This Christmas small businesses are jumping on the John Lewis bandwagon and are creating heartfelt Christmas adverts.
It can be hard to get seen at this time of year, and especially when for those trying to conceive it can be the end of a long year of trying. That’s why I hit the streets of London last weekend with my 12 year old niece to create my very own Christmas advert to try and convey the heartache and emotional turmoil that happens at this time of year.
Obviously, this was a BIG BUDGET production – not! But we had a storyline and knew what we wanted to capture.
There were a few wardrobe stuff ups in that I was originally wearing a jumper in the August shot, but it was one of those learning experiences. Having never made an ad before, and not entirely sure how it would all come together it was interesting. I knew that I wanted to evoke an emotional reaction, and only those who had been through it or were going through it would appreciate that.
Christmas is a hard time of year for many many people, older, younger, rich, or poor. It is hard to understand what the person standing next to you on the bus or in the coffee shop queue has been through and therefore it is very very easy to be insensitive without meaning to.
This is what I wanted to get across, that no one knows that you have been trying for months. That families are just out and about enjoying themselves, not realising/knowing/understanding that just being there is triggering you. But the biggest thing about Christmas is that it is a time for hope.
Christmas is a Time for Hope
Christmas comes at the end of the calendar year, and I think we have all been indoctrinated to the ‘christmas miracles’, ‘magic of christmas’, the ‘new year, new beginnings’ type sayings, and all of that tends to wrap up into hope that a new year will bring something extra.
Whether a new year does bring anything with it can probably be debated until the cows come home, but what I think is important at this time of year when lots of people might be feeling sad, lonely, emotional, or heartbroken is that they realise that it isn’t just them who feels that way. It is a feeling that many people have, and there are things out there to help.
A well made Christmas advert gives the viewer the feeling that they are being heard and that the company gets them. Hopefully you feel that…. I’d love to know x
