Leading convenience retail group SPAR is set to launch its brand new Christmas advert ahead of the 2022 festive season. The new advert is very much a sequel to SPAR’s previous global award winning and now iconic Christmas advert and actually revisits some of the same characters 10 years after the original ad aired.
The new SPAR advertising campaign, which is entitled “Finding Christmas”, represents a significant €1.2 million investment from the retail group. The advertisement will officially launch on 10th November and will run up until Christmas Day across TV and Video on Demand. The advert is slotted to be one of the most prominent advertising campaigns this festive season with key programming secured throughout this year’s FIFA World Cup tournament and during The Late Late Toy Show on Friday, 25th November.
Revisiting the spirit of the 2012 classic, SPAR picks up its original theme of ‘Finding Trees’ 10 years on but cleverly reinterprets it in a modern way that is more fitting with Ireland and its people 10 years on. Rather than featuring genuine traditional Christmas trees only, the advert will also showcase structures that naturally resemble or have been augmented to resemble Christmas trees. The advert continues with the warm message from SPAR’s 2012 advert that ‘wherever you find the tree, we hope you like what’s under it’, reflecting SPAR’s famous ‘under the tree’ tagline.
Commenting on the new campaign, Suzanne Weldon, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at BWG Foods (owners and operators of SPAR Ireland) said: "The success and global acclaim of our previous Christmas advert meant we had a lot to live up to this time but we’re all confident that we’ve created something special once again that will resonate with everybody, no matter who or where you are in Ireland. This quirky but warm advert is a celebration of SPAR’s love for the annual festive period and also our connectedness with the many wonderful communities that we serve throughout Ireland.”
Reflecting SPAR’s connectedness with its local community, SPAR has augmented the cast of the new advert with a number of non-actors gathered through street-casting from the various communities filmed across Ireland. These included two of the original cast from the 2012 SPAR advert, featured originally as two young primary school pupils but now 10 years older and senior secondary school students in the sequel.
The backing soundtrack to the new advert has been specially produced by a supergroup of Ireland’s best emerging musical talents with Meath folk duo, twin sisters Katie and Aoife Lynch, on lead vocals in a new rendition of The Raveonettes’ modern class, ‘The Christmas Song’, which also featured in SPAR’s 2012 advert.
The Christmas Advert, created by SPAR Ireland and advertising agency Publicis has been directed by the internationally renowned Chris Balmond who has previously helmed for Amazon and Guinness and produced by Andrew Freedman of Antidote . The advert was filmed over five days at various locations across Galway, Kildare, Wicklow, Meath and Dublin.
SPAR Ireland operates over 400 SPAR stores across the country, working in partnership with independent retailers, providing employment to over 12,000 people locally and supporting many local Irish food and beverage suppliers. SPAR and its retailers have been recognised through international and local awards programmes for innovation and world class standards in retailing. SPAR Ireland is part of BWG Foods, the market leader in the convenience sector whose brands have been at the forefront of grocery retailing in Ireland for almost 60 years.
