Bear takes leading role in retailer’s Christmas campaign including dedicated shop-in-shop.
Paddington Bear is the star of this year’s Marks & Spencer Christmas campaign, spanning a TV ad, a book and a dedicated shop in the retailer’s kidswear department.
The TV ad – Paddington & the Christmas Visitor – debuted on YouTube on November 7 and tells the story of how Paddington unknowingly saves Christmas for his friends and neighbours.
The ad has also been turned into a storybook, with all profits being donated to the NSPCC to help fund its Childline service over the Christmas season.
To encourage sales of the book, M&S will host a series of book readings for children at stores around the UK. These will begin at the Marble Arch flagship store on Friday, November 10.
In addition, the retailer will also host a dedicated Paddington shop within its kidswear department as part of the campaign.
Bespoke Paddington signage will lead customers to the shops in the top 78 stores – with over 90 Paddington products being sold across the store; including Paddington’s favourite marmalade in M&S Foodhalls.
Paddington will also be the first ever film character to star in M&S’ Christmas windows in the form of gold Paddington statues. All windows will also have window vinyls with a Paddington 2 film release message.
Further into December, and M&S’ team of in-store ‘Moment Makers’ will be surprising customers with Paddington-themed ‘Random Acts of Kindness’.
Cross channel activity will also include Paddington taking part in an interview for M&S’ content hub, Style & Living. There will also be downloadable festive marmalade recipes.
Underpinning the entire campaign will be social support encouraging customers to #LoveTheBear.
You can check out the TV ad starring Paddington below:
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