Marks and Spencer bring Mrs Claus to life

Marks and Spencer has unveiled a new approach for its Christmas campaign, instead on packing its television advert with celebrity faces, it has instead brought Mrs Claus to life with a campaign “created with our customers and for our customers” the retailer declared.

The Christmas with Love campaign launched over the weekend and is the retailer’s most customer-centric campaign to date, after taking input from thousands of its 32 million customers.

Marks and Spencer executive director of customer, marketing and M&S.com, Patrick Bousquet-Chavanne said: “Our Christmas with Love campaign is a brand new approach for M&S this year, one that has been created with our customers and for our customers, with their feedback at the heart of our strategy. Our ambition is for M&S’s customers across the nation to experience something special this festive season.

“Mrs Claus is the result of thousands of conversations that we had with our customers to understand what they want from M&S, which is warmth, empathy and a touch of humour presented in a modern and contemporary way. She epitomises the huge efforts our customers put in to making the festive season special and represents the love and togetherness that customers want to feel and see in abundance at Christmas.”

The advert, directed by Tom Hopper, who also directed The King’s Speech and Les Misérables, tells the story of Jake, who’s spent the last year squabbling with his sister Anna. As Christmas approaches, Jake decides he wants to do something special for her. So he writes to Mrs Claus, played by British actor Janet McTeer, who helps him give the perfect present with love to Anna, a pair of red, glittery trainers.

Mrs Claus helps out by flying from Lapland across London in her helicopter to get Anna’s present to her on Christmas morning, and she even has time to eat some mince pies. As she departs, it begins to snow, delivering a white Christmas. Mrs Claus then gets home to greet her tired husband who doesn’t even know she left the log cabin.

Marks and Spencer listens to customer feedback to create Christmas campaign

Bousquet-Chavanne added: “We’ve brought Mrs Claus and her world to life outside the ad in our most immersive and mobile Christmas experience yet. Across social, in-store, mobile and online she’ll be there to help our customers with the build-up to the big day by taking over our communication channels and surprising customers as they shop, ensuring that everyone will #LoveMrsClaus this year.”

To tie in with the TV advert launch, Marks and Spencer featured its own Mrs Claus emoji and hashtag on Twitter when using #LoveMrsClaus, while store staff are being encouraged to carry out 15,000 acts of “Mrs Claus kindness” for customers, from free coffee for a café regular to a party makeover for a customer in need of a pick-me-up.

The retailer has also partnered with Channel 4, which aired the first showing of the advert, who will be featuring a specially created spot narrated by David Mitchell will see Mrs Claus give seasonal style tips to Dawn O’Porter, Christmas decoration suggestions for Kirsty and Phil and festive food inspiration to Jimmy Doherty.

Marks and Spencer has also noted that its campaign aims to align with its customers’ personal Christmas calendars as they work towards the big day and will evolve in the run-up to Christmas Day, such as from the search for a great Christmas jumper in early December, to the last minute dash for cream on Christmas Eve.

The Marks and Spencer advert may have followed the John Lewis ‘Buster’ advert, however, many people on social media have declared Mrs Claus the best Christmas advert.

Images: courtesy of Marks and Spencer