Nationwide's Woolly Advert

Last month I blogged about a knitted version of Jane Austen's characters called Pride & Preju-knits. I loved the way its British designer, Trixie von Purl, used wool creatively with more than a lashing of fun thrown in.

Image courtesy of ITV and Nationwide

Since then an email from my bank popped into my inbox. Little did I expect knitting to be amongst it contents, nestling between savings rates and loans. Before Christmas Nationwide was one of six companies to create a knitted advert to be shown during the ITV1's charity appeal Text Santa's commercial break. It recreated the company's real life advert.

I hadn't seen Text Santa, nor the knitted or real life Nationwide advert.

Speaking of the advert's creation, Paul Hibbs, Nationwide's Head of Branding & Advertising said that "a team of highly-talented textile artists from across Europe worked with model makers Mackinnon and Saunders to create the knitted characters and backdrops for all six ads, which were filmed using stop motion animation over just two weeks."

The Nationwide advert features a 'best dad' scarf that a son gives to his father. Years pass and when the son becomes a father himself his dad gives him the scarf only for it to be left on a bus ...

It's amazing how the designers have conveyed emotion through the knitted characters' facial features and bodies.

See it for yourself on YouTube here.

A quick internet search led me to the other five woolly adverts featured on Text Santa. They are:

1. A woolly celeb and cheetah promote BT's infinity broadband
2. The bed superstore Dreams encouraging viewers to buy a new mattress
3. Cute knitted horses promoting Amazon's delivery service
4. Woolly workers getting ready for the DFS winter sale
5. British Gas' penguin returning to a toasty home.

Got five minutes to spare? Watch them on TVadsongs.co.uk.

Next stop - a knitted feature film? Yes please! Which would you suggest? Answers below please ...