Whatsapp Defines The Concept 'new Year' In Its Most Recent Ad Campaign

WhatsApp's new ad, "It's not the New Year until you receive the message you've been waiting for," celebrates the most popular messaging day for users by taking viewers around the world on New Year's Eve to tell the world, "It's not the New Year until you get the message you've been waiting for."

Meta's WhatsApp marketing team and BBDO worked together to produce the campaign. Niclas Larsson directed the campaign, which was photographed by Linus Sandgren. The campaign demonstrates that the new year begins not when the clock strikes midnight, but when you receive that long-awaited message from a partner, parent, or close personal friend.

Each clip is a glimpse into a distinct celebration where each person is trapped in time until they get that all-important message ringing in the New Year, from a church in Nigeria to a typical Mumbai courtyard and the beaches of Brazil.

"WhatsApp has always been an integral part of New Year's Eve," Vivian Odior, global head of brand marketing at WhatsApp, said. "Every year, people all over the world rely on the app to stay connected with their loved ones and to share their best wishes for the year that is about to begin. This is why our new campaign focuses on telling a diverse set of stories that demonstrates the private and personal moments that help people move into the new year."

"New Year's Eve is one of the rare global times that truly pulls people together," said Tres Colacion, global creative head at BBDO. So it was fantastic to combine this with the universal truth that, on a personal level, the celebration doesn't truly begin until you hear from the people you know and love, and that, more often than not, those individuals can only reach you at that moment via WhatsApp. We tried to convey the essence of what it's like to get the message you've been waiting for in each format. While the project takes us all over the world, the crew worked long and hard to create a visual environment in which each of our heroes is the star of their night."

"One of the most fascinating aspects of working with WhatsApp on this project was figuring out how to transmit emotional memory in the story," Larsson added. We approached this by experimenting with speed, switching between slow and fast motion, and with light, using a shutter box to bend light. We were able to create a dramatic representation of dreams and recollections by combining these two aspects, which I believe helped to bring the emotive performances to life."

The campaign will run in five countries: Brazil, India, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States, through social media, digital video, broadcast, and movie channels.