Disney invites audiences into a heartwarming original story with A Disney Holiday Short: Best Christmas Ever, directed by Academy Award® winner Taika Waititi via production company Hungry Man. Premiering on Disney+ and online, and featuring the voice of John Goodman as Doodle, the short serves as the creative centerpiece of Disney’s new “Make Someone’s Holiday Magic” campaign.

At the center of the story is a little girl and her doodle who comes to life on Christmas Day after Santa mistakes the drawing for a holiday wish. The short follows the charming story of the friendship between the girl and the animated product of her imagination during this magical season in a uniquely Disney way. The film ends with a call to action for viewers, “Make Someone’s Holiday Magic,” which serves as the tagline for Disney’s holiday campaign this year. Renowned Walt Disney Animation Studios animator Eric Goldberg, the creator of beloved Disney characters such as Genie from Aladdin (1992), acted as an advisor on the animation of the short in collaboration with Untold Studios, Hungry Man and creative agency adam&eveDDB.

This short follows last year’s Emmy®-nominated, A Disney Holiday Short: The Boy & The Octopus, also directed by Waititi, whose numerous Disney credits include Marvel Studios’ Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), and Searchlight Pictures’ Jojo Rabbit (2019), for which he won an Oscar® for Best Adapted Screenplay.

“What makes this story uniquely Disney is the fact that it’s set in the world of a kid. It’s a kid and her new best friend, navigating the complex world together, and doing it just with the power of friendship and imagination,”... Read More

Reinforcing its brand platform that remarkable things happen when people care, Travelers Insurance didn’t just highlight a good deed for this holiday spot; they built an entire world to retell it. Inspired by a once-in-a-generation blizzard, the film, created in partnership with TBWA\Chiat\Day NY, centers on a mother and daughter stranded in their stalled car as snow piled high and temperatures plunged, to then be rescued by a Travelers employee who spotted their buried car and ventured out into the storm. The employee not only got them out safely from the whiteout but welcomed them into his home to share his family’s holiday meal. This act epitomized the care this season brings for family, friends, and even strangers. Travelers and Oscar-nominated (Murderball for Best Feature Documentary) director Henry-Alex Rubin brought this story to life in a truly unique way, staging the whole thing as if it were a play to dramatize the feeling of being trapped in a blizzard. Shot entirely on a blackout stage, the result is an ad that feels intimate, theatrical, and (thanks to a blizzard’s worth of fake snow) impressive in scale. Production company was SMUGGLER. Read More

A lad realizes he’s been a bit more naughty than nice, which isn’t a great position to be in come Xmas time. To help persuade Santa that he’s deserving of some holiday cheer despite a “rough year,” our youngster taps into the heavy artillery--a treat from See’s left for St. Nick when he comes down the chimney.

Aptly titled “Rough Year,” this spot is part of a campaign for See’s Candies created by Dallas agency Poke The Bear.

The package of spots was directed by Jorn Threlfall of production company Native Content.