With a mere 36 shopping days left until Christmas, this week's pre-emptive holiday Hotshot is a comic treat from zig for Best Buy. James Haworth of Partners and Another shows the length parents are forced to go to in order to bag the best gifts for their overly demanding offspring.

Made up of two spots, the campaign explores the idea that the best presents get the best reactions by showing parents re-enacting their children's expressions of excitement in order to locate products in store.



Executive creative director Martin Beauvais explains the thinking behind the spots: "We wanted to steer away from the typical expected holiday ads so we started thinking about what it is Best Buy is actually selling and what shoppers are really looking for - an awesome reaction."

Rather than focussing on a specific gift in particular, the team at zig decided to conjure up amusing situations around the emotions attached to receiving great presents. To helm the campaign, zig turned to James Haworth, who'd worked on commercials for Best Buy with creative Niall Kelly before.

"The brief was simple, which in my opinion is always the best route," says Haworth. "I really enjoy working on projects that are all about tapping into human emotion, and the whole idea of focusing on reactions fits into that."



Shot over two nights in Toronto, Haworth says the key to the project lay in keeping things as simple as possible. "It was a mix of simplicity and the belief that the situation was amusing enough without us having to resort to over-egging the pudding, so to speak. It was really important that we get the right talent to act in the spots, although I must admit, seven hours of listening to actors yelling 'you can do that' gave us crazy headaches."

To view the spot click here.