Lonely man is hero of Spanish lottery ad this Christmas
Author: CIMCOM
This year a Spanish campaign might just beat any of Britain’s carefully crafted Christmas adverts for hearts and minds with its endearing and moving creative. It’s an animation to promote the national lottery in Spain which has been something of an institution since it began in Cadiz in 1812. The Christmas lottery always enjoys an extra marketing push and this year’s campaign includes a three-and-a-half-minute film akin to a Pixar short, aired on TV and in cinemas. Social media extends the campaign with Instagram and Facebook, where consumers can follow Justin’s exploits and glimpse at life in the factory where he works. The UK’s John Lewis ad and an emotional ad for German supermarket brand Edeka also feature lonely men.
Spanish lottery: brand promise
Whereas lotteries in many countries provide big payouts to just one individual, the Spanish lottery tends to be played by syndicates of workmates or groups of family and friends, and pays out to many winners at once. Sharing in the joy of winning is at the heart of the brand promise for the Spanish lottery. This brand essence is captured and communicated through this campaign.
The tagline for the ad is: "There’s no bigger prize than sharing."
A charming storyline
Our protagonist is Justin, a security guard at a mannequin factory. He works the night shift so his hours never coincide with his colleagues and yet ironically he spends his nights surrounded by human figures - the mannequins. This just emphasises his loneliness. Initially he fulfils his need to share by interacting with the mannequins. Then he becomes more creative, setting up gifts and jokes using the mannequins themselves to share messages with his colleagues to surprise them when they arrive on the morning shift. Then he reads in the paper that his colleagues have won the lottery without him. So with a sigh he continues to go into work to carry out his duties. Here he finds that his team mates have a surprise of their own, and have included him in their winning lottery syndicate in return for his kindness.
Sit back and watch the film short
You can view the campaign video and even if you don’t understand Spanish, you’ll understand the sentiment.
It’s entitled: Anuncio Lotería de Navidad 2015 - #Justino [Oficial]
The YouTube video ad has had over 4 million views within three weeks since launch.
Listen to the interview with Juan Garcia-Escudero
The campaign was created with Leo Burnett in Madrid. The agency’s General Creative Director, Juan Garcia-Escudero gave an interview to BBC 5 Live Breakfast about the thinking behind the campaign. Interestingly, he referred his client to John Lewis’s Christmas adverts which have become anticipated as an annual ‘event’ in the UK, with customers and commentators speculating about what they’ll come up with to improve on the previous year’s advertising campaign. The agency urged their client to create an advert that would engender the same widespread interest.
Hear the interview: Man behind Spanish ad that’s ‘won Christmas’
Interact with Justin on Instagram
The storyline continues on social media where Spanish consumers can follow the Instagram account of @Justino_Vigilante
Apparently Justin is a fan of science fiction, except he doesn’t think it’s fiction - there is life out there! And of course he says that at night he works as a security guard.
The account has over 12,000 followers.
More fiction at the factory on Facebook
The campaign continues on facebook where the other characters post on the facebook page for the fictitious Pilar factory, Fábrica de Maniquíes El Pilar, where Justin works. In a wonderful work of imagination the factory timeline and posts go back to 1910.
This account has 87,000 likes.
Christmas lottery campaign website
The Spanish lottery’s campaign website provides an official announcement of the national Christmas lottery and provides a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the advert. Take a look.
UK’s man in the moon from John Lewis couldn’t be more alone
Department store chain, John Lewis also took loneliness as its theme, choosing the man in the moon to exemplify the sadness of being alone at Christmas. As their website explains: “This is the story of a young girl called Lily. Looking at the moon through the family telescope one night, she's amazed at what she finds... a man on the moon. Lily watches as he goes about his chores, all alone up there. She becomes determined to get something to the moon, to send him a message and show him that someone down here is thinking of him.”
The story continues with a range of ‘Man in the moon’ products, available to buy. Social media activity includes the twitter account with #ManOnTheMoon. A charity tie-up with Age UK will help to raise awareness of the number of elderly people who will be lonely at Christmas and raise funds for the charity.
The ad has been viewed over 20 million times in a month putting John Lewis ahead of the Spanish lottery ad by a significant margin of views.
German supermarket ad also features lonely man
In a Christmas coincidence, the advert for German supermarket brand Edeka also features a lonely man as its hero. An elderly man is craving the company of his family at Christmas but all his grown up children have busy lives and families of their own and don’t have the time to see him. Then they receive funeral cards announcing his death and are full of remorse. The family gather at his home to mourn him at his wake and are surprised to see the table set for dinner. Their father appears from the kitchen and they are shocked to see him alive. He quietly says: “How else could I have brought you all together? Mmh?”
View the Edeka Christmas clip,’the homecoming’: EDEKA Weihnachtsclip - #heimkommen
The ad has received positive comments on social media and glowing reviews in the press, dubbing it the most emotional Christmas advert.
The ad was viewed a whopping 40 million times on YouTube in just two weeks. It seems Edeka has trounced both the Spanish lottery and John Lewis, in terms of views, with its rendition of the lonely man.