Christmas is a time for traditions, but sometimes traditions could use a little refreshing. The Coca-Cola trucks ad, for instance, is screaming out for a remake in high-definition widescreen - and maybe also a slight extension. Famous Grouse realised the value of this in 2016, after a couple of years of misfiring characterless Christmas ads where the grouse was sidelined in favour of generic party-based ads. Their first comeback ad, “Perfectly Balanced”, took one of their classic ads and placed it in a lushly-rendered scene, giving it a setting that shone in high-definition on a big-screen TV, before executing the simple sight gag that the classic Famous Grouse ads excelled in.

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The follow-up ad, “Smooth”, looks like a new gag to us, and we’re hoping that Famous Grouse keep up with these during this coming Christmas Run-Up - maybe the classic Famous Grouse ad will reclaim its position as an essential part of the season’s preparations.

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Finally, there’s Toys R Us, which has cottoned onto the face the people watch out for their Christmas ads for the song, rather than what’s in the ad itself. So, they collected together a few groups of singers to sing their signature song as a collaboration, with associated ads featuring individual groups. It works.

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