CAUTION: Grab a box of tissues before pressing the play button!
To mark the holiday season, Disney released its 2022 Christmas advert named ‘The Gift’ which shares a powerful story of togetherness denoting a key message on the importance of family during a time of big changes.
The project is the final and third installment of Disney's ‘From Our Family To Yours’ series.
The heartwarming story connects the three ads and is about Nicole and her family who are preparing for a new addition to the family. However, not everyone is ready for change, at least not her daughter, little Ella.
According to Disney:
“The Gift is a powerful story of sibling relationships, experienced through the eyes of the youngest child Ella, as she adjusts to the changing family dynamic. At the heart of the story is a beloved glow in the dark Mickey Mouse soft toy, which connects both past, present and future.”
In the ad, we can see Max, Ella’s brother, giving her a Mickey Mouse toy to comfort her at night when she feels lonely. Then, when the baby arrives, Ella passes the toy on to her sibling as a gift to welcome them into the family.
The song played in the advertisement is the emotional soundtrack “A Little More” performed by Jessica Darrow which as Disney announces was “penned exclusively for the advert by LA-based songwriters PARKWILD, Sofia Quinn and Rose Tan.”
The 2022 ‘From Our Family To Yours’ campaign once again supports Disney’s long-term charity partner Make-A-Wish®.
“Since the launch of ‘From Our Family To Yours’ in 2020, Disney will have committed support worth more than $4m to its long-standing charity partner, Make-A-Wish® International and its network of Affiliates around the world, as part of Disney’s ongoing commitment to inspire a better world through the power of storytelling”, stated Disney.
The series began in 2020 with the launch of the first ad entitled “Lola” which narrates the story of grandmother Lola giving a Mickey Mouse toy to her granddaughter, Nicole, a hand-me-down gift from her father from 1940. Looking back on the past, the toy inspires the granddaughter to make a festive surprise for her grandmother while renewing their bond.
In “The Stepdad” story, the second ad published in 2021, Nicole is now all grown up and has two children, Max and Ella. The children's new stepdad, Mike, moves into their house and gifts Max a precious Disney book belonging to his birth father.
The creative team behind “The Gift” needed a total of 15 months to develop the ad (with approximately 4,880 hours of animation time).
The project was executed by Disney's EMEA in-house team in partnership with the creative agency and animation studio Flux Animation Studios.
