Arsenal's Christmas offering quietly disrupts the seasonal formula

Christmas ads.

Full of tired clichés, well-worn iconography and needless schmaltz. Not where one would ordinarily look for signs of creative disruption.

But sometimes, where a piece of work comes from is what makes it disruptive. And no one expected *a football club* to drop a festive ad worthy of competing with John Lewis and M&S this Christmas, and hoover up heaps of earned attention to boot.

Some Scrooges might say that Arsenal FC’s Christmas advert is the best entertainment the club has served up in months. And they could well be right. While on the pitch the Gunners have made a recent habit of gritty one-goal wins, the club’s marketing department is proving itself the best content factory in professional football.

This year’s edition sees lifelong fan Colin Firth join fans and current players for a once-in-a-generation seasonal knees-up, after the club ended its agonising 22-year wait to become Premier League champions again. 

Whether you were there on those memorable weekends or just experienced the celebrations through your social feed, those familiar images are all there - the red flares, youngsters shinning up buildings and lampposts, strangers embracing in the street. But this time, there’s snow and rousing strings.

“T’was the Season” is a masterful bit of copywriting.

Plus, the ad stays just on the right side of self-indulgence, delighting fans and annoying rival clubs. And that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?

Because the real meaning of Christmas, after all, is about corporations using sepia-tinged nostalgia to convince us all to open our wallets and part with our hard-earned cash.

It seemed like a fairy tale at the time. And watching this brings it all flooding back. Ghosts banished. Celebrations shared. Please, Mr Kroenke, take some more of my money.