This year’s Marks & Spencer’s clothing and home ad has put a smile on audiences faces with a musical-inspired joyous Christmas daydream. Now, audiences can experience the magic first hand, as ODD and media agency Mindshare have helped to create an experiential advertising takeover of Waterloo Station bringing this daydream to life. 

“Our Anything but Ordinary campaign celebrates the joy of the season and by bringing it to life in Waterloo we want to make the morning commute anything but ordinary – as well as bring some magic to those coming into London for festive fun,” explained Anna Braithwaite, M&S Clothing & Home Marketing Director.

The Waterloo Station takeover brings to life key elements of the TV campaign via motion graphics shown on the station’s main concourse. A series of digital executions are showcased across the station’s digital advertising sites, alongside some striking print placements. 

In a piece of live branded theatre, the gifting train prop from the ad’s original set has been repurposed for Waterloo station to allow people to physically interact with the magical Christmas dream world from the film. Customers will be invited to come up and immerse themselves in the M&S world and could also be in with a chance of winning an M&S Christmas worth £3000.

The immersive experience is brought to life with visual details and musical film posters inspired by classic Hollywood films. The designers have put meticulous effort into every detail to bring the campaign to life, hoping to maintain the feel of the film even without sound.

“This personifies Christmas, with a healthy dose of visual and audio festivity. This is a season of style brought to you by M&S.” said Nick Stickland, Executive Creative Director at ODD.

The colourful train has also been decked out with the very best of M&S gifting, each one with a QR code attached so passers-by can scan to order on M&S.com. 

This festive season, brands are able to fully embrace experiential advertising once again, allowing them to fully immerse audiences into the world of Christmas, providing them with that holiday feeling.