Kay Casts Colin Jost in an Odyssey-Themed Holiday Gift Push

Kay recruited Saturday Night Live star Colin Jost for a holiday campaign built on one stark statistic: 40% of people have trouble finding the right gifts, making it one of the biggest stressors of the season, according to the American Psychological Association's 2023 Holiday Stress Survey.

The jeweler's new ad sends Jost on a treacherous journey inspired by Homer's The Odyssey in search of a thoughtful present. Amid a blizzard, a bearded Jost in a period-appropriate robe finally stumbles upon the gift he had been hunting for: a silver Kay necklace.

The Martin Agency created the campaign. It departs from Kay's previous holiday work, which focused primarily on the person receiving a gift. This ad instead addresses the annual struggle gift givers face when deciding what to buy.

What does the campaign change for Kay?

The work builds on Kay's Love All In platform, which launched earlier this fall and introduced a new brand tone meant to capture the many ways love shows up today. The campaign revives the idea of grand gestures, such as taking an odyssey, at a time when nonchalance has become the norm, according to the brand.

Kay wants to encourage people to "gift boldly," with the message that "the biggest mistake isn't gifting the wrong thing; it's holding back," per the brand.

"The holidays often bring pressure to find the perfect gift, but we want to remind shoppers that the most meaningful gifts come from expressing how you feel and showing up wholeheartedly for the people you love," said Julie Yoakum, president of Kay. "Colin's signature humor brings that idea to life in a way that resonates with anyone who's ever second-guessed what to gift someone they care about."

Where and when it runs

The work begins running this week across:

• Kay's Instagram and YouTube channels
• Linear TV
• Streaming

For practitioners, the shift is a straightforward repositioning of a seasonal category: Kay is selling confidence to the giver rather than delight to the receiver, and anchoring that pitch in survey data and celebrity humor. The early-fall launch of Love All In suggests this holiday push is the first major test of whether the platform's bolder tone can carry a retailer through its most important selling season.