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Xmas Carol Torture

Issue 22 | March 2012

Agency

Akestam Holst

Creative Team

Creative Director: Andreas Ullenius; Art Director: Petra Albrektson; Copywriter: Joakim Labraaten;

Production Team

Account Director: Henrik Adenskog; Digital Producer: Alex Picha; Account Manager: Anna Nolendorfs; Graphic Designer: Oscar Gardo;

Other Credits

Web Productions: The Brewery.

Date

December 2011

Background

Akestam Holst has a tradition of creating noticeable, successful (and award-winning) work for Pause, a maker of Hi-Fi equipment.

One of the shops Pause supplies asked the agency to come up with an idea to help them sell Pause equipment at Christmas.

Idea

What’s the worst thing about Christmas? Anodyne carols. Hideous, horrible renditions of Jingle Bells in particular.

That was the idea. To subject visitors to the website to audio torture. In order to get through to the heavenly sounds of a Pause item they had to endure the hell of a jolly jingle played endlessly, remorselessly.

But to prevent people from just turning the sound off and walking away from their computers, visitors had to click the Santa button every time he said ‘Ho ho ho’.

The longer you listened, the more discount you got off a Pause product.

One guy listened for over five hours. Geneva were so sorry for him, they gave him a sound system free.

Results

I would love to visit Akestam Holst. I’m sure it doesn’t look anything like as wild and as inventive as some of the people who work there.

Excuse the sweeping statement, but by and large girls like shopping and guys don’t. Somehow, Akestam Holst have discovered how to get men spending money with a smile on their faces. Their work for Playground in Stockholm has been consistently brilliant and what they have been doing for Pause won them Lions galore at Cannes last year. This idea is less astonishing than getting a man to swallow a hi-fi system but it still reveals a neat understanding of the male psyche.

I couldn’t listen to Jingle Bells for five hours. I’d give up and pay the full price. Like a lot of Swedes, enough to drive up sales 156%. Someone, then, was laughing all the way to the bank.

Our Thoughts

I would love to visit Akestam Holst. I’m sure it doesn’t look anything like as wild and as inventive as some of the people who work there.

Excuse the sweeping statement, but by and large girls like shopping and guys don’t. Somehow, Akestam Holst have discovered how to get men spending money with a smile on their faces. Their work for Playground in Stockholm has been consistently brilliant and what they have been doing for Pause won them Lions galore at Cannes last year. This idea is less astonishing than getting a man to swallow a hi-fi system but it still reveals a neat understanding of the male psyche.

I couldn’t listen to Jingle Bells for five hours. I’d give up and pay the full price. Like a lot of Swedes, enough to drive up sales 156%. Someone, then, was laughing all the way to the bank.

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