‘Mum, who gives presents to Santa?’

This simple question rooted in the uncomplicated and beautiful joy of giving, sits at the heart of Boots’ feel-good festive Christmas spot, ‘Thankyou Santa’.

The spot tells the story of a little girl who delivers a series of gifts from Boots on her way to the North Pole to deliver Santa the travel socks he didn’t know he needed. Each moment of recognition on her journey is a simple reminder of the joy that comes with being grateful to the people in our communities who support us every day.

Directed by award-winning Director Sam Brown and set to the soundtrack ‘I’m Gonna Get There Somehow’ by Val Doonican, the advert will air for the first time on ITV this Friday evening, (3rd November).

The fully integrated campaign runs for seven weeks across TV, radio, cinema, out of home, print, social, digital, in-store and online. The advert will also run during the Heart Breakfast Radio Show, as part of its long-term partnership with Boots, and on Disney+ as Boots becomes an official launch partner for the channel throughout November. 

Pete Markey, Chief Marketing Officer, Boots, explained: “At Boots, we want to help customers to give joy this Christmas and to celebrate the people who deserve to be appreciated; family, friends, colleagues, or anyone in the local community who have made a difference to their lives this year. Christmas is the perfect time to express our gratitude to others and with our extensive range of great value gifts and amazing offers, Boots really does have something to help make everyone in your life feel valued this Christmas.”

Boots used System One, a platform that measures emotional responses to adverts and predicts how customers will react, at each stage of its development, from early scripts and storyboards right through to the finished film. The results were very strong, falling within the top 5% of all adverts tested.

The Boots Christmas campaign was developed in partnership with its advertising agency at The Pharm, the WPP partnership team dedicated to Walgreen Boots Alliance. 

Sarah Bamford, Creative Partner, The Pharm, added: “This year, our Boots Christmas campaign is about rediscovering the joy in giving. In our film, we look at gifting through the eyes of an innocent child, and we discover that giving is not about finding the most perfect or most expensive present, it’s about the heart that lies behind each gifting moment.”

Christmas has already launched in stores and online at boots.com and includes the Boots Gift Guide. Reflecting the growing importance of social commerce in marketing this year Boots is offering a shoppable version, with customers able to take a picture of a gift they’d like to buy and via a QR code from the Gift Guide, link directly to the relevant page on boots.com. A shortcut which makes it easier for customers to instantly do their Christmas shopping. 

Boots has also announced The Hygiene Bank as its Christmas charity partner. As part of this commitment, Boots will donate 100,000 essential hygiene products to the charity, helping to provide over 20,000 people with a basic care package this Christmas.

Additionally, throughout November and December, Boots will double its ‘You Donate – We Donate’ pledge meaning that the more customers donate in the 700 donation points across the UK, the more Boots will donate, estimated to result in a further 20,000 products for the charity. 

The Hygiene Bank will also receive support through Boots’ new media partnership with ‘We are 8’, a sustainable media platform that allows customers to earn rewards for watching videos that support social and environmental causes. Throughout December, it will feature creatives focused on driving awareness of The Hygiene Bank, with 4% of the total media spend on this platform donated to the charity, as well as 1% carbon offset donation.

At a time when consumers face complex challenges in their lives the simplicity and joy of Boots focus on the joy of giving - however small the gift - provides not just cut-through in a cluttered market, but that all important festive feel good factor.

Christmas trend watchers predicted joy as a key advertising trend this year and this spot delivers it in droves. A brand with a track record of wearing its heart on its sleeve at Christmas has successfully tugged on the heart-strings once again in this pitch perfect spot.