Yard NYC makes a ‘Rainbow Connection’

Willie Nelson’s yearning take on “Rainbow Connection” becomes a holiday hymn of sorts in Kohl’s year-end commercial from Yard NYC and Central Films director Rodrigo García Saiz. Before you watch the 90-second spot, make sure you have a festive box of Kleenex handy.

Titled “Give With All Your Heart,” the story of a little girl who sits in her window and chats with an elderly neighbor using handwritten posters takes an unsettling turn when the woman mysteriously vanishes for weeks on end. The girl wishes as hard as she can for her friend’s return. In fact, it’s all she wants for Christmas.

Since this is a holiday commercial, we’re pretty sure things will turn out OK … and of course, they do. Though it’s tough to tell when you’re watching through a flood of tears.

Kohl’s says the film “hints at current events without making them the focus of the spot.” Indeed, the neighbor’s disappearance is never explained, though when she reappears, she’s wearing a hospital wristband.

It’s a scenario in tune with Covid times, when “positive connection is what we all are looking for,” says Saiz. “I think we can all relate to the little girl longing for a friend.”