Christmas: Bringing Fairy To Life

Dawn French’s ‘Fairy’ first charmed the nation’s Christmas TV screens in 2021, in a magical ‘Night at the Museum’ world where guest characters came to life when no one was watching. It was a proven formula, in terms of both creative effectiveness scores (all three campaigns had been ‘5 star’ performers with System1) and sales return. However, research did suggest that whilst people love celebrity voices and a charming animated character, they struggle to identify with them, limiting emotional engagement and the crucial role M&S Food plays in customers’ lives at Christmas.

The creative challenge for the in-house team was thus: how do you move the idea on, keeping it fresh, relevant, without moving it off, and losing what it was that made Fairy so loved and effective?

The answer was already in the campaign: Dawn French herself. As a reluctant, slightly overwhelmed host that everyone could identify with…supported, of course, by her animated Fairy alter ego.

The campaign was a recognisable success, with Dawn bringing her trademark physical humour, charm and writing skills, adding a new layer of humour, self-awareness and surprise whilst keeping the campaign engaging. It earned a 5.9 rating from System1 for the second year running and was named Kantar’s ‘Best New Ad’ of 2024. Further analysis showed that despite having just 7% actual Share of Voice, the second lowest in the market, the ad achieved a remarkable 21% effective Share of Voice, the highest ever recorded for a campaign made entirely by an in-house team.