BARBOUR x WALLACE & GROMIT ‣ CHRISTMAS ACTIVATION

For Christmas 2025, Barbour partnered with Aardman for a second year to create an animated Christmas film, this time with Wallace and Gromit, celebrating the warmth of thoughtful gifting.

In the story, Wallace unveils his latest invention: the Gift-O-Matic, a machine designed to wrap presents automatically. Unsurprisingly, things don't go quite to plan, and the machine begins unwrapping the clothes of its creator instead.

Our challenge was to spark curiosity and anticipation ahead of the film’s release through a pop-up activation in London.

To tease the film before its release, we imagined the Gift-O-Matic went really wrong. Wallace and Gromit had been completely wrapped in Barbour's Winterberry tartan paper, leaving only their unmistakable silhouettes behind.

Life-sized wrapped figures appeared first in Wensleydale, where Wallace lives and works, before arriving in the heart of Covent Garden.

Before the film launched, the mysterious installation invited passers-by to guess what lay beneath the wrapping. Once the advert was released, visitors could come enjoy a complimentary coffee and photo opportunity with the duo.

To extend the story, we created a fictional newspaper reporting on the Gift-O-Matic's latest mishaps.

Inspired by classic British tabloids and the newspaper graphics featured throughout the Wallace & Gromit films, The Daily Wrap spread rumours of the rogue invention, helping blur the line between the fictional world of the film and the streets of London.

Ahead of the experiential activation, the story started online through a series of teaser films showing mysterious tartan-wrapped objects appearing across London.

With the Gift-O-Matic seemingly out of control, everything in its path, everyday objects became wrapped, making everybody wonder what was going on.