2026BootsTravel, Leisure, Retail & RestaurantsVideo ad
Boots: Give It Some Boots
Boots tasked VML London with launching their new brand platform during the 2026 holiday season. The goal was to move away from traditional, emotional Christmas advertising and instead highlight the retailer's premium product range. They needed to drive engagement and sales by positioning Boots as the go-to destination for gifts that people would actually use, love, and obsess over throughout the entire year.
Creative Idea
Recipients become comically obsessed with their gifts, refusing to ever put them down.
Boots moved away from traditional holiday sentimentality by using comedic exaggeration to show how their gifts create year-round obsessions. By depicting recipients who cannot let go of their presents, the campaign highlights the lasting joy of thoughtful, high-quality gifting.
Beyond the Tearjerkers and Holiday Sentimentality
A Shift in Retail Strategy
The campaign marks a departure from the traditional, sentimental Christmas advertising landscape in the UK. By opting for comedic exaggeration over emotional tug-of-war, VML London and Boots aimed to disrupt the standard holiday marketing cycle. The creative strategy centers on the concept of "gift obsession," where the utility of premium products like the Dyson Airwrap and Shark CryoGlow LED Face Mask extends far beyond the festive season. This approach serves as the first major holiday execution of the Give it Some Boots brand platform, which launched earlier in September 2026.
Production and Technical Execution
Director Phoebe Arnstein was retained for this project following her work on the initial brand platform launch, ensuring visual consistency across the year. The production, handled by Biscuit Filmworks, utilized a high-end technical crew including Director of Photography Michal Dymek and Editor Peter Sciberras. To maintain the campaign's high-energy, contemporary feel, the audio team at GPS and Time Based Arts focused on a modern reimagining of the classic carol Shepherd of the Bells.
Scale and Media Reach
The campaign is supported by a massive logistical operation, including a seasonal recruitment drive of 6,000 roles to manage the influx of demand for over 60,000 products. The media strategy is equally ambitious, anchored by a multi-channel TV roadblock on November 6, 2026, projected to reach 6 million people over the launch weekend. Notably, the retailer introduced its first-ever 20-second TVC cuts for the holiday season, alongside 18 dedicated edits designed to highlight specific promotional offers, ensuring the campaign remains agile across digital and traditional channels.
Creative Strategy Deconstructed
Company
Boots leveraged its vast inventory of premium beauty, fragrance, and wellness tech to position itself as the ultimate destination for meaningful gifts.
Category
Retailers typically rely on sentimental, tear-jerking holiday narratives that focus on emotional reunions rather than the products themselves.
Customer
Shoppers wanted to find gifts that feel personal, exciting, and genuinely useful, moving away from generic items that gather dust.
Culture
The rise of viral beauty trends and tech-focused gifting created a culture where specific, high-performance products become central to daily self-expression.
Company
Boots leveraged its vast inventory of premium beauty, fragrance, and wellness tech to position itself as the ultimate destination for meaningful gifts.
Category
Retailers typically rely on sentimental, tear-jerking holiday narratives that focus on emotional reunions rather than the products themselves.
Strategy:
Amplify product utility through comedic obsession to differentiate from generic holiday sentimentality.
Customer
Shoppers wanted to find gifts that feel personal, exciting, and genuinely useful, moving away from generic items that gather dust.
Culture
The rise of viral beauty trends and tech-focused gifting created a culture where specific, high-performance products become central to daily self-expression.
Strategy:
Amplify product utility through comedic obsession to differentiate from generic holiday sentimentality.
Strategy Technique
Exaggerate to Reveal the Truth
By blowing the joy of receiving a gift out of proportion, the campaign makes the underlying insight—that great gifts create lasting attachment—impossible to ignore. It turns a simple retail benefit into a memorable, humorous narrative.
Explore Technique
Creative Technique
Create Fantasy Worlds, People and Things
The campaign uses a magical perspective to visualize the internal obsession of gift recipients. This fantasy element allows the brand to comically exaggerate how much people truly value their gifts.
Explore Technique
Craft Breakdown
This campaign excels through dynamic cinematography and vibrant production design, creating an immersive holiday spectacle centered around quirky character behavior.
Fluid camera movements, clever POV transitions, and rich lighting framing elevate every scene into a cinematic experience.
Meticulously detailed festive sets and vivid color choices bring the whimsical holiday world to life.
