Young boy ‘spreads the merry’ with lonely neighbour in Australia Post’s Christmas campaign by The Monkeys
A thoughtful boy notices his elderly and lonely neighbour, who lives across the road in the only house not adorned with lights, is missing out on the festive spirit in Australia Post’s Christmas campaign, created by The Monkeys.
The Monkeys said the campaign, called ‘Spread the Merry’, encourages Australians to be more thoughtful during the festive season, because nobody should feel left out. It airs this week, running across TV, radio, OOH and digital.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLGS5MFt0sc
Mr Grieves rejects early attempts at friendliness and offers of help, but softens when his young neighbour, Alfie, leaves a wrapped present and card in his letterbox. The gift, a disco ball bauble bought by the boy with his pocket money from the post office, throws light all over the man’s face and lawn when Alfie shines a torch light on it from his bedroom window opposite.
“The idea being to ‘Spread the Merry’, we wanted the ad itself to embody a generous spirit, with a little story of personal connection aided by Australia Post,” the agency’s chief creative officer, Ant Keogh, said.
Alfie shines a light on the disco ball and creates a little Christmas magic for his neighbour, Mr Grieves
That generosity doesn’t have to be expensive or difficult, but can manifest through small acts of kindness towards those around us.
“This year we are encouraging all Australians to Spread the Merry by making somebody’s day special,” added Australia Post’s CMO, Amber Collins.
“Christmas is a time to connect with friends, family and community and the campaign demonstrates how Australia Post makes it easy to reach out to more people.”
Credits:
Client: Australia Post
Chief Marketing Officer: Amber Collins
Head of Marketing, Retail and Advertising: Corrina Brazel
Senior Manager, Creative Services: Cathie Connors
Marketing Manager, Community and Consumer: Allison Leech
Agency: The Monkeys, part of Accenture Interactive
Chief Creative Officer: Ant Keogh
Head of Planning: Michael Derepas
Planning Director: Gareth Evans
Art Director: Joe Sibley
Writer: Hugh Gurney
Head of Production: Romanca Jasinski
Producer: Katie Wellbelove
Production Coordinator: Anne-Maree Shelton
Designer: Raph Tamkalis
Head of Content Management: Jaimee Kerr
Content Director: James Wilkinson
Content Executive: Jessie Roper
Production Company: Rabbit Films
Director: James Rouse
DoP: Simon Duggan
Production Company EP: Lucas Jenner
Production Company Producer: Benji Howell
Post Production: The Editors
Editor: Luke Haigh
Music Composition: Sonar Music
Sound: Paul Le Couteur/Squeak E. Clean Studios
Brittney Rigby was Mumbrella's deputy managing editor - news and analysis. She left Mumbrella in April 2021.
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topics
Amber Collins
Ant Keogh
Australia Post
Christmas 2019
Christmas campaign
Spread the merry
The Monkeys
Very, very pedestrian for The Monkeys. How many times can the lonely neighbor angle be used for Xmas? This has been done a thousand times and this adds nothing new to it in my opinion.
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Aw come on Christmas Scrooge aka Anonymous. It’s an emotive and positive advert and if you’ve ever spent time visiting an Aged Care Facility you’d see how important small gestures like this can make an elderly person’s life light up.
We need more interaction like this add demonstrates.
Happy Christmas you miserable Grinch!
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Is the Monkeys Melbourne office still a thing? I hadn’t realised it still existed.
And yes, this is long and dreary
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Nice to see a [edited under Mumbrella’s comment policy] for a change
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I agree! Sure, this ad isn’t reinventing Christmas, but it tells its story effectively enough.
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Not new? So what?! Its got the feels… thumbs up from me 😀
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Beautiful ?
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Am I alone in seeing this flaccid ad is a shameless parody of “Home Alone”?
What are the Post marketers up to?
First it’s Australia Post’s “little Coles shop” with a collect-a-crappy dollar coin in your change, now it’s ripping off one of the most famous Christmas movies of all time. But then what do you expecting when you move the entire Coles marketing team into Aus Post?
Shame on the Monkeys for even hinting this an ordinal idea…
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Bah humbug Kevin. Find your Christmas spirit.
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Have you even seen the film Home Alone? What parody? Because there’s a little boy in it? Or because it’s Christmas?
Long bow, mate. Get your cultural references right before slagging something off.
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