Feelgood M&S Clothing Christmas campaign has community spirit at heart

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Nov 4, 2022

Celebrating community and kindness is the central theme to M&S Clothing and Home’s Christmas ad, with a host of grassroots groups taking centre stage. This year, the retailer is again keeping clothing and food separate for Christmas, with the latter ad campaign having already begun airing.

‘Gifts that give’ shows how the presents consumers choose from M&S can help support local groups with the retailer also saying it will be donating £1 million to local community groups (1,000 groups will each receive a £1,000 donation) as part of the campaign. 

M&S partnered with community causes charity Neighbourly Foundation to create the campaign. 

To the tune of Treat People with Kindness by Harry Styles, the 60-second ad opens with a young boy waiting to give his parents their Christmas present. When they open the gift in bed, there’s a knock on the door and he opens his curtains to find a choir singing outside the house.

Different families then continue to open their Christmas presents by their respective trees and the more gifts they open, the more community groups appear as families venture out into their cul-de-sac. They’re greeted by a host of groups showing their varied talents, including motorcycle group The Kaotic Angels Club, Paddington Arts Dance Group, the Mintridge Foundation, Kearsley Youth Brass Band, Bengali Sanskriti Club and the Y Centre Skaters.

Of course, M&S product features throughout, including aa Collection jumper (£35), sequin blazer (£69) and matching trousers (£49.50), family Christmas pyjamas (from £12), and Percy Pig Christmas PJs (from £13).

The campaign was created by House 337 and shot by The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey through Partizan. ‘Gifts that give’ will run for six weeks across TV, video-on-demand, cinema, digital, social and print, and debuts at 9pm on 4 November on Channel 4.

Initially, M&S had a different idea for its Clothing and Home Christmas ad but due to the cost-of-living crisis the brand decided to take a different approach, leading with the Styles track as inspiration (the singer is also donating his fee to homeless charity Centrepoint).

It reflects findings from the brand’s Family Matters Index, which revealed that two-thirds of families are determined to protect Christmas despite rising cost-of-living concerns. It also found that at-home gatherings will be the most popular choice of celebration this Christmas and that giving gifts will remain a top priority for shoppers – second only to food. Also, 65% of customers intend to go to Christmas parties and over 50% intend to buy a new outfit.