Macy's Holiday Ad Is a Touching Tale of Being Apart From Those We Love at Christmas

The Space Station is only about 250 miles from Earth, and astronauts are never alone there, yet it remains a perfect modern metaphor for isolation. The reason is simple: It's the ultimate mental image of being separated from our loved ones. Earlier this year, Ronald McDonald House and Canadian agency Cossette used the image allegorically, illustrating a mom's feeling of not being able to visit her child in the hospital. Now, for the holiday season, Macy's and agency BBDO New York take to orbit for a more literal story of a family separated at Christmas while mom is serving solo on a spacecraft. Through a series of brief and potent scenes, we watch from both the Earth and space as the holidays near and hopes for a family reunion dwindle. But luckily, her daughter planned ahead for just such a contingency: [kickout id="1"] Admittedly, NASA purists might find the whole scenario a bit silly, partly because it takes place aboard a fictional solo spacecraft that's quite a bit lonelier than the real International Space Station. One might picture Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield's eerily lonesome video playing David Bowie's "Space Oddity," but in fact he's said serving in space was actually a very different experience: "On board the space station, we were there with five good friends most of the time, and we could see the whole world out the window, see the entire planet over and over again," he told U.S. News and World Reports. "And we're constantly talking to mission control, we had email, I could phone my wife and I could communicate via social media. So I have never felt more connected with everybody on Earth." And, of course, NASA engineers would be apoplectic at the idea of countless tiny bits of styrofoam floating about the carefully controlled cabin. But setting aside such fetters of reality, one has to admit Macy's found a lovely and memorable image for the holidays—while also quietly celebrating women in STEM careers (BBDO also being the agency behind Barbie's recent push to empower girls in fields like science and math). Plus, who hasn't wanted to live in a snow globe at some point? Except for all those people who worked at St. Elsewhere? CREDITS: Agency: BBDO Worldwide Chief Creative Officer: David Lubars Chief Creative Officer New York: Greg Hahn EVP, Executive Creative Director: Danilo Boer EVP, Executive Creative Director: Marcos Kotlhar SVP, Senior Creative Director: Tom Kraemer SVP, Senior Creative Director: Peter Alsante VP, Creative Director: Bianca Guimaraes Senior Project Manager: Noreen Masih VP, Group Executive Producer: Dan Blaney Executive Producer: Katie Porter Associate Producer: Corie Rosenblatt Business Affairs Manager: Nancy Espinal SVP, Director of Music: Rani Vaz Music Producer: Julia Millison SVP, Group Planning Director: Yin Chung VP, Planning Director: Liz Simons EVP, Senior Director: Corey Cirillo Account Director: Justin Perrelli Account Executive: Charlie Kunze Account Executive: Clare Driggs Production: Epoch Films Director: Martin De Thurah EP: Melissa Culligan Line Producer: Michaela Johnson DP: Chayse Irvin Editorial: Work Editorial Executive Producer: Erica Thompson Sr Producer: Jamie Lynn Perritt Producer: Chris Delarenal Editor: Rich Orrick Assistant Editor: Theo Mercado VFX: Blacksmith VFX Supervisor / Lead Compositor: Daniel Morris VFX Supervisor: Iwan Zwarts VFX/CG Supervisor: Olivier Varteressian Executive Producer: Charlotte Arnold VFX Producer: Bindy St. Leger CG Artist: Tuna Unalan, Michael Marsek, Casey Reuter, Vitaliy Burov CG FX Artist: Rick Walia Compositors: Robert Bruce, Tim Reagan, Nick Tanner, Jacob Slutsky, Yebin Ahn Matte Painter: Sue Jang Music: Soundtree Music Executive Producer: Jay James Music title: HOME Composed by Joel Hartman for Soundtree Music Published by Soundtree Music Publishing Head of Music Production: Luis Almau MD/Producer: Jay James Final Mix: Sonic Union Mixer: Steve Rosen Sound Designer: Brian Emrich

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Macy's Holiday Ad Is a Touching Tale of Being Apart From Those We Love at Christmas

An astronaut mom receives a surprising connection to home

David Griner

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David Griner