But beyond the numbers, this was about pushing what handcrafted storytelling can do in a digital world. A chance to experiment, grow, and keep championing emotion over automation. Built on Ogilvy’s original idea, and with Hogarth taking care of the live action production, we teamed up with Device on direction and the ever-meticulous Pangur Animation for the stop-motion magic.

When the bar’s already sky-high, you don’t just meet it, you redefine it. Suchard’s legacy demanded that. BOL & Device led the creative direction from concept to final frame, shaping the campaign’s vision, emotional core, and handcrafted 2000s aesthetic. The goal was to bring visual flair, emotional richness, and production efficiency into perfect balance. Big ambition, tight turnaround, and a story that had to feel warm, real, and festive to the core.

The whole crew shared one creative compass – telling a story that looked as good as it felt. Device designed a clever modular system using seven master head models to create a cast of charming misfits, each with their own little quirks. No cookie cutters, just characters that fell right into place. We also called in the brilliant Virginia Moriche from OFFF Sevilla Festival’s board, who has vast expertise in Andalucian culture, to make sure every prop, accent and set detail felt properly rooted in.

At the heart of it all was a simple but powerful idea: the taste of Christmas never really changes; it just finds new ways to reach us. We took that sentiment and embraced it.

Visually, the world came alive through a mix of stop-motion, hand-painted shadows, cel animation and live action. Even the chocolate had its own FX moment (because, let’s face it, it deserves the spotlight). The layering of media made the world feel rich, real and heartfelt. Pangur’s team & animators poured soul into every frame – every blinking eye, every tiny smile. During our visit to their Valencia studio, we got a front-row seat to the patience, talent, and precision it takes to craft this kind of magic.

The sets told their own story, too: think early-2000s living rooms, old-school TVs and sofas that scream “abuelita’s house”. All intentionally nostalgic, all deeply relatable.

“We were lucky to have incredible pre-production material, which made it easy to achieve a result we are truly satisfied with and that works well on screen. Device/BOL’s work was so thorough that our main challenge was faithfully translating the 2D design universe into a 3D puppet, with its physical limitations. Everything was so well planned that each phase came with perfect guides, from props to lighting and colour grading. The same applied to the animatic and animation: we aimed to stay as faithful as possible to the pre-production scene planning.” – Vicente Mallols, Pangur’s Stop Motion Animation Director

This wasn’t just a Christmas ad. It was a celebration of craft, culture and collaboration. In a world speeding up by the second, we chose to slow things down – to tell a story with hands, hearts and stop-motion heads. A little imperfect, deeply human, and unmistakably BOL.