Elkjøp's 'To Give More' campaign, created by Nord DDB Stockholm in December 2018, is an emotionally driven Christmas film that earned a Guldägget Silver and an
Elkjøp To Give More Turns Christmas Into an Emotional Argument for Tech
Elkjøp's 'To Give More' is a four-minute Christmas film created by Nord DDB Stockholm, released in Sweden and across Scandinavia in December 2018, that reframes consumer electronics as vehicles for human connection rather than objects defined by price or specification.
The campaign arrives at a moment when electronics retailers across the Swedish market and the broader Nordic region habitually defaulted to promotional formats at Christmas — catalogues, price-led television spots, and feature comparisons. Elkjøp, trading in Sweden under the Elgiganten banner, chose a different register entirely. Rather than showcasing products, 'To Give More' constructed a cinematic narrative around the emotional weight a gift can carry, positioning technology as something capable of meaning more than its component parts. As noted by Nord DDB, the film was conceived as an invitation to think about gifts becoming 'more than things,' per adsoftheworld.com.
The film runs to four minutes — an unusual commitment of format for a retail electronics advertiser — and was distributed across Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland simultaneously, per nordddb.com. Its production was handled by Bleck Film Stockholm, with direction by Rune Milton, according to adsoftheworld.com. The campaign contains a single media asset, a film, and was submitted to the industry archive at clapboard.com, where it carries a Clapboard Score of 63 out of 100. The score reflects the work's creative ambition and award recognition measured against the absence of verified commercial performance data in the public domain. In the Swedish Electronics and Technology category, where brand-led storytelling at this scale remains rare, 'To Give More' stands as a structurally distinctive piece of holiday communication.
Elkjøp entered the 2018 Christmas season in Sweden facing a retail landscape shaped by competing priorities. The Swedish consumer electronics category sits within a global market that, according to News Market Us, reached approximately $940.4 billion in 2018 — a figure that underscores the scale of competitive pressure on any regional retailer attempting to differentiate through brand rather than price. In Sweden specifically, the Christmas period concentrates purchasing decisions, making creative differentiation a strategic lever with real commercial stakes.
The dominant convention among electronics retailers at Christmas is promotional: price cuts, product features, and urgency-driven calls to action. Competitors including Media Markt and Power occupy the same Nordic retail electronics space and have historically leaned on transactional messaging during peak gifting periods. Against that backdrop, Elkjøp and Nord DDB identified an insight that transactional advertising leaves unaddressed — that the person receiving a gift matters more than the object being given. The campaign's strategic proposition, articulated by Nord DDB per nordddb.com, held that technology becomes meaningful only in the context of a human relationship.
This positioning is brand-led rather than product-led, a distinction that carries risk in a category where short-term sales response is the conventional measure of Christmas advertising success, as clapboard.com observes. The decision to build a four-minute film — a format that sacrifices reach efficiency for depth of engagement — signals a deliberate bet on emotional salience over promotional cut-through. The planner on the campaign, Elias Betinakis, and communications planner Jesper Andersson, according to adsoftheworld.com, were central to framing the brief in terms that could sustain that ambition across the Nordic markets simultaneously.
Rune Milton directed 'To Give More' for Elkjøp, with production handled by Bleck Film Stockholm, according to adsoftheworld.com. The film's visual language operates at a scale more commonly associated with theatrical short fiction than retail advertising — wide compositions, deliberate pacing, and a tonal register that Adweek described as 'powerful and haunting' and 'a stirring, wide-screen-worthy immersive experience,' per adweek.com's 2018 ranking.
Muse by Clio, in a December 2018 review, called the film 'remarkable,' 'cryptic but beautiful,' and 'gorgeously sweeping,' according to musebyclios.com. Those descriptions point to a specific set of craft decisions: cinematography that prioritises mood and landscape over product visibility, a narrative structure that withholds resolution to build emotional tension, and a performance-led approach to casting. The cast included Terrence Hardiman, according to nordddb.com, a detail that signals the production's commitment to sourcing credible dramatic talent rather than commercial-ready performers.
