CHI On Using Energy Over Emotion This Xmas

Argos' 2016 Chrtistmas spot broke earlier today and here Ben Da Costa [below], one of the CHI&Partners creatives on the project, explains why the brand went for energy over emotion and the difficulties in finding ice skating yetis. 

What was the brief from Argos?

Argos wants to own the excitement of Christmas across the nation and to make sure that 2016 is the most exciting, most dynamic, most colourful Christmas ever.  

In doing so, Argos wanted to position themselves as the SuperRetailer that can get you exactly what you want, when you want it. So you can forget the pressures and focus on the fun, which is where ‘Fast Trak Same Day Delivery and 60 second in-store collection’ comes in.

Last year was snowboarding, this year it’s ice-skating, but ice-skating yetis; where did that idea come from?

We wanted this year's Argos spot to make people smile. It needed to fit in the Argos ‘white world’, with bright colours. The ad is all about speed, reflecting the Argos Fast Track services. The line 'Just Can't Wait for Christmas' nods to this as well as the excitement people feel around the festive period. We want to tap into this and get people's hearts racing, rather than doing as others will and pulling on the heartstrings.

Were there any specific inspirations for the design of the yetis?

There are so many different things that come up when you search for yetis; some people think they are more bear-like, whilst others opt for the simian look. We wanted the Yetis to feel real but didn’t want them to look so perfect that they could be CGI – we took inspiration from 80s and 90s pop culture, and lots of neon fur.

How did you cast the yetis/ice skaters?

We had auditions on ice tracks all over the country. We wanted a mix of height and techniques (we have freestyles, ice hockey players and professional figure skaters) as well as those who could skate like a yeti.

What did director Henry Schofield bring to the project?

He was passionate about the project, sharing our ambition of shooting the ad in-camera and approached it as if it was a music/skate video. Bringing [DP] Jallo Faber along was an inspired choice.

The spot was shot in-camera; how difficult and complex a shoot was it?

We were shooting in Warsaw in the height of summer on a purpose built synthetic ice track,  which made it extremely challenging and very hot for our semi-professional ice skaters.

It was an extremely tight shooting schedule so we had to shot with multiple cameras on a single take to maximise our options.

Although the actions and stunts where shot in-camera and we snowed down our locations, there was still a huge amount of post required, with fur being famously difficult; ETC really delivered.