Maggie and Bill, two employees of the British supermarket Asdacontemplate the effects of a snow storm. Maggie worries: “All roads are closed between here and Sheffield. How are we going to prepare the store for Christmas?” Picking up a gnome and squeezing its nose, Bill sends a signal to hundreds of gnomes in gardens, bars and balconies across the country. Thus, in the christmas advertisement from Asda This year the ceramic heroes gather to save the Christmas spirit.

The campaign, created together with Havas Londonis inspired by the A-Team and harnesses the excitement and pressure of getting everything ready for Christmas. So, the gnomes arrive at the store and immediately get to work transforming the aisles into a Christmas wonderland. Each gnome has their own unique personality: they help stock shelves with food, prepare gifts, and put up a huge Christmas tree. When the sun rises, the chief gnome announces “It’s time to go for it” and the team leaves in Asda delivery vans.

Asda gnomes They have been popular in stores for a long time and their characters range from the mini unicorn, bride and groom gnomes to a dancing Santa Claus. Asda has sold more than 100,000 festive gnomes over the last four Christmas periods: “Asda gnomes are a long-time customer favorite and caught our eye as the obvious characters in our Christmas campaign,” explains David Hills, Customer Service Director at Asda.

The ad’s soundtrack is a cover of Chris Rea’s Christmas classic, with the lyrics adapted to become “Driving Gnome for Christmas”. The film was directed by Bryan Buckley and produced by Hungry Man, with the 3D gnome designs created by Emmy Award-winning character experts Legacy Effects. Animation and post-production have been handled by the award-winning Rascal Studios. Here you can see a video about the making of: