Why Disney is drawing on ‘nostalgia and magic’ for its first Christmas brand campaign

Disney is launching its first Christmas campaign, celebrating “nostalgia, magic and family togetherness”, as it looks to drive emotional connection with consumers over the festive period.

The ad tells the story of a grandmother called Lola who gives her young granddaughter a Mickey Mouse toy she received as a child. It shows the two characters celebrating the run up to Christmas over the years by making star lanterns, just as Lola did as a young girl in the Philippines, with Mickey a fixture throughout.

After many years of wear and tear, Mickey’s ear becomes unstitched so the granddaughter, now in her 20s, surprises her elderly relative by getting it repaired and filling the room with star lanterns to recreate the streets her grandmother remembers as a child.

The hero brand ad is part of a three-tier campaign that also features commercially-driven ads and retail activity, all under the tagline ‘From our family to yours’.

“As the festive period is such an important one for Disney, both from a commercial and an audience perspective, we saw the opportunity to elevate our seasonal approach with a cross-franchise campaign that not only promotes new products, but celebrates the role Disney plays with families at Christmas,” Disney’s vice-president of marketing and communications, Joss Hastings, tells Marketing Week.