Having successfully patched up The Farmer’s waxed jacket last year, Shaun the Sheep and his flock are back for more adventures with Barbour, as part of their 2024 Christmas campaign. This time, Barbour focuses on its popular accessories, with a message of giving the gift of warmth this Winter. Alongside this year’s animated ad, Barbour has created 30 limited edition Re-loved Shaun the Sheep inspired wax jackets, with all proceeds going to Oxfam.
Created by the talented team at Aardman (Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run), this year’s seasonal stop-motion film was carefully crafted in their Bristol studio, bringing cozy Barbour goods to Mossy Bottom Farm once again. The film sees Bitzer, The Farmer’s devoted dog and Shaun’s best friend, attempting to conduct a very cold choir of sheep through some Christmas carols. As their ‘baas’ begin to freeze, Bitzer has an idea — rushing off on his bike and returning with gifts of hats and scarves from Barbour.
“We’re delighted to launch the next festive Shaun the Sheep adventure for Barbour,” said Rachael Peacock, Senior Brand Manager at Aardman. “These iconic British brands share strong values of quality, craft and a shared love of the outdoors. Shaun and the flock have never looked better than in Barbour!”
Family-owned Barbour has been keeping its customers warm for over 130 years. With a nod to last year’s Shaun the Sheep campaign, which demonstrated the importance of extending the life of garments, Barbour is producing 30 Re-loved jackets, as a follow on from the Re-loved partnership with Glastonbury and Oxfam earlier in the year. Each of the Re-loved jackets will be totally unique and incorporate Shaun the Sheep inspiration, including faux shearling lined inner, cuffs and full collar. A ‘Baabour’ Shaun pin badge will also be incorporated, alongside a Shaun the Sheep key ring and embroidery to the front pocket.
The jackets will be sold by both Oxfam stores and Barbour.com, with the limited-edition jackets ‘hidden’ in various Oxfam shops across the country for lucky treasure hunters to find and buy. All of the money raised from the jackets sold will go to help Oxfam’s lifesaving work.
“After the success of last year’s campaign, we are excited to be collaborating with Aardman for another year,” said Paul Wilkinson, Group Commercial Director at Barbour. “A British brand that shares our core values of craftsmanship, attention to detail, and quality. The Barbour and Aardman customer is multi-generational, which was a big part of the inspiration behind this campaign. This year we are pleased to support Oxfam, giving 30 people the opportunity to purchase a unique, limited-edition Barbour x Shaun the Sheep Re-loved wax jacket with all proceeds going to the charity.”
The tree is up and the snow is falling at Mossy Bottom Farm. Bitzer the Sheepdog has assembled Shaun and the flock to practice their Christmas carols. But it’s quickly clear things have gone off-key. Shivering their way through the song, icicles hang from the flock’s ears until eventually they all freeze and fall over.
Bitzer looks down to his tartan scarf, which gives him an idea. He whizzes off on his motor bike into town and returns with his Barbour bags — even accidentally gifting a woolly hat to Mower Mouth, the voracious goat, as he hurries past.
Holding up the bags to his flock, he is swiftly leapt on by the whole gang as they eagerly rifle their way through to find their Barbour goodies. With a deep breath in, we see a little bit of festive magic take place, as the warmth of the accessories melt the ice off the sheep and the evening turns into a beautiful pink sunset.
Safely wrapped up in their Barbour hats and scarves, the flock sing a rousing carol, this time sounding much more energetic. The Farmer wanders past in his quilted Barbour jacket, doing a double take as the flock quickly returns to all four legs and hides their carol sheets. Once he’s gone, the singing resumes and a final blow on a giant sousaphone causes a pile of snow to tumble off the farmhouse’s roof and bury The Farmer, along with his cup of tea. (Don’t worry, his jacket will have kept him warm.)
