Extraordinary Luxurious
Opulence. Flair. Decoration. This campaign is about the aesthetic allure and visual feast that is the festive season, inspired by the thought of special gifts, exquisite food and rich opulent colours.
Making Christmas Extraordinary
I was asked by my Head of Design to lead 2018’s Christmas campaign for Häagen-Dazs, working closely with our Designer for the brand and working directly into the brand’s ECD.
Previous Christmas campaigns revolved around aesthetics you’d expect to see during the festive season. This year, we wanted to do something different.
Our ECD briefed us to create a concept where shop windows took inspiration from high fashion Christmas window displays, that would then be used to dress instore with a festive feel, inspire a Christmas cake and create a global toolkit of visuals for markets to localise independently.
Visually, we wanted to push the design further than having a packshot on a white background which we’d all been accustomed to seeing. We were successful in getting the client push boundaries whilst still creating something ownable for the brand, and based on our work on the campaign, we were then asked to design the Christmas pattern that would be used on their featured Christmas product.
The Concept
Developing The Idea
To appeal to the target demographic, we decided to create key visual with a centre piece that is a true object of desire and fascination. Something that symbolises the luxury and world of plenty associated with the festive season. A beautifully artful sculptural piece with a surface of jewel tones, glowing iridescence, sumptuous colour and exquisite patterns.
Once the client had signed off the concept and scamps, we partnered with the talented 3D artist Peter Tarka to bring our sketches and comps to life.
We worked closely with Peter on the composition and lighting of the render and realised that we needed to add a bit more glamour and a little less science to the render. Once we’d achieved what we could in Cinema 4D, we took the visual into Photshop to make some final colour adjustments and glamourise the visual so hero the product further.
Whilst designing the key visual, we were asked to create a pattern for Häagen-Dazs’ signature Christmas flavour which was being developed in tandem. Once this and the key visual were signed off, we created key assets to form a global toolkit for local markets to use.
The campaign was a great example of clients buying into a bigger idea that developed along the way and allowing us to push the boundaries of their brand.
