SOPHIE ELLIS BEXTOR WEARS M&S COLLECTION DRESS £49.50
HANNAH WADDINGHAM WEARS M&S COLLECTION DRESS £49.50 & M&S COLLECTION SANDALS £39.50
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TV ad features a roster of British talent including Hannah Waddingham, Zawe Ashton, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Tan France
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Set to a cover of Meatloaf’s ‘I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)’, re-recorded by artist and singer-songwriter Ray BLK
With less than two months to go until the big day, M&S has unveiled its Christmas Clothing & Home campaign for 2023 created by newly appointed creative agency MOTHER and director Ally Pankiw, best known for Feel Good and Black Mirror.
Celebrating the honest truth of Christmas, the campaign is inspired by the insight that, for many, it can be a challenge striking the balance between celebrating the things we love about the holidays, and taking on some things we might not enjoy as much but feel obliged to do anyway. To bring this to life, this campaign invites viewers to embrace only the things they love about Christmas (and skip those they don’t). The campaign line 'Love Thismas (Not Thatmas)' encourages people to join in, deciding what makes Christmas work best for them.
The campaign’s TV ad is set across four different homes, each of which feature a popular British household name – actress Hannah Waddingham, singer and podcast host Sophie Ellis-Bextor, presenter and style expert Tan France, and actress Zawe Ashton – all making a decision on which Christmas traditions they're going to embrace this year (and which ones they're going to skip). Featuring a series of humorous and irreverent scenes, each can be seen facing an amusing dilemma in a relatable reference to the pressures we often face in the run up to Christmas, and the little things we all do to help make the festive season special for those around us.
Anna Braithwaite, M&S Clothing & Home Marketing Director, said: “I’m sure everyone watching our ad will be able to relate to our fabulous cast of talent who so hilariously bring-to-life those little moments and dilemmas we all have at Christmas time!
“Before we created Love Thismas (Not Thatmas), we spoke to hundreds of our customers and they all told us that, at Christmas, they feel this pressure of having to worry about and plan so many things. We know it can often feel like the list is never-ending so this year we decided to celebrate and empower our customers to just do the things they love.”
Set against the stunning vocals of Ray BLK’s version of ‘I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)’, the soundtrack perfectly captures the tongue-in-cheek spirit of the campaign, empowering viewers to acknowledge the things we all do – some that we love, and some that we may like doing a little less - that makes the festive season a truly magical time with loved ones.
Hannah Waddingham said: “I love the build up to Christmas and all the magic and sparkle that comes with it! If I'm perfectly honest, I'd be happy to start it all in November! Getting glammed up and spending time with loved ones and family is something I look forward to the most, so filming this campaign really got me in the festive spirit. M&S is always my go-to destination for picking up Christmas gifts and let's not forget the foooood!......so being involved in the campaign has been so special and a great pleasure.”
TAN FRANCE WEARS M&S COLLECTION VELVET BLAZER £130, M&S COLLECTION BOW TIE £15, M&S COLLECTION DINNER SHIRT £45, M&S COLLECTION TUX TROUSERS £40 & AUTOGRAPH SHOES £85
ZAWE ASHTON WEARS M&S COLLECTION DRESS £49.50 & M&S COLLECTION PLATFORM SHOES £55
On working with M&S, Tan France said: “I’ve loved M&S since I was a child, and so to be included in this campaign is such an exciting moment for me. I love celebrating Christmas with my kids and all the festivities that come with it (yes - even those home-made decorations!), and I’m so excited to share this campaign with them – they love going into M&S when we’re back in the UK, so they’ll be super excited when they see the ad.”
Actress Zawe Ashton said of being involved in the campaign: “Who doesn’t love an M&S Christmas? I’m delighted to be playing a part in the campaign this year – I have a special place in my heart for M&S. I can’t wait to really embrace the season and make the most of every minute with my family.”
Long-time fan of the brand, Sophie Ellis Bextor said: “My kids all still love the magic of Christmas, so it’s a really exciting time in our household – we love hosting Christmas, so having a house-full is when I’m happiest. We’ve got so many Christmas traditions in our family, which we add to each year – it’s always busy for us, and I love it that way! Being able to be a part of one of the biggest TV ad campaigns of the year is so exciting, I can’t wait to see it go live!”
The campaign creative will be executed across a range of channels – from VOD casting across multiple platforms, to dynamic digital billboards and print cover wraps. Within TV advertising, the advert will premiere in full at 9pm during Payback on ITV, Wednesday 1st November. In addition, the advert will also feature across several podcast sponsorships, including Table Manners, The Therapy Crouch, Help I Sexted My Boss, Sh*gged Married Annoyed, Closet Confessions and Spencer & Vogue.
As the stars of this year’s Christmas ad campaign, Hannah, Zawe, Tan and Sophie join a team of talent who – across the year and through different campaigns and channels - are helping to drive style perceptions and appraisal for M&S’ clothing collections with new and existing customers.
Offering the ultimate destination on the high-street for Christmas, this year’s M&S gifting offer includes a carefully curated range across Clothing & Home, Beauty & Food, along with Card & Wrap and Decorate – all in one place. Gifting is the second most important priority for M&S customers at Christmas (only behind food/drink) this year, and customers will be prioritising a sociable Christmas over the coming weeks, with a full range of social events and occasions they’re looking to enjoy.
