Dé VakantieDiscounter have launched a bold Christmas commercial that takes a unique approach to the holiday season. Rather than focusing on the sentimental aspects traditionally associated with Christmas, the commercial offers a humorous twist. The campaign, crafted by INDIE, addresses the sensitivity surrounding holiday travel, with research indicating that 1 in 6 Dutch people cite family pressure as a reason to stay home during the festive season. Additionally, 35% of those who travel during this period do so to escape social obligations.
For this campaign, we created the music underscore and sound design. As a setup, we wanted the feel of a typical Christmas holiday commercial, in order to make the comedic element work later on. We wanted something touching, something sincere to match the Christmassy images in the film. We felt that the better we conveyed this feeling, the better the joke at the end works.
Every year, we bring together a group of talented writers and musicians to make music during a writer's camp at the THNDR studio. This year, during a weekend in September, we had 20 people working on songs specifically for the Dé VakantieDiscounter's Christmas commercial. As a challenge, we asked of them that the music would strengthen the campaign's narrative and add an extra layer of humor at the end.
We are excited to share the results of our collective efforts. One of the writer's camp tracks was chosen eventually, developed in collaboration with @indieamsterdam and is now featured in the Dé VakantieDiscounter Christmas TV campaign. We want to say a big thank you to Sjoerd de Roij for the beautiful strings, Jan Schröder for the guitar, and Melle Jutte for the vocals. Everyone's contributions and perspectives on the project made the final song very special.
Client: dé VakantieDiscounter, Hans van Hoffen, Thijs Keukenmeester & Dirje van Laar
Production company: INDIE Amsterdam
Service Production Company: WithMilk Films
Director: Tobias Perse
D.O.P.: Michael Cleary
Off-line edit(or): Jorien Voogt On-line edit(or): The Compound Grading
Colorist: Mike Bothe
Audio studio: THNDR Studio
Music: Jonah Capetown – Seasons | Songwriters: Melle Jutte, Jan Schroder, Sjoerd de Roij Vocalist: Melle Jutte
Sound Design: Max Gramser & Han Kerkhof
Sound Logo: TAMBR PR bureau: 2twintig PR
Music
Sound Design
Mix & Master