Chelsea FC has avoided the Christmas commercial crowd by building its own Christmas TV-style network, That’s Proper Chels, with its own weather, phone-in, shopping channel and ad breaks, all selling the club’s Christmas range. It’s cheesy, addictive fun. The campaign comes from creative agency TILL DAWN, built on a strategy by brand consultancy, ICONIC.

Fans got the outtakes first – fourth-wall breaks, asides to camera, players corpsing and the behind-the-scenes footage most other campaigns leave out. The full programme arrives at the end, once fans have spent days living inside it. The glimpses fans see across the campaign are like Christmas itself – it’s a period of time, not just a day and fans are pulled into a different element with each activation.

The Chelsea Christmas schedule is aptly stacked. Jolie Sharpe sells the festive range QVC-style, Jason Cundy brings sports radio phone-in mayhem, João Pedro answers fans in Ask João, and Cole Palmer delivers the weather as cold as ever. His bromance with Morgan Rogers is tested to breaking point as the pair go head-to-head in Christmas jumpers. Players from across the men’s and women’s squads, including Levi Colwill, Katie McCabe, Ellie Carpenter and Alyssa Thompson, all get their slot.

Craig Stronach, founder at TILL DAWN, commented, “We shot it like a live network with every camera rolling, so the corpsing, the asides and the looks off to the AD are as much the show as the show. Fans get those first, then a flood of channels, then the whole thing. This digital approach complements perfectly the catalogue-like craft photographic style where premium meets nostalgia, with a certain Chelsea cultural cool.”

Underpinning the campaign is a commitment to making a positive difference. A percentage of sales from the club’s festive range will be donated to Chelsea Foundation and its charity partners, helping to fund work that tackles loneliness and social isolation across London and the communities surrounding the club. Since launching its festive campaign in 2024, over £280,000 has been granted to organisations tackling loneliness and homelessness across southwest London and Surrey through festive product sales, supporter donations and community fundraising. Supporters have also played a vital role through annual gift donation drives, with more than 3,200 presents donated and distributed to those in need last Christmas alone.

Scott Fenton at Chelsea FC, stated, “That’s Proper Chels celebrates the nostalgia, humour and community spirit that make Chelsea unique at Christmas. While the campaign is designed to entertain supporters, it also has a meaningful purpose at its heart. Through Chelsea Foundation and its charity partners, we’re proud to once again support people experiencing loneliness and social isolation, harnessing the power of the Chelsea community to make a difference during the festive season.”

James Kirkham, founder at ICONIC, added, “Fans watch football flicking between clips, streams, reactions and live shopping within the same phone, so this Christmas Chelsea broadcasts everywhere all at once. You find it in pieces, channel-hop your way through a different clip or show on every platform, and it brings back that can’t-wait wanting of circling the xmas catalogue – before it all turned into cardboard boxes on the doorstep.”

That’s Proper Chels is Chelsea FC’s third campaign with TILL DAWN and ICONIC, following the multi-award-winning London, It’s Our House, that won a Gold Clio Sports award, and Can’t Tame Us, in which Gymskin and Madonna danced in a ‘leaked’ Chelsea kit this spring.