The quintessential Christmas advertisement has become as much a part of the festive ritual as a tree decorated in lights or a wreath hanging on the front door.
Each year without fail, the British public wait with baited breath for the John Lewis commercial to make its debut and more recently, football and other sporting clubs have hopped on the bandwagon, producing their own festive featurettes.
Insider Sport is looking back at past Christmas campaigns produced by football clubs to market the clubs’ merchandise stores in the run up to the big day.
Liverpool recently launched its 2020 Christmas commercial campaign, which will be one of three videos released by the club across November and December; each of which will tell a ‘separate story showing what the club means to its supporters, while celebrating the magic of Christmas’.
‘Bring the magic home’ is the first in the instalment in the series, which stars English actor and Liverpool fan Nick Blood. The 38-year-old, who is best known for his role in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. sci-fi series, plays the main character in this 80-second-long clip.
? Bring the magic home… ✨
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#LFC #LiverpoolFC #LFCChristmas pic.twitter.com/sccY1RvBIb— Liverpool FC Retail (@LFCRetail) November 2, 2020
The video depicts Blood preparing for a day of working from home in the comfort of his own kitchen. He dons a white shirt and red tie on the top, and sits down to his laptop wearing a pair of Liverpool boxer shorts on the bottom.
The camera scans to a row of bobble head figurines of the 2019/20 Premier League champions line the shelf.
While on a video call with colleagues, he zones out of the mundane meeting and his eyes become fixed upon the Mohamed Salah figurine. The model comes to life and yawns, mirroring his sentiment. A Christmas card with a cartoon image of Roberto Firmino on the front springs into action, too.
He begins to imagine he’s on a call with the Liverpool players, instead of his workmates, and responds to Andrew Robertson, who is describing Mo Salah’s strike against Manchester United at Anfield, saying: ‘That goal was amazing, Robbo. I could’ve kissed every single one of you!’
He is woken from his daydream rather abruptly by his boss who angrily replies: ‘What are you on about, Nick?’
He looks up at the bobble heads lined up on his shelf, who dip their head into their hands and cover their eyes. The figurine of the boss, Jurgen Klopp, shakes his head at Blood’s blunder.
Given that the Reds are the current title holders, Christmas is a prime time for the club to take advantage of the flurry of customers, and promote their commemorative merchandise range. This is achieved through the advertisement, which showcases the Soccerstarz bobble heads figure set, Liverpool apparel and homewear, and even Christmas stationary.
The new Liverpool campaign also has subtle nods to the current climate, including the home working environment and Blood’s ‘business’ attire.
Getting a famous face on board is always a bonus and speaking to the Liverpool Echo after being cast in his new role, Blood said: “One day I’ll be telling my kids stories about us lifting the European Cup and the Premier League, just like my dad did me. I’ll also be telling them about the time their old fella did a commercial for LFC.
“Rarely does a job come along that combines two of your favourite things – in this case, Liverpool and Christmas – so I was chuffed to be part of it.
“I also got to keep the boxers shorts so it was a win-win for me!”
