In today’s world, there has been a shift away from independent merchants and market stalls towards high street brands, leaving many struggling to thrive in a saturated market. Big players spend millions of pounds every year on Christmas marketing campaigns and mass-produced, generic products.
Putting smaller business back in the spotlight creative and production agency, HELL YEAH! has created a Christmas advert and will be selling copies on eBay for £0.99. Each copy will then be personalised with the independent retailer’s own logo, all with the intention of encouraging people to support local businesses, rather than getting carried away by heavy, emotional marketing.
The video opens with a young boy gazing lovingly at a photo of his mum, played by renowned actor, writer and comedian Annie McGrath, who wrote and starred in Channel 4’s Girls Go Trolling and ITV2’s @elevenish. The young boy proceeds to pull a gift from under his bed and we witness his struggle to wrap the present. Christmas Day arrives, and the boy gives a dodgily-wrapped package to his emotional, very surprised mum. She opens the gift and the angelic Christmas singing which has played throughout stops abruptly. She blasts her son with a tirade full of expletives (beeped out) to express her disappointment at the generic gift bought from a high street chain. The scene closes with a shot of the dad, played by Henry Perryment, one half of critically acclaimed sketch comedy double act GoodBear, who tells his son that his mother is right and concedes that ‘it is a bit s**t’.
“The Christmas ad space is dominated by cheesy, tear jerky films. We wanted to mix it up and add a twist to this tried and tested formula. We hope the film will encourage people to support their local businesses this Christmas.” Dulcie Cowling, Creative Director – HELL YEAH!
“Small businesses sit at the heart of what we do and we’re passionate about ensuring entrepreneurs have the opportunity to flourish on our platform, and beyond. Christmas is a crucial trading period for independent retailers, so we’re delighted to support Hell Yeah! on this project to showcase the best of small business and help them to engage new audiences” Rob Hattrell, Vice President – eBay UK
