Challenges and Objectives

After the success of 2024’s Sweet Suspicion, a food-infused mystery drama that transformed advertising into must-watch entertainment, Waitrose faced a festive dilemma: how do you top Christmas’s most talked-about ad?

The answer was The Perfect Gift; a romcom starring Keira Knightley, Joe Wilkinson and a homemade turkey pie. It had all the ingredients for another festive hit, but great content alone wouldn’t guarantee success. In the most crowded advertising season of the year, the challenge was ensuring the campaign received the scale, attention and anticipation it deserved.

MG OMD’s brief to ITV was simple: If The Perfect Gift was built like entertainment, could media treat it like entertainment too?

A month before launch, Waitrose shared an early cut of the creative. Alongside the traditional suite of campaign assets, Wonderhood had produced a four-minute film. It hadn’t been part of the original plan. The chemistry between Keira Knightley and Joe Wilkinson was simply too good to cut.

As we watched, one thing became immediately clear: this wasn’t an advert. It was primetime Christmas entertainment. After all, what Christmas ad ends with Hollywood stars sharing a kiss?

We knew we had to get this in front of ITV’s Commissioners. And therein lay the answer.

Idea & Implementation

Rather than fit The Perfect Gift into an ad break, ITV commissioned it into the schedule.

For the first time ever, a Christmas advert earned editorial sign-off and a primetime 8pm slot, blurring the lines between commercial airtime and commissioned television.

Targeting Strategy

Waitrose’s launch date was fixed, but ITV’s primetime schedule rarely moves. To create a five-minute slot, two major editorial decisions were made: Coronation Street moved back to 8:05pm and, for one night only, the News at Ten became the News at 10:05.

Taking its place alongside ITV’s programmes meant meeting the same editorial standards. Wonderhood created bespoke sponsorship idents, rolling end credits, programme artwork and even a film synopsis for the EPG and Radio Times, giving The Perfect Gift all the hallmarks of commissioned content.

At 8pm on 12th November, The Perfect Gift premiered simultaneously across ITV1, ITV2 and ITV3. It also dropped onto ITVX, with prominent placement alongside ITV’s festive catalogue (including Love Actually). Throughout Christmas, 30” and 60” edits acted as trailers, driving audiences back to ITVX to watch the full film.

And like any blockbuster release, the campaign extended far beyond the screen. Keira Knightley’s ‘press junket’ was amplified across ITV and ITVX social channels, OOH became movie posters and trailer lines, and for one Christmas only, the BFI IMAX became the ‘Piemax’.

Client Quote

“We would only consider moving the News at Ten for a piece of extraordinary content. The Perfect Gift wasn’t just an ad, it was a mini epic that was good enough for us to commission, and earn a place in our primetime schedule”

RO NEWELL, CONTENT DIRECTOR, ITV