• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, December 24, 2020

Tech giant SAP is out with a new ad developed with Venice, CA-based content studio Kommune|NoSlate that will break Christmas Day called “Dear Business” that serves as a thank you to the business community for its resilience and management of unprecedented challenges during the pandemic.

The 60-second spot will air in NBA and NFL games on Christmas and versions of the spot were also created for both the U.K. and German markets. 

Read like an open-letter to the business community, the female narrator addresses business collectively: “Dear Business, it’s been quite a year hasn’t it? But in amongst the store closures, foreclosures and shutdowns, you didn’t so much respond to the call, but rose to it.” 

From there, the tone shifts to a more hopeful one, the music swells and the visuals highlight the ways business helped feed the poor, fight fires and stand up for social justice. That tonal shift is also heard in the narrator who states that business, “took life’s lemons and built a whole new supply chain and made it available for curbside pick up. This wasn’t a pivot, this was a pirouette.”

Check out the U.S. version here.

“We wanted to find a way to talk about the all the services that SAP is known for, such as supply chain management, logistics, data, etc. but do it in a way that felt personal and authentic to how the pandemic affected people,” Jeff Reed, Kommune|NoSlate, Creative Director, says. “The spot was conceived as a simple, heart-felt thank you, and it clearly resonated with everyone at SAP.”