Our key campaign message ‘Come Together’ was born out of a desire to create an easily understandable global message that spoke simultaneously to the current global socio-political climate, but also to a simpler message, that the holidays are a time to come together with loved ones to celebrate and be positive.

Central to the execution of this idea was a 4-minute, Wes Anderson directed film, bringing to life the story of strangers coming together on a delayed train, destined to take them home for the holidays. We witness the collective spirit of the passengers and conductor as they come together to create a make-shift Christmas on-board the train.

This central piece of long-format would be teased through traditional media, but would exist online for viewers to watch and share.

To bring this message to life in a way that was utterly stylish, would cut-through the holiday clutter, and communicate ‘Come Together’ in a warm, inviting and seasonal way, we enlisted Academy-Award nominated director Wes Anderson, to execute the campaign with his signature style.

This decision was critical to communicating our story in a way that would elevate our simple message and story – the coming together of strangers in an unfortunate situation – in a visually compelling way, that connected emotionally with our audience. Adding iconic John Lennon track “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” further contributed to our commitment to delivering a positive, yet meaningful message.

The campaign was focused around a hero launch moment, across 65 markets, simultaneously activating the campaign, to generate global conversation around the film. Launch was focused around social platforms: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to facilitate reaction, conversation and sharing of the film

The ‘Come Together’ campaign was hugely successful. The hero four-minute film reached over 860M people online, and received over 19M YouTube views (+220% YoY). Additionally, the campaign SoV increased 9% YoY, capturing the largest share of the market for H&M to date. Our hero video post reached 62.6M viewers (+95.8%) across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. #ComeTogether trended worldwide on release, and fuelled conversation around the topic throughout the campaign. It contributed to a 6% YoY growth across the H&M group.

The film was picked up by global news corporations, Sky News, WSJ, The Independent and Entertainment Weekly.

In terms of sales effect, whilst we cannot release specific figures, the campaign contributed to a 6% YoY growth across the H&M group.

At a difficult time for the global population, H&M has shown that a simple, powerful message, executed with style, delivered across appropriate media channels, can really help people Come Together.