Chelsea FC tunes into Christmas with a festive TV takeover

Chelsea FC is getting into the festive spirit by turning its Christmas campaign into a television-style network, complete with weather forecasts, shopping channels and sports phone-ins featuring players from its men's and women's teams.

Titled "That's proper Chels", the campaign was created by creative agency TILL DAWN, with strategy developed by brand consultancy ICONIC. Rather than releasing a traditional Christmas advertisement, the club is rolling out a series of interconnected programmes designed to encourage fans to channel-hop across its digital platforms.

The campaign takes a playful approach to festive storytelling, with Cole Palmer presenting the weather, Jolie Sharpe hosting a QVC-style shopping channel and former Chelsea player Jason Cundy bringing his personality to a sports radio phone-in.

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Meanwhile, João Pedro answers supporters' questions in "Ask João", while Palmer and Morgan Rogers put their friendship to the test in a Christmas jumper showdown. Other players featured include Levi Colwill, Katie McCabe, Ellie Carpenter and Alyssa Thompson.

Instead of unveiling the full campaign film immediately, Chelsea is taking a staggered approach to its rollout. Fans are first introduced to behind-the-scenes footage, including players breaking character, laughing during filming and interacting with the production crew. These clips are followed by individual programmes released across different platforms, before the full Christmas broadcast is eventually unveiled.

The approach is designed to reflect how supporters consume football content today, moving between short-form videos, live streams, reactions and shopping experiences, while building anticipation throughout the festive period.

Beyond the entertainment, the campaign also supports Chelsea Foundation and its charity partners, with a percentage of sales from the club's Christmas range going towards initiatives addressing loneliness and social isolation across London and surrounding communities.

According to the club, more than £280,000 has been granted to organisations tackling loneliness and homelessness across southwest London and Surrey since the launch of its festive campaign in 2024. Supporters also donated more than 3,200 presents through the club's annual Christmas gift donation drive last year.

Scott Fenton, brand director at Chelsea FC, said the campaign celebrates the nostalgia, humour and community spirit associated with the club during Christmas, while giving supporters an opportunity to make a difference.

"While the campaign is designed to entertain supporters, it also has a meaningful purpose at its heart. Through Chelsea Foundation and its charity partners, we're proud to once again support people experiencing loneliness and social isolation," he added.

James Kirkham, founder of ICONIC, explained that the campaign draws inspiration from the fragmented way football fans engage with content across platforms.

"Fans watch football flicking between clips, streams, reactions and live shopping within the same phone, so this Christmas Chelsea broadcasts everywhere all at once," he said.

Craig Stronach, founder of TILL DAWN, added that the production was deliberately designed to capture unscripted moments, with multiple cameras rolling throughout filming.

"We shot it like a live network with every camera rolling, so the corpsing, the asides and the looks off to the AD are as much the show as the show," he said. "Fans get those first, then a flood of channels, then the whole thing."

Star power has also been a key feature of this year's festive campaigns, with brands tapping familiar faces to bring humour and personality to their holiday storytelling. For instance, SharkNinja has enlisted David Beckham, Tom Brady, Kevin Hart and Aryna Sabalenka for its first-ever holiday campaign, "There's no home like a SharkNinja home". The campaign turns a simple house-sitting arrangement into a celebrity-filled gathering, using humour and everyday household moments to showcase its products.

Created by SharkNinja's in-house Creative Labs team and produced by Studio 99, the campaign builds on the brand's "Neighbors" series, which debuted in 2025 and featured Beckham and Hart as next-door neighbours.

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