• by Danielle Oster , Yesterday

Instacart is calling on audiences to “Get a little magic delivered” this holiday season with a campaign channeling classic animated holiday TV specials.

The ads celebrate the “Magic Makers” who bring the holidays together with help from Instacart. Created using a stop-motion animation style, the ads evoke classic holiday specials produced by Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment, such as “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “Frosty the Snowman.” while introducing the new brand platform: “Get a little magic delivered.”

In the 30-second hero ad “The Pie,” a woman orders from Instacart instead of baking a pie from scratch -- an Instacart that's a holiday wonderland populated by animated foxes and polar bears. Instacart helps make a dog’s holiday in the 30-second “Woof,” while 15-second “Frozen Turkey” and “Polar Bear” ads focus on Thanksgiving and Christmas, respectively.

The ads were shot by director and animator Michael Granberry (“Les bêtes,” animation on “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinochio”). Instacart’s internal agency, Local Produce, worked with animation studio Starburns Industries and media agency RadicalMedia on the campaign. The ads are running across linear and streaming TV, online video, and paid social.

“We designed this campaign to celebrate the people quietly holding the holidays together. There’s so much pressure to make every moment perfect, and we wanted to offer some relief,” Jasmine Taylor, Instacart vice president, brand marketing, said in a statement.

“The stop-motion style of our new holiday spots let us tap into something familiar, but we used it to tell a very modern story about how Instacart can help when things get chaotic, whether it’s skipping the pie or dodging the turkey panic,” Taylor added.

A social extension in collaboration with Rethink offers “Magic Makers” some help faking a homemade pie with “The Lie Pie, a “fake-the-bake” kit for Thanksgiving, supported by influencer partners. Over 25 CPG brand partners are also supporting the campaign through co-branded creative and retail media activations running from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Eve.

The brand also partnered with New York Times Cooking for a “One Less Scary Sunday,” print campaign featuring a series of center spreads in the Sunday paper.

The activation follows on the heels of Instacart’s animation-centered “One Less Sunday Scary” campaign this fall.