Co-op - ‘Round Are Way’ (2020) :90 (UK)

An older brother needs to get out of the house around Christmas and ponders a plan, grabs his guitar and gets ready to go. His little brother asks to come along. and the elder is both annoyed and hesitant at first, but says yes. Busking is the plan, and soon the young lad is belting out an Oasis B-side song while casually winking at cute older girls, like a pro.

Round are way the birds are singing
Round are way the sun shines bright
Round are way the birds sing for yer
The already know yer

At the song's refrain the adoring little brother joins in and for a moment here, we have perfection.
A happy audience, a talented set of real brothers getting together to share music (might it even bring the Gallaghers back together?), a sense of community and shared joy.
I kept thinking the kids were busking up money for a gift but as a man offers them a few quid, the older brother politely turns him down. This was all about doing something for the community.

We all need a bit of simple joy in 2020, so this was rather perfect. Some Christmas ads work really hard on tugging at your heartstrings, with huge budgets, complicated animations and expensive production. While others, like this one, just hit you straight in the heart.
 

The talented brothers are  Austin, aged 12, and Rocco, aged 6.

Ali Jones, Customer Director, Co-op said: “It’s been a tough year and our Christmas advert aims to raise a smile and, maybe even bring a tear to the eye. I love its simple and easy portrayal of how special moments can happen when family, community and goodwill come together. Qualities the Co-op represents and stands for every day.”

Danny Hunt, Creative Director at Lucky Generals said: “Co-op has been making a difference to local communities forever. It’s what they do. So, we decided to tell the story of these rascals. The brothers have nothing but a guitar, a Santa hat and a pocket full of swagger and in singing this track remind the whole street that regardless of what may be this Christmas: The sun still shines, the birds still sing and no matter who we are, we can all make a difference.”

Billy Boyd Cape, Director at Academy, said: “Throughout this tough year we’ve seen communities come together and share in small acts of kindness - we wanted to celebrate that. Our approach was to be the antidote to the bells and whistles of conventional Christmas advertising. Instead making something humble, human and relatable. The work came together for all of us when we discovered our two young leads - who put such big smiles on our faces, we knew they would for the rest of the country too.

Brand: the co-op 

Creative agency: Lucky generals

Media agency: Dentsu aegis media 

Director: Billy Boyd Cape

Production company producer: Juliette Harris

Production company: Academy

Editor: Billy Mead

Post-production: Time Based Arts

Grade: Simone Grattarola

Sound: Soundtree