Boots launches For Gifts They'll Really Love, a Christmas ad where an LED face mask and hair styler become obsession

Key Takeaways

• Boots has launched For Gifts They'll Really Love, its first Christmas campaign under the Give it Some Boots brand platform, created by the integrated WPP team supporting Boots.

• The film follows beauty, wellness and electrical gifts unwrapped on Christmas morning as they turn into obsessions, including an LED mask worn to take the bins out.

• Featured gifts include the Shark Cryoglow LED Face Mask, Dyson Airwrap, Jo Malone London English Pear & Freesia and the Oral-B iO9, with 3 for 2 on more than 1,200 gifts.

• The film debuted on Boots' digital channels on 4 November before a TV roadblock on 6 November, with a Netflix takeover, Snapchat, TikTok, Reddit and outdoor placements to follow.

Boots has launched For Gifts They'll Really Love, a Christmas campaign that skips the usual glow of Christmas morning and instead follows what happens to the presents once the wrapping paper has gone in the recycling. The film begins with beauty, wellness and electrical gifts being opened on Christmas Day and then jumps forward through the following year, as each present slowly becomes the thing its new owner cannot put down.

The campaign follows the lives of different people, from a mum who wears her LED light therapy mask while taking the bins out and even keeps it on for the family portrait, while another woman reaches for her hair styler halfway through a romantic dinner.

Boots' For Gifts They'll Really Love film by WPP shows a Shark LED mask and hair styler used all year round

The campaign was created by the integrated WPP team supporting Boots, while Biscuit Filmworks produced the film and a modern reimagining of a classic carol supplies the soundtrack. There are no celebrities in the cast, since the stars of the piece are the products themselves, and the gifts shown across the campaign include the Shark Cryoglow LED Face Mask, the Dyson Airwrap, Jo Malone London English Pear & Freesia, the No7 Future Renew Collection, YSL Rouge Pur Couture and the Oral-B iO9.

The film debuted on Boots' digital channels on 4th November before a multi-channel TV roadblock on 6th November that was planned to reach six million people over the launch weekend. Boots is also running its first ever 20-second TV edits along with 18 offer-led edits, and it expects more than 300 million views across its video activity, reaching 90% of ABC1 women. A Netflix takeover covers both the launch and Black Friday, while Snapchat carries a 12 Days of ChristMAPS idea through Promoted Places and TikTok and Reddit host search placements and curated gift guides. Out of home brings a special build at Westfield White City, taxi wraps and placements on the Underground and National Rail in the New Year, and Boots says real-time footfall data will adjust its digital spend to steer people into stores, which it describes as a first for the brand.

The commercial side of the campaign is built around Star Gifts, many of them at less than half price, along with 3 for 2 on more than 1,200 gifts and new brands such as Olaplex, Charlotte Tilbury and Jo Malone London. Charlotte Lock, Chief Marketing Officer at Boots, explained the thinking simply when she said, "The best gifting is about really knowing someone." Simon Lloyd, Deputy Chief Creative Officer EMEA at VML, connected the work directly to the new platform, saying, "Christmas gave us the biggest possible stage to show what the new 'Give it Some Boots' platform really means." The campaign has also travelled to Ireland, where it debuted on RTÉ One and Virgin Media One in the same week.

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