Title	THE MAGICAL ADVENT CALENDER
Brand	TELEKOM DEUTSCHLAND GMBH
Product/Service	BRAND
Category	A07. Audio Content
Entrant	DDB GERMANY HAMBURG, GERMANY
Idea Creation	DDB GERMANY HAMBURG, GERMANY
Idea Creation 2	adam&eveDDB London, UNITED KINGDOM
Media Placement	MEDIACOM Düsseldorf, GERMANY
Production	UNIT9 London, UNITED KINGDOM
Production 2	TONY PETERSEN FILM Hamburg, GERMANY
Production 3	THE MILL London, UNITED KINGDOM
Production 4	HASTINGS MUSIC Hamburg, GERMANY
Production 5	MOKOH MUSIC Berlin, GERMANY
Additional Company	FACTORY London, UNITED KINGDOM
Additional Company 2	SONNY London, UNITED KINGDOM

Name	Company	Position
Dennis May	DDB Group Germany	Chief Creative Officer
Fabian Roser	DDB Group Germany	Managing Director Creative
Ben Priest	adam&eveDDB	Manging Director Creative
Karsten Ruddigkeit	DDB Group Germany	Executive Creative Director
Kristine Holzhausen	DDB Group Germany	Creative Director
Paul Knott	adam&eveDDB	Creative Director
Tim Vance	adam&eveDDB	Creative Director
Dominika Zajac	DDB Group Germany	Art Director
Chloe Pope	adam&eveDDB	Art Director
Alessandro Rocco Tramontana	DDB Group Germany	Art Director
Carsten Hohenstein	DDB Group Germany	Senior UX Designer
Jessica Morris	adam&eveDDB	Copywriter
Jeannette Bohné	DDB Group Germany	Copywriter
Thomas Köhler	DDB Group Germany	Copywriter
Katrin Spiegel	DDB Group Germany	Client Service Director
Franziska Fischer	DDB Group Germany	Account Director
Lena Landsberger	DDB Group Germany	Account Director
Belinda Menzel	DDB Group Germany	Account Manager
Arianna Giese	DDB Group Germany	Account Manager
Natalie Kröger	DDB Group Germany	Account Manager
Stefan Sindram	DDB Group Germany	Head of Strategy
David Golding	adam&eveDDB	Chief Strategy Officer
Meike van Meegen	DDB Group Germany	Head of TV
Crille Forsberg	Crille Forsberg	Camera
Fredrik Bond	Fredrik Bond	Director
Rufus Beck	Rufus Beck	Narrator Audiobook
Jan Brandt	Jan Brandt	Author
Anthony Moore	Factory Studios	Sound Engineer
Hans Christian Sametzki	HASTINGS Music GmbH	Sound Engineer

The Campaign

It’s a German tradition to give kids an advent calendar on the first of December. The 24 doors, hiding a chocolaty treat, are opened daily till Christmas eve. “The magical Advent Calendar” tells the story of little Jonas–who would never share with his sister Sarah. On the 1st of December Jonas finds a magical advent calendar – but discovers that he can’t open the doors on his own. He finds out that he can only open the doors with the help of other people. Through this experience he learns that life is more rewarding when you share. Every chapter is a new adventure, Jonas meets a mysterious calendar warden, has to solve many riddles and much more. The listener witnesses Jonas’s transition – from an egoistic boy to a caring brother. The grand finale takes place on the 24th when Jonas finally shares the last piece of chocolate with Sarah

Creative Execution

The whole story was created by the creative team and an author, who transferred the story into a book. The process took almost two months and with every chapter the Jonas’s character got more multifaceted. Also the whole story revealed a lot more about the village and its inhabitants, than the film could ever show, it even explained how the calendar works and what will happen to it next. Finally, the manuscript was taken into the recording studio. The voice artist was chosen based on his experience and his unique way to give every character its own voice. Rufus Beck, a famous German actor and the voice behind the Harry Potter audiobooks, was the perfect fit. In an intense 2-day recording session (at Hastings in Munich) he brought the audiobook to life. The finalized audiobook has a playtime of over 3 hours and was shared, episode by episode via Soundcloud. Synopsis: This is the story of Jonas, a little boy who never shares. But on the first of December he finds a magical advent calendar and discovers that he can only open the calendar doors with the help of others. On his mission to find the right person every day, he discovers a magical world behind the calendar doors, is shrunk, makes new friends and confronts his biggest fear. When he has to meet a witch-like old woman on Christmas Eve, he completes his transformation from a selfish child to a loving brother. The witch turns out to be a kind old lady who reveals that the last piece of chocolate is for Jonas himself. It is this last piece that he happily shares with his sister, Sarah – the moment that teaches us all that life is more rewarding when you share.

“The magical advent calendar” was watched almost 13. Mio. times and became the most successful Youtube-Ad in 2016 (in Germany). Many viewers followed the teaser to find out more and got hooked to the audiobook on Soundcloud. The first episode was played over 80K times and the whole playlist made it No. 1 in the official German audiobook charts and No. 6 in the official German album charts (charting above “The Weekend” with his record “Starboy”). Based on that it’s safe to say that the audiobook was a massive success – but even more important is the fact that the audiobook brought branded content, the spirit of the Telekom Christmas message, into many households every day. And creating a piece of content that brings families together and lets them share a story, that is the true value of the audiobook “The magical advent calendar.”

Following Deutsche Telekom’s claim: Life is for sharing, the Christmas story “The magical advent calendar” was made (next to a 2-minute online film) into a whole audiobook of which a new episode was shared daily, from the first till the 24th of December, on Soundcloud With over 3 hours playtime divided in 24 chapters and read by the famous German actor and voice behind the Harry Potter audiobooks, Rufus Beck, the story accompanied the Germans during the season. The audiobook charted No.1 in the official German audiobook charts and No. 6 in the official German album charts.

The Christmas film first aired online – where it quickly reached almost 13 Mio. views, making it the most successful Youtube-Ad in 2016 (in Germany). Online, TV and cinema teasers revealed that there was a lot more to discover. Via the website Der-magische-adventskalender.de the users could enter Jonas’s room. Here a virtual calendar lead them deeper into each day’s adventures with interactive illustrations and audiobook teasers. From the website users were directly send to Soundcloud where they could listen to the whole episode. On Soundcloud a new episode was shared daily. On the 24th the whole audiobook, with over 3 hours playtime, could be downloaded for free.