Whamster

Albert Heijn’s 2024 Christmas campaign “Whamster” celebrates the 40th anniversary of Wham’s “Last Christmas”, reimagining scenes from the song’s iconic music video. We partnered with TBWA/NEBOKO, and brought the holiday magic (and beloved hamster, Harry) to life through VFX, CG, Colour Grade and online edit.

We’ve worked with the beloved Hamster Harry before, but for this Christmas campaign, he needed to be cuter than ever, with some key expressive animation shots. Here’s some insight from our Head of Animation, Nick Groeneveld, on how we brought him to life:

"Hamsters are small and have a fast heartbeat, making them quick and twitchy. In this film, there are animation shots where Harry the hamster focuses intently, and a twitchy hamster wouldn't have worked for these moments. So we found a nice balance where Harry’s movements feel soft and even human-like at times while incorporating a hand-animated noise that creates subtle twitches in his ears, body, and paws, just like real hamsters."