“Move to a Better Christmas,” by McCann for Ikea Spain, depicts a family organizing a complex, multilingual holiday schedule that feels like a cross between the Met Gala’s seating chart and a royal wedding. It’s not fun to watch, and that’s the point. “What if less Christmas was more Christmas?” the work wonders. It stems from the insight that 50 percent of Spaniards feel stressed about yuletide planning.

To promote its Double and Triple Burgers, McDonald’s and DDB in Romania partnered with standup comedian Mihai Bobonete to make “Whispered Temptation.” A guy realizes more is, well, more thanks to McD’s Doubles and Triples, so he tries applying this knowledge to other parts of his life. Why not ask for double the salary? Things don’t go as well as hoped.

More McD’s here, this time from Nord DDB. The brand promoted its McDelivery service in Norway by creating outdoor ads featuring takeaway paper bags hand-cut into classic Norwegian apartment building styles.

Meanwhile, in Sweden, Nord DDB Stockholm has given McDonald’s Big Mac an autograph. The entire history of robotics and AI has led us here—to a hamburger that can sign things, and whose signature was informed by 256,000 fans. So glad we were alive for this.

In France, insurance brand Axa and Publicis Conseil depict police dogs and other emergency workers relaxing on the outskirts of a feasting world. In one instance, a firefighter hears an alarm and runs … for his baked goods. The ad closes with a man who unplugs his Christmas lights before watering his illuminated tree. All this is to say, staying safe is the best gift you can offer on-call workers. (This also means pointing the champagne away from you, and others, when opening it. Seriously. That’s how a lot of New Years emergency room visits start.)

More lotto love, this time from the Dutch State Lottery. Created by TBWANeboko, “Believe In Luck” follows a fellow who quantum-leaps through a future with a woman he hasn’t met. Things end with one of fortune’s fave tricks: He buys a lotto ticket, then is jostled by … well, you know. The ticket flies out of his hand and in the opposite direction, leaving him with a choice to make: Love or riches? Both are only potentials. What’ll you gamble for?

A googly-eyed Rembrandt portrait, measuring 286m2, has gone up in London to promote the London Mural Festival. The latter’s happening in August next year, and the mural—where modern insouciance meets the historical, much like the very art of paintng on old walls—was hand-crafted by Global Street Art, which reinvests profits into community initiatives. For the 2020 London Mural Festival, and in the midst of Covid, the ad firm produced murals by over 200 artists, across 75 different sites in 13 London boroughs.

This isn’t technically European. It’s by Wieden+Kennedy São Paulo for Sea Shepherd Brazil. The music video was produced by Fromm, a British studio, which … okay, is also not European. But wait! Megadeth drummer Dirk Verbeuren is Belgian, and he’s involved, so we’re allowing it. Guess what this is? It’s a heavy metal band, created to raise awareness about heavy metal contamination in the sea.

You can’t work in advertising if you’re not a sucker for the occasional pun. Plus, this video is so distressingly, toxically, glamrockishly pretty, it’s irresistible. 

Happy holidays, all. See you on the other side. We wish you so much beauty.