JD Sports Xmas ad celebrates youth culture via duffle bag focus

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Nov 13, 2023

Christmas campaigns are now hugely important to retailers across the product spectrum and that includes sports/athleisure sellers. One of the biggest, JD Sports, has unveiled its festive offering with Forever Forward that aims to “propel youth culture forwards at every moment”.

It “celebrates over 25 years of the iconic JD duffle, cementing its unrivalled status in British youth culture”.

That distinctive carrier bag takes centre stage with the firm saying it’s “always been the original Bag For Life”.

Soundtracked to ‘Sweet Harmony’ by Liquid, the campaign film “is a dynamic love letter to culture, the people that make it, and the bag that carries it forward. Rooted in authentic, relatable, real-life scenarios of JD consumers — from a first kiss, to kickabouts on the street and hangs with mates — the moments where the JD duffle has been ever-present”.

The campaign features 14 “well-known faces whose collective impact transcends boundaries, empowers communities, and shapes the cultural landscape that we are living in today”.

The spot sees features Central Cee, Sturdy Off, Davido, Ronisia and Ella Toone, Kano and his family, Ants Live, Joy Crookes at a Nia Archives rave, Chunkz & Darkest, Mar Lucas, Omar Montes and Cat Burns.

It’s all “a celebration of creativity, resilience, and passion, aimed to empower and inspire the next generation” with JD saying it “recognises the impact and influence young individuals have in shaping the future, and Forever Forward is a tribute to their unwavering spirit of encouraging self-expression, embracing uniqueness, and relentlessly driving positive change”.

Forever Forward launches in JD stores, shopping malls and high streets this month and the duffle “will be recreated and brought to life through a series of fun consumer digital and in-store experiences”.