In the latest phase of and Rothco's Christmas campaign for Tesco Ireland, “Here’s to the Hosts,” the brand broadcasted the biggest surprise yet from Dubliner, Suzin. On Monday this week (November 21), young mum, Suzin, broke the news of her latest pregnancy to her family, only she did so in a rather unconventional way; through a televised ad spot (below). In a heartfelt and emotive moment, Suzin sweetly apologised to her mum that she won’t be having any of her sherry trifle this Christmas. The kicker was that her family was seeing the ad on TV for the first time along with the rest of the country, with the news being kept secret throughout the creation of the spot, which was produced by Antidote with post production by Screen Scene and sound mixing by Will Farrell.
In addition to the unorthodox use of traditional channels, “Here’s to the Hosts” will also use activations to bring new formats into the mix, including outdoor projections of letters and an interactive digital billboard in Dublin’s city centre, including a live social feed of the hashtag #ToTheHosts. Call outs on social media will invite the public to be part of these surprise-and-delight activations and hosts will even get a special mention as they’re doing their Christmas shopping, with select Tesco stores handing over their loudspeakers for guests to thank their hosts.
Racking up millions of views on social media, Rothco and Tesco have been busy recruiting new letters since the campaign launched on November 1. They plan to give the wider public a chance to thank their own host in one of its TV ads; staying true to its promise of handing over Tesco’s advertising channels to the people of Ireland. So far in the campaign, we’ve seen a number of moving messages shared with this year’s Christmas-hosts-to-be. A particular highlight saw a group from Carlow Men’s Shed (a community initiative that started in Australia to improve men’s wellbeing), thanking the chef amongst them for hosting their Christmas party in the shed itself.
Coming up in the TV campaign, Tesco Ireland and Rothco will continue to celebrate hosts of all kinds, including those who cook Christmas dinner for a local rugby club, who hand out turkey sandwiches to the homeless, who work in the maternity ward on Christmas day, and who start cooking 40-50 Christmas cakes back in August. The characters on TV will be just as varied, from young kids, to burly men, to a festive veteran celebrating his 93rd Christmas this year. A final surprise is in store for viewers on Christmas week (December 24th, 25th, and 26th). As the two month-long, intimate campaign ends, Tesco will offer a little twist on the idea.
Morgan Fiebig, Copywriter at Rothco, said: “We’re so excited for the commercials yet to come. The focus of this campaign is the unsung heroes of Christmas, the hosts. Christmas means so many different things to so many different people and it has been amazing to share such a breadth of touching real-life messages. It was a brave move for Tesco to re-appropriate the entirety of their Christmas ad space this year but it’s really driven engagement with the brand, seeing a whopping 66% engagement rate on Facebook.”
