Baileys gets festive with ballet Christmas ad

Baileys is attempting to get consumers in the mood for Christmas with a modern retelling of The Nutcracker, starring members of The Royal Ballet Company.

Baileys new Christmas advertisement features members of The Royal Ballet

The advertisement is a contemporary twist on the Tchaikovsky ballet which has been choreographed by acclaimed dancer Benjamin Millepied, choreographer of Oscar-winning film The Black Swan.

Starring Steven McRae and Thiago Soares, both principal dancers with The Royal Ballet, and Iana Salenko, guest principal with The Royal Ballet, the two-minute advertisement is part of the brand’s Cream With Spirit marketing campaign.

Commercial director Ringan Ledwidge shot the modern fairytale which charts a girls’ night out at Christmas time.

“I have loved experimenting with The Nutcracker and making it feel current in 2013 for this advert for Bailey’s,” said Millepied.

“Working with the director, we developed a dramatic and fluent choreographed performance that brought to life the sublime story with principal dancers that transformed the sequence of works with traditional crystalline magic.”

The advertisement shows Salenko dance flirtatiously with the ‘Nutcracker Prince’, played by McRae, however, their romance is thwarted by the ‘Mouse King’, played by Soares.

The film ends with the tagline line ‘spend time with the girls this Christmas’, as Salenko leaves the two men and rejoins her group of friends.

Karen Owens, Western Europe category marketing director for Bailey’s and portfolio brands at Diageo, said: “We are delighted to be working with Ringan and Benjamin alongside an A-list cast and crew to create a truly magical and enchanting take on The Nutcracker.

“Baileys has undergone a transformation this year with our new slim line bottle and this is mirrored in the advert, which sees a Christmas classic given a fresh, contemporary twist.”

The two-minute advertisement will first appear on UK television this Saturday night (16 November) on Channel 4.

A 60-second version will then roll out across UK channels from November 25.