The creative team at Nord DDB Stockholm was led by chief creative officer Andreas Dahlqvist, with art direction by Kristofer Gullard Lindgren and copy by Hanna Stenwall, per adsoftheworld.com and musebyclios.com. Creative lead Fredrik Simonsson also contributed to the project, according to adsoftheworld.com. The production was executive-produced by Mattias Yngwe at DDB House, with Lars Nordenson serving as producer and Nils Ljunggren as agency producer, per adsoftheworld.com. The One Show recognised the film's craft specifically, awarding it a Merit for Cinematography in the Single category at the 2019 awards, according to clapboard.com. That distinction is notable because it isolates the visual execution as independently awarded, separate from the broader campaign's strategic or commercial performance.
No verified sales performance data or quantified market-share impact for 'To Give More' is publicly available, and no figures relating to view counts, brand-lift studies, or revenue attribution have been documented in accessible industry sources. The campaign's measurable legacy is therefore best understood through its critical and awards record, which is substantial for a single-film retail campaign from the Swedish market.
Adweek ranked 'To Give More' number 14 on its list of the best advertisements in the world in 2018, describing it as 'powerful and haunting,' according to adweek.com. The Guldägget jury awarded the film a Silver in the Longer Film category in 2019, according to clapboard.com — the Guldägget being the most prominent advertising prize in Sweden. The film also received the Roygalan Best Film Award in 2019, per clapboard.com, and earned a One Show Merit for Craft in Cinematography for a Single, also in 2019, according to clapboard.com. Together these recognitions span Swedish industry, Nordic industry, and international creative juries, indicating that the film's craft and strategic departure from category norms registered across different evaluative frameworks.
Structurally, the campaign demonstrates that a four-minute brand film can achieve critical breakthrough in the electronics and technology category without a product-demonstration spine — a finding that remains relevant for retailers in Sweden and across Scandinavia considering brand investment at Christmas. The Clapboard Score of 63 out of 100 reflects that combination: meaningful award recognition and strong critical reception, weighted against the absence of independently verified commercial metrics in the public record.
'To Give More' is a four-minute Christmas film created by Nord DDB Stockholm for Elkjøp, released in Sweden and across the Nordic region in December 2018. The film frames consumer electronics as vehicles for human connection rather than products defined by price, and earned a Guldägget Silver and an Adweek top-ad ranking in 2018 and 2019.
Rune Milton directed 'To Give More,' with production by Bleck Film Stockholm. Nord DDB Stockholm's creative team included chief creative officer Andreas Dahlqvist, art director Kristofer Gullard Lindgren, and copywriter Hanna Stenwall. The film was executive-produced by Mattias Yngwe at DDB House, according to adsoftheworld.com and musebyclios.com.
'To Give More' won a Guldägget Silver for Longer Film in 2019, a Roygalan Best Film Award in 2019, and a One Show Merit for Craft in Cinematography in 2019, according to clapboard.com. Adweek also ranked it number 14 on its global best-ads list for 2018, describing it as powerful and haunting.
Most electronics retailers in Sweden, including competitors such as Media Markt and Power, use price-led promotional formats at Christmas. 'To Give More' replaced product features with a four-minute cinematic drama, positioning Elkjøp on emotional rather than transactional ground, per the strategic rationale documented by Nord DDB and reported by nordddb.com.
'To Give More' was distributed across Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland in December 2018, according to adsoftheworld.com and nordddb.com. In Sweden, Elkjøp trades under the Elgiganten name. The campaign was a single-film execution without supplementary media assets, as documented at clapboard.com.
'To Give More' holds a Clapboard Score of 63 out of 100. The score reflects the campaign's strong critical reception, multiple industry awards including a Guldägget Silver and a One Show Merit, and its strategic distinctiveness in the Swedish electronics category, weighed against the absence of publicly verified commercial performance data.
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