Mom and Daughter Don’t Want Santa to Miss Out in Boots’ Cute Christmas Ad

“But who gives Santa a present?” is a question many wide-eyed kids have asked their parents the night before Christmas. That’s why this holiday season, U.K. retailer Boots is making sure old Saint Nick feels just as special as everyone else on his nice list.

Designed to remind viewers that there’s a gift for everyone at Boots, the brand’s Christmas campaign is centered on the concept of giving joy to others. At its heart is a sweet Christmas film, “Thank You Santa.”

The spot tells the story of a little girl and her mom making an epic journey armed with a sack of gifts for Father Christmas. As they make their way from their local high street to the snow-capped landscapes of the North Pole, kind strangers help them traverse land, sea and air.

In return for their generosity, the mother-daughter duo dish out gifts from their bag along their journey. The train conductor receives a mascara, the pilot with glossy red locks gets a Dyson Air Wrap styler, and the boat’s captain is handed a bottle of perfume.

By the time they reach Santa in his workshop, they have just the one gift left: a pair of Boots travel flight compression socks, ideal for the long journey ahead of him.

The ad was directed by award-winning director Sam Brown and set to “I’m Gonna Get There Somehow” by Val Doonican.

A mix of branded gifts and Boots’ own range of items are featured in the ad, which was developed by The Pharm, Boots’ dedicated WPP agency.

The campaign comes amid a shift from the Walgreens-owned retailer to better balance profit with purpose throughout the business, using its marketing to showcase how it can show up for customers and offer value at every stage in life, whether they’re buying lipgloss or a pair of glasses.

Pete Markey, chief marketing officer at Boots, told Adweek: “We know it’s not been an easy year for many people, so affordable and thoughtful gifting is key.”

He added: “Being with our customers for life is all about us being there with exactly what our customers need at the time they need it, and this Christmas is our biggest ever and therefore a great way to demonstrate this. … There are more ways than ever for customers to give joy to their loved ones by shopping at Boots.”

Sarah Bamford, creative partner at The Pharm, said: “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.” 

The wider, fully integrated “Give Joy” campaign will run for seven weeks across TV, radio, cinema, OOH, print, social, digital, in-store and online.

In-store, Boots has also launched its annual Gift Guide, offering a shoppable version powered by QR codes.

Showing up for customers

With research from analytics company Retail Economics finding that U.K. families will be £3 billion worse off in the lead-up to Christmas 2023 compared with last year, Boots has engineered its seasonal gift range with the cost-of-living crisis and inflationary pressures in mind, with 50% of the products priced at £10 or less.

The retailer’s Advantage card loyalty program, which it has increasingly been placing front and center in its marketing, will also play an integral role in its holiday season plans. Members will be offered discounts across the biggest range of products in Boots’ history this Christmas.

The initiative has garnered more than 16 million users in its 25-year lifespan. Markey said “record levels” of people had signed up in recent weeks, with Boots adding 1 million new cardholders in the past 12 months alone.

On the purpose side, Boots will partner with charity The Hygiene Bank as part of the campaign, donating 100,000 essential hygiene products to the nonprofit, providing more than 20,000 people with a basic care package this Christmas.

Throughout December, it will feature creative focused on driving awareness of The Hygiene Bank, with 4% of total media spend on “Give Joy” donated to the charity, as well as a 1% carbon offset donation.

The gift that keeps on giving

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 ads tested.

“As well as short-term sales, we will use our regular brand tracking and a dedicated brand tracking study with [shopper marketing agency] Mesh to measure ongoing performance,” explained Markey.

“Post-campaign, we will use econometrics to measure overall return—the last two Christmas campaigns have given us over £4.50 for every pound spent,” he added.