‘Kid in the Ad’ by AllTogetherNow/The&Partnership London/Visual Voice for Argos
Most brands produce one standalone Christmas ad. But Argos wanted to make the most of its unique relationship with its audience, so in 2017 it created over 20,000 personalised Christmas slots.
Shot in a gift distribution centre, an elf notices a toy has fallen off the conveyor belt and could miss its delivery slot. A quick scan of the toy reveals that it’s for ‘Tom, aged nine’. To avoid Tom being disappointed, the quick-thinking elf rushes the toy to the sleigh before it takes off.
The scene where ‘Tom’ is identified was ripe for creative personalisation and had been planned as such through all stages of script development.
A joint agency/client project of Argos, social agency AllTogetherNow, creative agency The&Partnership and tech provider Visual Voice, 'The Kid in the Ad' campaign was accessible and mainstream. The lion’s share of Argos’s social audience has children aged 5-to-15 and, compared with other retailers’ audiences, they are more willing to share family photos.
Parents were asked to share their children’s photos with Argos on Facebook and a selection of children were randomly picked and rapidly edited into the key scene in the TV ad. It was just 24 hours from selection to edit to broadcast. Ads aired during
Then the ad went digital for mass personalisation. Via a custom Facebook Messenger Chat journey, users uploaded photos and shared names of their children. Their very own Argos Christmas ad was sent back, featuring their child’s image in the key scene – resulting in ever more social-media shares.
The team manually moderated entries to ensure inappropriate images weren’t uploaded, resulting in brand safety and commercial success for Argos and a fun, engaging activity for families.
