Bol: The store of Christmas makers
Video Ad Shortform
Christmas is celebrated all over the world as a feast of abundance. But latest numbers show one in five people in the Netherlands and Belgium are overwhelmed and overstimulated by the abundance of lights, hundreds of christmas-songs, overflowing shopping streets and immense social pressure that comes with the holidays.
Dutch online store Bol chose to represent those who experience and celebrate the holidays differently with a campaign that created a nation wide conversation with its message: Make Christmas what you want it to be.
A campaign that shines a light on neurodiversity
Dutch online retailer Bol proudly calls itself “The store of us all”. With that the brand wants to embrace and show the diversity of its customers in the Netherlands and Belgium and tell their stories.
The same goes for this years Christmas campaign. Before we started ideating, we extensively researched how Dutch and Belgians liked to celebrate Christmas. We looked across cultures, religions, age, gender and even sexual preference. What appeared was a recurring theme across various demographics. One that became more apparent in the recent years: overstimulation and oversensitivity. This because on one hand, Christmas celebrations in the Netherlands and Belgium are getting bigger every year. On the other hand, we as a society are learning more every day about neurodiversity and its effects. Concluding that at least one in five people experiences overstimulation issues during Christmas. An upsetting statistic that deserves more awareness.
With that we developed a narrative that was all about compassion for those who choose to celebrate the holidays different from the norm.
What made it successful?
Three main things created a cut-through film that stood out with a message that resonated across all demographics:
1. The compassion at the heart of the campaign was echoed by many, many positive comments from those who have had first hand experiences with neurodiversity and felt the social pressure to go big during the holidays. They finally felt seen and understood.
2. The execution of the idea made the campaign stand out in the tropes of Christmas ads that were all about celebrating Christmas as big as possible. Where in our film we made it almost seem like the holidays are over. Capturing the attention of viewers with an expected twist.
3. For the campaign we collaborated with as many people as we could, who share a first hand experience with neurodiversity. The research team, the director, the casting and even the song was recorded with an artist who proudly represents the neurodivergent community and talks about how her ADHD influences her art and her life.
