studio Blue Zoo decided to counter that unavoidable urge to move product by giving us an alternate take on Santa’s workshop as a place that definitely did not choose to unionize.
Whatever you may think about the video, they do have a point and the animation is impressive.
(Not that advertising exists primarily to encourage over-consumption or anything ridiculous like that.)
More cards to come…
*Thank you to our unofficial editors for correcting our horrific error.