Elves Live It Up Off-Shelf in Tui's Holiday Ad Debut

What’s that expression people use for when the cat’s away? In this case, it’s Santa who exits, leaving his elves to mind the home front as he departs to distribute their year’s labors.

And off-duty elves can party! The work, set to Ricky Martin’s “Livin’ La Vida Loca,” was created by Leo Burnett for travel and leisure company Tui. In it, you’ll find Elf on a Shelf-type dolls setting off for a sun-soaked holiday jaunt the minute Santa’s reindeer hit altitude.

There’s something creepy about dolls with mostly inanimate faces getting into hijinks, but the minute-long spot quickly invests us in the fun. There’s a zeal here of shaking off the well-mannered employee shtick and cutting loose with peers. Two elves find love (or at least a memorable hookup), and there’s a moment of pure glee when one ignores Santa’s check-in call.

“Shaking up the yearly offering of Christmas clichés, our first Christmas campaign celebrates the feeling of downing tools and soaking up some much needed ‘me-time’,” says Sara Ali, director of brand and content at Tui U.K. and Ireland. “We are always looking for different ways to engage with our audience as part of our ‘Live Happy’ promise, so we’re very excited to spread some festive cheer this year.”

Ten custom puppet elves were created by London-based model-maker Andy Gent from Arch Model Studio. His bonafides include Wes Anderson works like Isle of Dogs, Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Grand Budapest Hotel, plus Tim Burton’s The Corpse Bride.

Directed by Alex Boutell of Rogue, Tui’s Christmas ad went live yesterday on Channel 4 in the U.K., during The Great British Bake Off finale and I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! To support it, elves-gone-wild will take over Tui’s social channels, sharing “Elfies” of their adventures. A sweepstakes will see 12 people win a Tui getaway, and an “Elfie AR filter” will rock Instagram and Facebook.

“We all know how hard Santa works, but what about all his little helpers? Surely they deserve a well-earned Tui holiday for all their efforts!” says chief creative officer Chaka Sobhani at Leo Burnett U.K. and global. “As we enter the cold winter months, we hope this campaign gives us something to look forward to and plan for the summer.” 

Ah, summer. We’ve already forgotten that was a thing.

CREDITS

ADVERTISING AGENCY: Leo Burnett   
CCO: Chaka Sobhani   
EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Mark Elwood   
CREATIVE DIRECTORS: Rob Tenconi, Mark Franklin   
COPYWRITER: Matt Wood   
ART DIRECTOR: Tom Loveless   
PLANNERS: Aileen Baker, Beth MacKenzie    
BUSINESS LEAD: Lauren Martin    
ACCOUNT TEAM: Robert Ellen, Daisy Jackson, Libby Matthews, Selen Demirel, Ruben Forde   
CHIEF PRODUCTION OFFICER: Emily Marr   
AGENCY PRODUCER:  Dominique Strouthos   
MEDIA BUYING AGENCY: Essence Mediacom   
MEDIA PLANNER:  Mehr Chughtai   
PRODUCTION COMPANY: Rogue   
DIRECTOR: Alex Boutell   

EDITOR: Leo King – Stitch Editing   
PRODUCER: Tom Farley  
POST-PRODUCTION COMPANY: Black Kite Studios   
AUDIO POST-PRODUCTION COMPANY: Wave Studios    
MODEL MAKER: Arch Model Studio    
PHOTOGRAPHER: Rob Tenconi   

TUI:  
GLOBAL BRAND AND CONTENT DIRECTOR: Toby Horry 
DIRECTOR OF BRAND AND CONTENT UK&I: Sara Ali 
HEAD OF GLOBAL ADVERTISING/MEDIA: Felicity Walker
GLOBAL HEAD OF CREATIVE/BRAND ID: Christian Torres
SENIOR GLOBAL ADVERTISING/MEDIA MANAGER: Jennifer Litherland 
GLOBAL ADVERTISING MANAGER: Jessica Briggs