In Sweden, watching Home Alone on tv during the Holidays is just as much a tradition as dancing around the Christmas tree. But the classic film is getting old. If it was a story of today, many things would probably turn out differently for Kevin and his family. Sector Alarm is Sweden’s second largest home alarm company, offering their customers connected state of the art home alarm solutions. With a budget of barely €6000 put on a 30 second TVC and some creative media spend, we moved the Home Alone story into a modern context, turning the Christmas classic in to a short film.

With a budget of barely €6000 euros, we wanted to break through the massive wall of TVC:s communicating sales in the name of the Christmas spirit. To do so, we had to really use the media in the right way to make something disruptive enough to make the Swedish people take notice – right in the middle of all that’s going on during the holidays with relatives, good food and Christmas gifts. So, we put all of our money on making one custom-made spot, and then buying one specific placement in one specific commercial break during one specific film.

When Swedish TV3 aired Home Alone during the holidays, we ended the film after just 20 minutes by letting the credits roll. This early end was precisely timed with the scene when Kevin steps down from the attic where he slept, and discovers that he is home alone – right when a connected home alarm could easily have averted the miss, and have everyone in the McAllister family enjoy a peaceful Christmas in Paris together. Our 30 second TVC rolls credits that in both style and music feels just like the end credits of Home Alone. But we ended ours with a message saying: With a connected home alarm. The film would have ended here. Followed by the Sector Alarm logo and the line: Secure your home for Christmas at sectoralarm.com

Our €6000 TVC production and media spend reached roughly 300.000 swedes on Christmas Eve. The custom made spot created quite the buzz in Sector Alarms social medias, claiming this should be a new tradition (and some urging them to raise the salaries for their “pr-people”, which hasn’t happened as of yet).