Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Ekrem Dupanović
These days we are awash with Christmas and New Year campaigns from around the world. The portals we track (AdAge, AdWeek, Creativity, Campaign, etc.), only festive campaigns can be found these days. And they are all more or less same or similar. They remind us that we must not forget our elderly, because Christmas for them becomes the saddest day because we didn’t visit them, or we watch the scenes in which a dad buys the last minute gifts at the airport, getting to the festive dinner in the nick of time… Everything is done in the same mold. There are also campaigns that were successful a few years ago and, in the absence of fresh creative ideas, they are recycled year after year.
Proof that everything doesn’t have to be the same comes from Mercator, from which we received a campaign today, that was broadcasted for the first time in Slovenian television programs last night.
Mercator has tackled holidays this year in the best Christmas tradition of world-renowned retailers: fifty days before the holidays, they already had both holiday spots recorded and edited! “Both you say?”
Yes, both.
We’ve already wrote that the holiday advertising campaign of Mercator was launched on 9 November, with an introductory spot in which Mr. M. checks to see if everything in the store is ready for holidays. He stops at key holiday product categories: delicacies, cheese, meat, biscuits and sweets, and with his keen eye he finds what needs to be fixed so that everything would be perfect for the holidays.
The ad signed by the Slovenian director with the Berlin address, Sašo Podgoršek, and in the main role, among real Mercator’s sellers, the star was Sašo Stojanov.
And that was just the first half of Mercator’s holiday campaign. After the store was ready, with even the smallest details in place, our hero Mr. M. decided to embark on another holiday adventure. He has done everything for consumers, and now it’s time to do something good for himself. When the festive lights lit up the city, in the best spirit of socially responsible and emotional messages, characteristic of corporate New Year’s campaigns, Mercator shows that the most precious gifts are attention and kindness we show to each other. Mr. M. takes a photo of his friends from school days, and goes on a quest to find them and gather them all in the New Year’s Eve. What follows is a series of encounters full of friendship, warmth and love.
In this festive ad, Slovenian viewers last night also had the chance to hear for the first time the unplugged version of the hit song “no Roots” by Alice Merton, whose original version strongly marked Mercator’s communication this year. Proof that Merton and her song have crossed many borders is the fact that since April, when Mercator decided to use that song, to date, the number of YouTube views on the music video has risen from 13 to 63 million. Since the very beginning creatives at Arnold Vuga agency were delighted with the unplugged version, but because of improvised radio footage it was unsuitable for widespread use. That is why Alice Merton, especially for Mercator, recorded an acoustic version of the song, and we are certain that the song will bring this Christmas ad under many Christmas trees throughout Slovenia this year.
And the slogan? A single letter can enrich and warm up the message and change it into a sincere congratulation. By coincidence, in Slovenian language that letter is ‘m’: it starts with Vse dobro (All that is good) and ends with Vsem dobro (Good for all).
The idea by Aleš Kočevarj, under the creative direction of Stojan Pelko, was directed by Sašo Podgoršek, and photographed by Primož Bregar. Design under the artistic direction of Radovan Arnold was signed by Anže Veršnik, and project leader was Urša Kovačič, both from Arnold Vuga agency. Of course, crucial part of the process were directions and suggestions of the client, so it could also be said under the spot: “powered by” Andreja Zadnik Andoljšek, Tina Bajde and Viktorija Radojević.
This article is not marked as a native ad, because it is not. We weren’t pay for the endorsement. If this is one of the rare campaigns we receive immediately after it starts, then this article is our way of saying thanks for the professional correctness of Mercator towards us, and a show of our intention to promote a great creative idea.