Premium shopping centre Westfield, will challenge traditional Christmas messaging with the launch of this year‘s Christmas campaign. Known as ‘The Christmas Before Christmas‘ – the next couple of months at the mall will celebrate the jollities that the overall festive period, not just Christmas day, brings.
Beginning on Monday (3rd November), the integrated initiative is built on the insight that what people love about Christmas is the preceding partying and preparation that takes place. The idea is that all of this can be enjoyed at Westfield.
Tactical messages weaved throughout the campaign will show that Westfield offers a truly memorable ‘Christmas Before Christmas‘ experience through its unique shopping, dining, entertainment, and festive activities.
The creative features six sets of authentic, relatable characters: ‘the cool couple‘, ‘the cheeky girl, ‘Mum and son‘, ‘Dad and sons‘, ‘the brothers‘ and ‘Mum and daughter‘. The portraiture for each set of characters will be supported by a strapline on what different Christmas experiences mean to them at Westfield.
The campaign is enriched by a Westfield Photobooth which will go on tour to capture real portraits of Londoners. A unique UGC (user-generated content) element has been incorporated into the booth which gives users will the opportunity for their photo to feature in the out-of-home campaign and on Westfield‘s own digital channels during December.
Late night trading will be available to take advantage of as well as attractions including the celebrity lights switch-on event on Monday with Rita Ora, The Hidden House – a new immersive experience at Westfield Stratford City, an indoor ice rink at Westfield London and a 4D Santa‘s Grotto at each London centre.
Myf Ryan, Westfield‘s Marketing Director for the UK and Europe, said:
“The Christmas sales period is a key time for Westfield and its retailers. We have developed a marketing programme which positions Westfield as the ultimate retail and leisure destination for Christmas. It is important that we produced the stylish, fashionable content expected of the brand with ‘The Christmas Before Christmas campaign‘, while still capturing the multitude of offers found at both centres throughout the season.”
‘The Christmas Before Christmas‘ will be live for eight weeks. Sitting across Cinema, YouTube, ITV Player and social media, the campaign will engage with consumers in varied ways including personalisation (the ‘Santa present picker on Westfield‘s website and Facebook), a collaboration with Google Street View (to take part in The Big Present Hunt Game) and a partnership with the Evening Standard which will see Waterloo station taken over for a day.
