‘We just wanted it to be genuine and real’: Coles and DDB on how to make a Christmas ad in 2020
Bushfires, COVID-19, lockdowns and panic buying: how do you make an appropriate Christmas ad in 2020? Mumbrella’s Zoe Wilkinson talks to Coles’ CMO Lisa Ronson about sending a genuine message to customers and DDB Group’s national chief creative officer on creating a sense of togetherness when families, and the production process, were kept apart.
When its Christmas campaign was in the works in May, Coles was coming off the back of a military-grade communications operation. Food and cleaning products had been flying off the shelves before they were even stacked, product limits were still in place, and the supermarkets had come together calling for customers to treat staff with respect in the face of abuse, and even violence.
People were scared, and in the heat of all that fear and isolation, CMO Lisa Ronson had to look months into the future, at a holiday built upon bringing people together.
“We would normally have it fully locked down, but I think given the year that it’s been, we knew we had to remain a little flexible,” Ronson says.
“We plan these things even further in advance than what you think. We generally start December-January in planning for the following year. And in some cases, in some aspects of it, like our Christmas packaging, that could be 18 months to two years out.
