The Dad and a Perfect Music for an Unforgettable Christmas by BETC

出自 Maud Largeaud , AdForum

 

Rémi Campet
Creative BETC Paris, Pantin

Rayhaan Khodabux
Art Director BETC
 

Give us an overview of the campaign, what is it about and what was your role in the creation?

The dad is the new Christmas campaign we developed for Bouygues Telecom, one of the main phone companies in France. It tells the story of a loving dad that has this funny – yet a bit weird – habit of dancing in front of his son each time he hears his favorite song. And so, whatever the place he is (yeah, that can get awkward sometimes). We imagined the script and chose Henry’s director Martin Werner to craft it, as he is a wonderful storyteller.

 

Was the brief for this holiday campaign any different that than the usual? What challenges did that present?

Creative Directors Marie-Eve Schoettl and David Soussan and CCO Stéphane Xiberras asked us for a big Christmas campaign that would also be strong enough to embody Bouygues Telecom’s positioning: technology not as a purpose in itself but as a way to gather people even closer together.

 

What inspired you to approach the campaign this way? 

We wanted to show that even though we all crave for the last hype tech device, what is important in the end is what it allows us to do. How can it be a tool that helps us live again our best memories? The father-son relationship is something that relates to everybody. It’s moving and very much evolving according to your age; your dad is first your hero, then your buddy, then sometimes can become an embarrassment. This was a very rich relationship to explore to create a story with a soul.

 

What’s a “behind the scenes” story that only you know about? 

The Great Quest for the Perfect Music! The track was a key component of our film, and we absolutely wanted to have it for the shoot, to nail the right choregraphy. So we spent long weeks before finding the right one. And when we finally thought of that great track from Redbone – that had been used in the opening sequence of The Guardians of the Galaxy – we all knew we had it right.

 

What is your favorite holiday campaign of all time? 

If not of all time, we were struck in awe by this year’s John Lewis piece starring Elton John. Definitely a great piece of work with unbelievable craft. It’s also funny to see a common way of talking about Christmas: their story goes backwards when ours goes forwards, but in the end, it’s all about what you do with your gifts and your memories. 
A little bit older but still modern, the Harvey Nichols – “Sorry I spend it on myself” campaign was also one of our favorites. A different and yet - funny way to talk about Christmas.

 

What can we expect from your agency in 2019?

Spoiler alert: great campaigns.

 

What do you think the advertising industry’s New Year’s resolution should be?

Creating campaigns for the people that see them, rather than for the people that make them?