We wanted a meaningful way to appeal to a global audience, so our strategy was to subvert the norms of the festive season. Whereas for most children, Christmas is anticipated with glee – a time for sparkling lights, indulgent relatives and, of course, Santa Claus and his sack full of presents. We wanted to highlight that hundreds of children experience a different kind of Christmas, separated from their families by conflict, migration or natural disaster and living a life far removed from this ideal.

The creative thought process behind this spot was to design a disturbing and un-settling sound bed which would not only un-nerve the viewer but help reinforce the scary reality of the Christmas our young refugee was going to endure.

The music starts clear and full but as the story unfolds you hear the music slow and become more distorted and distant. Reverb and distortion were introduced to give it a feeling of disappearing into the distance.

In contrast, the sound effects start out muted and subtle and slowly become more distressing. Again, reverb was intensively used at the start of the sound bed, slowly being stripped away to heighten the feeling of isolation and fear of the young refugee.