Barbour 2022 Christmas ad – Paddington

Barbour unveiled its 2022 Christmas campaign featuring the much-loved children’s character Paddington.
The hand-painted 2D animation was created by a trio of directors againstallodds and produced by Triple Academy-Award-winning production company PASSION Pictures. The film was created in TV Paint and aftereffects, with painstaking effort made to faithfully bring Peggy Fortnum’s signature style to life. For this film, Paddington’s world has expanded, meeting more characters and venturing outside of Brown’s home, all the while staying true to the iconic ‘Paddington’ look. Every frame of the animation is hand drawn and painted, with more than 3000 hours of work going into the design, animation, and composition of the final film.

Paddington, a friendly, kind-hearted bear from Peru, with his old hat, battered suitcase, duffel coat, and love of marmalade, has become a classic character from British children’s literature. Written by Michael Bond and illustrated by Peggy Fortnum, the first book, ‘A Bear Called Paddington’ was released in 1958 and remains a children’s firm favourite. Barbour’s seasonal film includes the original Peggy Fortnum illustration style, which has only ever been animated by Barbour.

As part of Barbour’s Wax for Life initiative to extend the life of their garments, the film focuses on Barbour Re-Loved, an important circularity initiative. Barbour Re-Loved enables customers who no longer have a use for their Barbour wax jacket to hand it back in return for a voucher. Barbour cleans, re-waxes, and repairs the jacket, ready for it to be ‘re-loved’ in a new home, thus extending the life of the jacket. No two Re-Loved jackets are the same, making each one unique.

Carol singers are in Windsor Gardens just before Christmas and knock on Mr. Curry’s door (Paddington’s somewhat grumpy neighbor). The carol singers move on just as Mr. Curry opens the door, a little disappointed that he has missed them. Paddington decides that he will buy a Christmas present for Mr. Curry to let him know he is thinking of him.

He goes to Portobello Market with Mrs. Brown and her daughter Judy to find a present. Paddington spots some jars of marmalade, it’s always his first choice when it comes to finding a present. Mrs. Brown suggests they pick something a bit more unique for Mr. Curry. Paddington sees a Barbour shop window with the sign ‘Unique Re-Loved jackets’ and decides that this will be perfect as Mr. Brown has always said that there is no one quite like Mr. Curry!

He takes the present round to Mr. Curry, who is surprised to see the bear, particularly as he has just taken the knocker off his door by mistake. He warms to him as he opens the present and reads the tag, “This jacket is one of a kind, just like you.”

Paul Wilkinson, Group Marketing Director & MD, USA, Barbour, said, “We are delighted to feature Paddington in our Christmas film. Extending the life of our garments has been at the heart of our brand for over 100 years, and through Barbour Re-Loved, a key focus of our Wax for Life initiative, we have been able to demonstrate in a humorous and sentimental way, the importance of upcycling.