Case Study:
St Albans City - Christmas TVC
The plan was simple... create the most picture perfect, chocolate box, winter wonderland of a video that we could, leaning heavily into the olde world medieval and roman feel of the city to give a cosy, inviting, almost Willy Wonka aesthetic.
The story would take our couple through a day in the city, showing a selection of many activities available to visitors. The choice was made to only have our protagonists wear red, drawing the viewers eye to them in every shot and making them pop out of the screen. We also went really big on the art design for this project, turning a rather rainy St Albans October into a wintery fantasy with more than 10 Christmas trees, boxes of decorations, and of course a massive snow machine.
With so many huge and varied spaces to light, from moonlit streets to the St Albans Cathedral we had a big task on our hands, and called on some of our best guys to tackle what was a mammoth effort. It really is times like this where having great people on your roster pays off in spades.
The client:
St Albans Bid, on behalf of the businesses of St Albans City.
The brief:
To create a TV advert for broadcast across Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Essex and London in the run up to Christmas to encourage couples and families to plan a day out in St Albans City. It was important that the ad appealed to families but did not exclude couples who were more likely to eat out, visit the many pubs and bars, or stay the night in a local hotel.
The client, being a government agency of sorts, were simply blown away with the commercial quality that we achieved on this project, with what was a very humble budget for the outcome. This really is an example of a client stepping it up and taking a risk beyond their usual strategy, and it paying off. We achieved a textured, John Lewis-y style piece of Christmas joy that played for the whole for December that year and again the following year, bringing hundreds of visitors to the city.
The voiceover was added by the client and, though it is not personally to our taste, it was their decision to make and we respect that.
Overall it was a really fun project to work on and our first "Christmas Ad". We really did throw everything we had at it.