The Argos Christmas Advert
16th November 2016
Argos has turned to speed, adrenaline and excitement for its 2016 Christmas advertising campaign, following last year’s extreme snowboarding ‘Just Can’t Wait for Christmas’ spot.
Last week, the retailer unveiled another high-octane spectacular – featuring five eight-foot tall, neon yetis, hurtling through the streets of a snowy town on ice-skates to deliver Christmas goods at extraordinary speed!
The ‘Christmas Yetis’ advert is a whirlwind of excitement, energy and colour, reflecting the market-leading speed of Argos’ same day Fast Track Delivery and Fast Track Collection services.
Set against an exclusive adaptation by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra of “What’s This?”, the spot creates a palpable sense of festive excitement and anticipation.
“What we love about this fun, fast-paced campaign is that it beautifully captures the spirit of excitement and anticipation surrounding Christmas. Fun loving and friendly, these larger-than-life, speeding yetis colourfully bring to life the role that Argos hopes to play in the Christmases of families nationwide this Christmas – and the skill, speed and precision that make us market leaders, with our super-speedy, same day Fast Track Delivery and Fast Track Collection services.”Stephen Vowles, Marketing Director at Argos
The advert was shot in camera on a purpose-built skating track in the picturesque centre of Warsaw, and stars five semi-professional ice skaters – with more than a century’s experience collectively – as the yetis.
Based on the folklore that yetis move twice as fast as the average human, the Argos yetis leap and carve around corners like lightning on their skates – collecting, playing with and delivering Argos’ top products as they go, from Beats headphones, Virtual Reality headsets and Dyson vacuum cleaners to Fitbit, GoPro and Furby products.
A team of award-winning special effects experts from Animated Extras built the hyper-realistic yetis (each costing £30,000 to create) over a period of three months at the world-famous Shepperton Studios in Surrey, England.
The team included experts who have previously worked to develop state-of-the-art costumes, props, animatronics and prosthetics for Hollywood movies and British TV shows, including James Bond, Avengers, Cinderella, Jupiter Ascending, Into the Woods and Cloud Atlas.
Inside the yetis are Peter Hallam (in orange), twice British Figure Skating Champion and holder of five international Gold medals as well as two silver medals at the Senior British Figure Skating Championships.
The remaining blue, pink, green and purple yetis are played by George Southall (in blue), who is recognised as one of the best amateur freestyle skaters in the UK; professional Adrian Jack (in pink), a principal in Disney on Ice; and professional ice hockey players Brad Slade (in green) and Kevin McGlynn (in purple).
Watch the advert here:
Shop for all products featured in the Christmas advert at Argos in Garden Square.
