On Monday 24 December, Nationwide Building Society is launching a series of adverts to celebrate a diverse range of voices and stories from people across the country as they share their thoughts and feelings about Christmas. The ‘12 Voices of Christmas’ advertising campaign will feature a dozen different voices from all over the UK covering various ages, ethnicities and life experiences.
The adverts will run for eight days until Monday 31 December across TV. They will air at the start and end of advert breaks, including during Coronation Street, ensuring two different voices in each break.
The campaign was developed by the Society’s lead creative agency VCCP with media planning and buying by Wavemaker.
This latest series of adverts form part of the Society’s wider ‘Voices Nationwide’ advertising campaign, launched in September 2016, which aims to celebrate people’s lives and stories across the country through the medium of spoken word – an art form that is current and an authentic expression accessible to many. These new adverts are a mix of styles – some poems and some observed conversations between groups of friends or families.
As with all the Society’s previous ‘Voices’ adverts, the subjects and themes have been chosen and the words written solely by the people involved in each advert.
The 12 adverts to be aired are as follows:
- A Christmas Birthday: Amina Jama, from London, remembers a very special Christmas Eve, 12 years ago, when her niece was born.
- Too Many Christmases: Rhys Owain Williams, from Swansea, talks about the challenges of splitting his Christmas Day between his parents, who live separately.
- First Christmas: Maggy Whitehouse, from Okehampton, Devon, looks back at her first ever service as a vicar on Christmas Eve.
- (Step) Dad: Oliver Lomax, from Manchester, talks about his relationship with his stepdad, and how Christmas allowed him to say the things he’s never been able to.
- Silent Night: Barber ‘GB’ (Godbrings) gives a melodic rendition of the Christmas carol ‘Silent Night’, whilst fellow hairdresser Anderson continues to encourage him throughout. Both are from Romford.
- Faking it at Christmas: We’ve all opened an unwanted present, or two, on Christmas Day. Philip, Simone and their two sons, Elliot and Joel, from Epsom, discuss their reactions to opening unwanted presents.
- Gran Gets It Wrong: Lynn Lovell, from Rochdale, reminisces about a Christmas past and how her Gran gifted her the wrong present.
- Christmas Trees: Sally, Sara and Alicia, from Barnsley, debate traditional green trees versus the new modern colours.
- Christmas in August: When does Christmas start? No one seems to agree. Nicky tells David and Kelly about a garden centre that got a little too festive in August. All are from Guildford.
- The Queen’s Speech: Marak and Steven, from Bicester, discuss the Queen’s Speech, decorations and dressing up for the occasion
- Carol Singers: Sophie and Beverly, from Dartford, can’t seem to agree on whether ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’ is a Christmas carol, or not.
- Homeless at Christmas: Kimberly, Mark and their kids, from Aylesbury, spent Christmas 2015 in temporary accommodation. Since then, Shelter has helped them into a home and this will be their first Christmas there. Kimberly tells Mark how her two-year-old was worried about Santa not being able to find them at Christmas, when they were living in a hostel.
All 12 adverts can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP8zX0EDIZJvJCJzyO-nGKr_nWp95fG5m (This link will open in a new window)
Sara Bennison, Nationwide’s Chief Marketing Officer, said: “Christmas means so many different things to our 15 million members. After what has so often felt like a year of division and dissent, we wanted to celebrate that diversity of experience. Building Societies are, after all, built on a premise that we can achieve far more together than is possible alone, and that seems more relevant now than ever. We hope that everyone can find something they relate to in one of our ‘12 Voices of Christmas, Nationwide’.”
Jim Thornton, VCCP Deputy Executive Creative Director, said: “You hear a lot of things at Christmas – sleigh bells, carols, Slade, over-excited children, police sirens – but the one thing you rarely ever hear are the voices of ordinary people talking about Christmas and what it means to them. Mixing spoken word with observed conversations, ‘Voices Nationwide’ gives voice to 12 different personal points of view on the festive season in its own inimitable authentic style. Which only leaves me to say, in the words of Shakin’ Stevens, ‘Merry Christmas, Everyone’.”
About Nationwide
Nationwide is the world's largest building society as well as one of the largest savings providers and a top-three provider of mortgages in the UK. It is also a major provider of current accounts, credit cards, ISAs and personal loans. Nationwide has around 15 million customers.
Customers can manage their finances in a branch, via the mobile app, on the telephone, internet and post. The Society has around 18,000 employees. Nationwide's head office is in Swindon with administration centres based in Northampton, Bournemouth and Dunfermline. The Society also has a number of call centres across the UK.
