Erste’s Christmas ad: How “Silent Night” lit a spark that has brightened the whole world

The new „Silent Night“ spot can be seen on the Erste Group website as well as on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn.

A simple song that manages to bring hope
The three-minute online video takes us to the small, snowy village of Oberndorf near Salzburg, Austria – a setting that was anything but cozy at Christmas time in 1818. After the Napoleonic Wars, people in the region suffered from great poverty and hunger. The village priest Joseph Mohr wanted to give people hope in these dark times and decided to recite a poem he had written on Christmas Eve. The music was composed on the very same day by the local music teacher Franz Xaver Gruber. Together, the two men sang “Silent Night” at Christmas mass, accompanied only by a guitar – something unimaginable in churches at that time. This simple gesture gave the small village’s inhabitants hope during the darkest time of the year.

In the film, we travel to some of the major milestones “Silent Night” has achieved: A Tyrolean singing group performed it in 1822 before the Austrian Emperor Franz I. In 1906, “Silent Night” was played Reginald Fessenden on the violin during the very first broadcast of radio entertainment in America. In 1914, the song brought a brief, but powerful pause to the fighting during World War I. At the Western Front, German and English soldiers sang it together, bridging the enemy trenches. The song even reached space: in 1973, “Silent Night” was transmitted to the crew orbiting in the space station Skylab 4.

Accompanied by the gentle tones of the piece in various languages, Erste Group’s “Silent Night” spot shows the different moments in which this simple song brings hope. In the end, the encouraging story is supported by a forward-looking message: Your spark can light up the world #believeinyourself

A Christmas success story from Austria
After Hedgehog Henry (2018), Bumblebee Hanna (2019), Composer Edgar (2020), Father-to-Be Father Jakub (2021), #believeinchristmas spot (2022), and Rodeo Rudolph (2023), “Silent Night” is already the seventh international Christmas advert by Erste Group. The benchmark for the new spot is high: Together, the previous six Christmas films have been viewed more than 300 million times and have received over 28 advertising industry awards.

As with the previous adverts, Jung von Matt DONAU is once again responsible for the creative execution, this time in collaboration with directors Daniel & Szymon. “Christmas has become the European Super Bowl of the advertising industry,” says Mike Nagy, Executive Creative Director and Partner at Jung von Matt DONAU. “In an environment where more and more brands are fighting for attention, we can only reach people with stories that manage to touch them. And what could be more suitable than the origin story of perhaps the most famous Christmas song?”

The current Christmas advert was developed in collaboration with the Silent Night Association, a charitable association that provided invaluable insights into the history of the song.

Credits
Client: Erste Group Bank AG
Erste Group – Group Brand & Innovation: Martin Radjaby-Rasset
Erste Group - Group Brand Management: Daniel Ratzenböck, Juraj Flimel
Creative Agency: Jung von Matt DONAU (Wien)
Production: Arts & Sciences (London)
Directors: Daniel & Szymon
VFX: Black Kite Studios (London)
Sounddesign: Factory Studios (London)
Music: KO Music (London)
Photo: Ole Westermann