How BBH crafted the spirit of Christmas for Tesco

Can you tell us how you came up with the concept for the #BecomeMoreChristmas campaign?

This idea was all born from a simple insight about the Christmas spirit. We liked that getting into the Christmas spirit was both a very personal experience, but also a shared one. We all get into it, just at a different pace. 

We knew that if we over played the gag, the film could have felt a bit fake and then people wouldn't connect with it in the same way.

Some go full baubles the minute Halloween decorations come down. Others wait to have that fuzzy feeling an hour before they sit down for their Xmas dinner. We thought there would be a good story to be explored there, and from that, came the father and son story.

How did Alaska approach the brief?

I cannot say enough how incredible Alaska were. As a team we'd always admired their work, and their way of telling complex stories with great casting and impeccable art direction. We also liked their camera trickery - it just gave the way they told stories something special. 

There is a danger if you go too polished and CGI you miss some of that analog magic and it becomes a bit too forced.

When we saw their treatment the thing that really landed for us was about telling the story in a very real way. Pretend the characters aren't giant trees and Christmas puddings. Let the performance and the emotion come through. We knew that if we over played the gag, the film could have felt a bit fake and then people wouldn't connect with it in the same way.

What was the tone you were aiming for?

We set out to entertain. We wanted smiles, laughs and maybe a tear or two. We wanted this film to be incredibly populist, something that would resonate in different ways, with everyone.

I never thought in my career I would look at castings tapes and say, “I love that guy, he really does feel like he would be a tree.”

Can you talk us through the amazing festive transformations? What was behind your decision to do these with real costumes instead of CGI?

We knew that for people to connect with the story everything about it needed to have a sense of realism. You needed to believe that it was father and son. You need to believe the characters they become. I never thought in my career I would look at castings tapes and say, “I love that guy, he really does feel like he would be a tree.” 

Going with costumes made the whole thing feel more tangible and less gimmicky. There is a danger if you go to polished and CGI you miss some of that analog magic and it becomes a bit too forced.

How did you come to choose the OMC track? Were there any other contenders?

We played that track all the way through filming. There was something about it that made the film special. It had a knowing-ness that we loved. It didn't take itself seriously. It also talked about an angle on Christmas that felt fresh. It is a weird time, but we love it. 

I think the story told is bigger than a Christmas story. It's a whole dynamic between parents and kids. It's the things we do for and to them.

We eat food we don’t eat any other time of year. We hang out with people that we don't hang out with any other time of year. We perform rituals and traditions that at any other time of year, would seem completely insane. It is a bizarre time. We watched the film with a few other tracks but we knew we had it the minute we heard OMC.

What do you think the story tells us about family relationships at Christmas?

I think the story told is bigger than a Christmas story. It's a whole dynamic between parents and kids. It's the things we do for and to them. It's the smiles and eye rolls of a relationship. My dad is obsessed with Christmas and collects nativity arrangements, which decorate every surface in the house. So I see a lot of myself in the son. 

But I'm also a Dad myself now, and know how important it is to keep that magic and imagination alive. So I see myself in the Dad too. I just feel that at Christmas, those dynamics are just magnified, and that's what we built the story from in the film.