Feast Your Eyes on These Fantastically Festive Food Ads

Christmas is officially (almost) here, and we at LBB are already salivating at the thought of roasties, sprouts and, of course, a big ol’ turkey. In fact, we’re so excited that we decided to hit up a few of advertising’s food specialists to tease us with their favourite bits of festive tabletop photography. 

Hungry for some tasty insight, LBB’s Liam Smith caught up with directors Martha Delap and Richard Pullar and food/drink content studio Delightful Media to see what’s on the table this Christmas.

Martha Delap – Director at Another Film Company

LBB> In your opinion, what's a great example of tabletop photography in advertising?

MD> For me, there is no competition for the best Christmas food ad, there is just one in the running and it's Marks & Spencer's Adventures in Christmas from 2015.  Christmas food is familiar, nostalgic and the same every year, so to make a Christmas food ad that stands out from its competitors takes imagination.  Michael Roulier and Philippe Lhomme's work is jaw droppingly brilliant.  All food advertising has to make your mouth water and your tummy rumble, and they do that but with such incredible artistry and originality, it is an absolutely stunning piece of work.  Perfection.

LBB> What's your ideal Christmas shoot?

MD> My ideal Christmas shoot is made great by working with my favourite people on a brilliant idea, and with the huge bonus of food shoots - tonnes of delicious food to pick at all day.

LBB> What's on the menu for your Christmas dinner this year?

MD> I learnt an important lesson about Christmas dinner a few years ago, the Hemsley Sisters were all the rage and I made their avocado, lime and pecan cheesecake for pudding.  Big mistake, I've never seen such disappointed faces. How could I do this?  Where was the Christmas pudding? So, since then my Christmas dinner have followed the tried, tested and wonderfully familiar menu - Turkey with all the trimmings followed by Christmas pudding.  We wouldn't want it any other way.

Delightful

LBB> What's a great example of food photography in advertising? 

Delightful> For advertising that has inspired a whole genre of copy-cat campaigns, we love Marks & Spencer’s food campaigns - and their Christmas output is very much a seasonal twist on their usual style. You could remove the M&S branding and you’d still know the brand from the creative alone.

LBB> What's the secret to shooting festive food?

Delightful> For us, festive food content is all about pushing the visual dial up to the max. Capturing those classic Christmas elements, from the plump, juicy turkey to a flaming Christmas pud, and adding a more than healthy dose of Christmas sparkle to go with it. 

On the drinks front, we think it’s about bringing modern twists to festive classics and presenting them in a warm and celebratory domestic setting to show people how easy and fun it can be to make cocktails at home!

This year on our cocktail channel Delightful Drinks, we’re bringing our audience simple additions to Prosecco to serve when they’re hosting friends, alongside an OTT creation with a marshmallow snowman relaxing on top of some Bailey’s, rum and spray cream - while it snows desiccated coconut all around him!

LBB> What's on the menu for your Christmas dinner?

Delightful> We take Christmas meals very seriously here at Delightful Media. To start the day, this year, we’re on-trend with a Party Prosecco cocktail. Mid-morning we’ll be delving into smoked salmon. We recommend H. Forman & Son’s London Cure Smoked Salmon, topped with a generous dollop of caviar. We serve Mottra Caviar, which is farmed sustainably by massaging the eggs from the sturgeon.  Lunch, served around 3pm is a traditional roast turkey, which we’ve bought from Farmdrop.com, the ethical online grocer that distributes foods to consumers, sourced from local farmers and fishermen.  After lunch, we’ll be relaxing in front of our laptops and TVs (for the older members of the team) with Irish coffees, before going to sleep and dreaming of Boxing Day leftovers…

Richard Pullar – Director at Fresh Film

LBB> In your opinion, what's a great example of food photography in advertising?

RP> For me appetite appeal is always important, especially to the client. Then of course there’s images and ads that make you smile. A few great examples over the year that come to mind were the M&S images of graphic food shots creating both strong stylised visuals whilst also conveying great appetite appeal and big brand reinforcement. 

This year’s Tesco Christmas ad got the balance of performance and product spot on for me with well integrated and appetising seasonal food shots placed in comical familiar holiday season scenarios. Waitrose’s decision to have the ad in black and white was a bit of a surprise for me, yet managed to still hero the food alongside the narrative and was effective in its ability to stand out.

LBB> What's the secret to shooting festive food? 

RP> I’m not sure there is a secret as such for shooting festive food any differently to shooting food at other times of the year. Working with a great team of people you trust, with fun creative briefs and open minded clients always helps to make the outcome more creative and enjoyable all round.

LBB> What's on the menu for your Christmas dinner?

RP> Well it’ll be some form of the regular roast, perhaps a bit of game thrown in for good measure. There’ll most likely be plenty of booze and I am quite partial to the obligatory Christmas sandwich. One thing’s for sure, there won’t be any Brussel sprouts!