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November 9, 2019British catalog retailer Argos unveiled this year’s holiday season ad, and it’s an instant classic.
Created by agency The&Partnership, the long-form spot is essentially a music video for 1985’s “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” by Simple Minds.
The high-level concept of the spot is simple: that thumbing through the Argos catalog is a traditional way British families start the Christmas season. That usually means kids turning to the catalog to create wish lists, but in this case the brand decided to try a different angle.
From the expanding set (created without CGI) to the meticulous timing and sound engineering needed to sync the drummers with the decades-old track, the spot was a logistical challenge from start to finish for the creative team.
The&Partnership creative director Danny Hunt came up with the idea of the music video but left the song selection up to the team.
“We just around and around and around,” says creative Arthur Harry. “We listened to almost every song from the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s. Once we had gotten to Simple Minds and found that track, it was like, ‘How can we better it?'”
When the daughter emerges, her slide down the bannister and into the drummer’s stool required precise timing, and then the sound team had to find a way to match the custom drumming in the spot with the exact sounds of Simple Minds’ instruments and studio. Creating a seamless music video was no small feat.