During the December gifts shopping period, retail branding in the Middle East looks and feels broadly imported, relying on cliché symbols that may seem disconnected from the regional context.

Given the above, the brief was to deliver a festive-period campaign closer to home in a way that most consumers in the UAE and the region can associate with. To make the narrative more engaging, it had to be a personal story that viewers would be able to relate to. The result had to reinforce the position of Virgin Megastore as a gifts-shopping destination.

Our production budget was $12,000 and the campaign had to run regionally across 6 countries in the Middle East. The animation, and the artworks that were used to create it, had to be used adapted in all of Virgin Megastore's online channels, social media and in-store festive theme branding.

We developed a story of a little boy dreaming of a special gift. The animation presents a journey of a magical gifts-laden train coming from the North Pole to the cultural and historical landmarks of the Middle East. The high point of the journey is a festive Downtown Dubai where the Red Express releases gifts over the city.

A visual style representing childlike playfulness and traditional festivity was achieved by a sequence of ten hand-drawn illustrations. Each artwork started as a black and white sketch which made compositions easy to revise before the coloring started. The canvases were A3-sized, large enough for the details to be preserved in the scanning process.

After the physical artworks were scanned, they were layered and animated in 2.5D to bring the story to life. To keep the animation dynamic and rich with content, particular attention was given to particles systems and the motion of layers and the camera.

In line with the Virgin brand, special attention was given to the artworks’ color theme of reds and complimentary purple and blue hues.