Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Sainsbury’s will launch its Christmas TV advertising campaign this evening.
But in a departure for the supermarket chain, it will devote TV spots to screen a series of trailers promoting a brand new documentary from Oscar-winning director Kevin Macdonald – in addition to its traditional food focused Christmas advertising campaign.
The film is comprised of real footage filmed by real people, in the manner of Macdonald’s acclaimed film for YouTube, ‘Life in a Day,’ which has received more than 8 million views. The result, ‘Christmas in a Day’, has been created from more than 360 hours of festive footage submitted by people from all over the UK. Sainsbury’s has supported the film since its inception.
The first of these trailers will air on ITV1 tonight (Wednesday November 13), taking the entire primetime centre ad break during ‘Coronation Street’ – the first time that a whole commercial break has been secured during ‘Coronation Street’. A further four trailers will air between November 13 and December 21.
Sainsbury’s Head of Brand Communications Mark Given commented: “For Sainsbury’s, this started out as an experiment that we hoped would reveal something interesting about the way we celebrate Christmas in Britain.
“When we saw the film, we realised it had far exceeded our expectations – we believe this film is something very special indeed and I’m proud that Sainsbury’s has been involved in this project from the outset.
“By having the film as our lead Christmas activity, I hope we’ll encourage millions of people across the UK to watch the story of Britain’s ‘Christmas in a Day’.”
Film director Kevin Macdonald added: “When we made ‘Life in a Day’ we asked people around the globe to record their lives on a single ordinary day. When we were cutting that film we talked about what it might be like if we chose a day that already had significance to people. The result is ‘Christmas in a Day’. Christmas is the one time in the whole year when ordinary British life is suspended. We have time to contemplate life and be with those we love.
“I was overwhelmed by the creativity and enthusiasm of the people up and down the country, from every walk of life, who filmed their Christmas and shared it with us. I feel that the finished film (which everyone will be able to see on 29 November) stands out for many reasons – it is funny, moving, often beautifully shot and above all truthful. I am immensely thankful to everyone who took part and to Sainsbury’s for making the film possible.”
