Cheeky Elves in London’s Underground

TUI, in partnership with Global, the Media & Entertainment group, and post production company POD LDN, is bringing festive cheer to London Underground’s escalators with an animated outdoor campaign featuring its famous holidaying elves.

Expanding on TUI’s Christmas TV ad, which showcases what the elves get up to whilst Santa is away (spoiler alert – they love a holiday), TUI has taken the main character from the campaign into London Underground stations. The creative features a 10 second, 3D animation designed for the connected digital escalator screens (Ribbons) at Kings Cross, Oxford Circus and Waterloo.

The creative idea plays on a holiday luggage belt - extending the holiday journey past the TV ad. To grab the attention of shoppers and commuters riding the escalators, POD LDN has transformed the ribbon screens into a motion-led experience that sees TUI’s Christmas elves come to life, moving from screen to screen in a smooth, looping motion sequence as they surf on top suitcases, riding past a series of holiday snaps, aligned to visuals from TUI’s wider ad campaign.

POD LDN delivered the end-to-end production, from storyboarding the creative idea with Global’s creative outdoor team, to developing the 3D models and animations, crafting 2D animation elements and designing and animating the backgrounds. The team also oversaw full compositing, bringing every component together into the final work.

The campaign kicked off on December 5 and will run until December 18.