This Christmas, M&S is continuing to invest in protecting prices and – like last year - one third of its Gift Shop ranged price at £10 or under and 70% priced at £20 or less. And, this year, the average price of M&S’ decorate range is down six percent compared to LY, with more than 50 single hanging decorations priced at £6 and under. The retailer also has new lower opening price points for its Christmas Trees (£22 vs £29.50 last year).
Family PJs continue to be a favourite with customers, with over 150,000 pairs sold since the range started to land online in September. Part of the M&S family since the 1930s, the Spencer™ Bear range went viral on TikTok last week – M&S has sold nearly 50,000 pieces from the range (not including PJs) since the start of September – customer favourites include the Cosy Spencer Bear Slipper Socks (from £5) and the Spencer Bear Hanging Decoration (£6).
Another TikTok success story, 91,000 light-up candles have been sold since the start of September with customers loving the Mandarin, Clove & Cinnamon Town House Light Up Candle (£10) – a combination of M&S’ innovative light up technology and a scent that M&S has been selling exclusively for more than 30 years – 28,000 sold since it launched and 90,000 pieces from the Mandarin, Clove, and Cinnamon Fragrance range sold so far.
M&S’ ‘Kitchen Disco’ range – a stylish and vibrant collection of Christmas decorations is proving an early hit with customers – 155k pieces sold so far. Best-sellers include the Glitter Light Up Hanging Alphabet Decoration (£6) and Glass Hanging Dinosaur Decoration (£6).
Building on its popularity last year, M&S has expanded its Cosy Shop range to include a Teddy Fleece Couples Sleeved Blanket (£49.50) which is already proving a hit with customers (almost 50% sold already).
Credits:
Brand: M&S
Client: Anna Braithwaite, M&S Clothing & Home Marketing Director
Campaign: Love Thismas (Not Thatmas)
Agency: Mother
Strategy: Mother
Creative: Mother
Production Company: Partizan London
Director: Ally Pankiw
Producer EP: Ella More O’Ferrall
Producer: Annabel Ridley
Production Designer: Kem White
DOP: Will Hanke
Campaign Stylist: Sam Ranger
Photographer: Hollie Fernando @ TwentyTwenty
Still Production: The Production Factory
Edit House: TenThree
Editor: Elena De Palma
2nd Editor: Dave Robinson
Sound House: 750mph
Sound Engineer: Sam Ashwell
Post House: Black Kite
Colourist: George Kyriacou
VFX Supervisor: Jonny Freeman
Music Supervisor: The Hogan
Music Track: I would do anything for love (but I won’t do that)
Music Artist: Ray BlK
Casting and Talent: R&C PMK
Managing Director: Jan Taubert
Media Agency: MindShare
Please click the link below to view Christmas Gift Guide highlights for Womenswear, Lingerie, Menswear, Kids, Home & Beauty
Available now at www.marksandspencer.com
All imagery available to download at www.prshots.com
NOTES TO EDITORS
ABOUT MARKS & SPENCER:
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As the UK’s largest clothing retailer, quality and trusted value underpins everything we do. We source and make our clothes with care, so they are hand-me-downable and exceptionally long-lasting, as they are too good to waste.
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For every M&S product, our clear goal is to only use responsibly sourced raw materials – including those that derive from animals.
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We ensure that 100% of the cotton in M&S clothing is responsibly sourced through the Better Cotton Initiative or with organic and recycled certifications. Our Responsible Cotton Sourcing Policy, excludes sourcing cotton from Xianjiang, Uzbekistan or Turkmenistan.
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100% of the cashmere that we used in our pure cashmere products is certified by the Sustainable Fibre Alliance.
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100% of the leather in our ladies footwear & accessories, men’s footwear and furniture is certified by the Leather Working Group.
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Our simple commitment is to send no clothes to landfill, ensuring any unsold stock is redistributed to our charity partners Oxfam, Newlife or Shelter.
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Through our long-standing Shwopping partnership with Oxfam, we make it easy for customers to recycle any used or unwanted clothing. Since 2008, we have collected over 36 million items of clothing raising an estimated £23m for Oxfam’s vital work.
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Through our Beauty Takeback Scheme, we enable hard to recycle beauty packaging materials and components that commonly end up in landfill to be recycled and turned into new products.
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We’re working hard to reduce, reuse and recycle our use of plastic. Through our hanger reuse scheme, we’ve diverted over one billion hangers from going to landfill since 2007 by reusing or recycling them, even if they’re broken. In 2023, we introduced a ‘Bring your own Bag’ initiative for Click & Collect orders, saving 10 million pieces of plastic annually.
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We were the first retailer to transparently publish details of the 500+ factories that make M&S clothing on our interactive supplier map, which includes the factory location, name, number of workers and gender split.
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Ethical trading is core to how we do business and our Global Sourcing Principles set out our minimum global supplier ethical and environmental standards. These Principles are reviewed regularly – in partnership with our supplier partners and external organisations – to ensure they are fit for purpose and up to date.
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Sustainability now runs through all our strategic priorities to provide the foundation for our plans to reshape M&S for growth that is sustainable in every sense. Our 22/23 Sustainability Report is available to view here