The Perfume Shop’s Christmas ad follows a grieving family’s first festive season

The Perfume Shop has released its Christmas campaign, ‘Let Love Last’, led by a 90-second black-and-white film about a family facing the festive season after the death of the father.

The campaign was created by Boldspace and directed by Chris Fowles. It runs through the festive period on in-store screens, connected TV, video-on-demand, social and digital display.

A first Christmas without Dad

The film drops viewers into the middle of an everyday family scene. A young boy asks: “Where are the Christmas lights?” His mother, occupied with something else, replies: “I’m not sure, love. Dad used to do that.”

His older brother, sitting on the sofa with his phone, sighs and gets up without a word, partly resigned and partly affectionate. A torch finds the box in the attic, the lights are plugged in, and the younger boy’s face brightens with them.

The brothers go on to other jobs being done for the first time since their father’s death. They bake from a worn sheet of paper headed “Dad’s mince pies recipe” and finish the tree.

Then the story turns. The younger boy asks where the scissors are, and his mother says they are probably in her room. Upstairs, the older brother finds an almost empty perfume bottle engraved “To my beautiful wife x.”

On Christmas morning, with everyone in pyjamas, the mother takes a present from a The Perfume Shop bag and undoes the ribbon. It is the same fragrance, now engraved “To our wonderful mum x.” She and her son exchange a slightly sad smile. “It’s a nice tradition,” he says, and they hug.

Understated by design

Monochrome Christmas ads about bereaved families are common, and many turn grief into a set piece. This one relies on restrained writing and casting instead. The family is ordinary: a stretched mother keeping things together, a teenager more interested in his phone and a younger brother who still believes in Christmas magic.

That ordinariness keeps it clear of sentimentality. The soft black-and-white look has been The Perfume Shop’s visual signature since the brand and Boldspace introduced its ‘The Power of Perfume’ platform earlier this year. Feeling is carried through glances and offhand lines, and no one wallows. The father’s absence is felt, but the family gets on with it.

The older brother is at the centre of the film. According to Arif Miah, senior director at Boldspace, the aim was to show “what strength and care can look like in young men” without making it a statement. The character gives no speech and offers no affectionate hair ruffle. He simply untangles the lights.

The ad also leaves viewers with a practical gift idea, an engraved bottle of fragrance, whether or not they have experienced a loss themselves.

At The Perfume Shop, the campaign was led by head of brand marketing Amy Danbrowsky. The Boldspace team included creative director Neil Richardson, with Jack Madison as director of photography, editing by Maria Barsukova, grading by Jonny Tully at Electric Theatre Collective and music by composer Young Joo Yoon.