The Fantastical Christmas Contraption

Ok, picture this - It’s August, the sun is blazing, a smattering of white cotton wool clouds, shorts, T-shirts, suntans, the smell of mowed lawns and a 99 ice cream in tow…Ok, it was pelting down with rain and bloody freezing but this is England after all!

The point is it was Summer.  My Creative Director, Andi Grant, and I had just walked out of a Marks and Spencer brief on their Christmas window displays in five flagship stores; Marble Arch, Westfield, Edinburgh, Manchester & Liverpool, and now had to come up with an inspiration/design that would showcase the M&S gift and toy collection for 2010.  We were asked to draw on a much-loved children’s theme, the toy workshop/factory, using inspiration from Wallace & Gromit and Willy Wonka.

A quick trip down Christmas memory lane - watching The Snowman for the 10^th time, heads spinning from an overdose of chocolate, tiny bits of packaging strewn across the floor and lots of cheap plastic toys that would be abandoned by Boxing Day - it is safe to say our creative juices weren’t exactly flowing.

But then it happened…!  As Andi revealed his first sketches of ‘The Fantastical Christmas Contraption’ incorporating ‘Upalupa’, ‘The Sparky 2000 plus 10’, ‘Loopy Lou’ and the ‘Funnellvator’, we knew we had it.  We were transported back to our childhoods.  Was this the work of a mad genius or were we seeing the fantasies of a six year old Andrew Grant finally unleashed on an unsuspecting adult world after 22 years?

From the moment we unveiled this innovative piece of festive magic to M&S they realised they were on to a winner.  With over 50 moving parts this animated display will surely captivate and excite shoppers from Edinburgh to London, especially the ones under 10 who are the target audience!

The animated gift window features ‘Tink the Robot’ who mixes the toys together.  When they’ve reached the perfect consistency they slip down the ‘Funnellvator’ into the ‘Sparky 2000+10’.  Here they are tumbled to make them nice and soft.  They leave the Sparky by means of the ‘Loopy Lou’ whose motion is powered by the ‘Springlepops’ squishing down and springing up.  The ‘Loopy Lou’ transports them safely to the ‘Packorama’ where they are wrapped up all nice and warm, before boarding the ‘Upalupa’ ready for transportation to children everywhere around the world.

M&S in-house design and visual teams worked together closely with SFD to design and dress the moving windows to ensure their range of toys and gifts were brought to life.  Brendan Davey, Head of Visual at M&S, said: “We’re delighted to introduce some festive magic to five of our flagship store windows. Christmas provides a great opportunity for us to be really innovative with our designs and create an exciting visual display. We hope that the animated toy workshops in the stores' windows will provide an entertaining focal point on the high street and captivate busy shoppers with our latest Christmas gifts.”

This has been a journey for us all and with December fast approaching I feel like we will be visiting Xmas for the second time…Two for one! I’ve definitely been in retail too long!