Christmas adverts are now an eagerly awaited festive tradition, often billed by the media as a battle for supremacy and loved or hated by the watching public. Festive ads can touch customers hearts or turn them off completely, so they are important for advertisers to get right.
Christmas Adverts are always engaging to those with an interest in marketing or video production as they are all so different and showcase how different brands or products can present themselves to the public.
Why are Christmas Adverts Important?
It used to be the case that shops, or brands made adverts to increase sales of a particular product, or to showcase the services that said advertised brand could offer to customers at the festive time of year. While all advertising is inevitable linked to the bottom line, the Christmas Adverts over the last few years have been more about brand awareness and creating a feeling about a product or brand than pushing the public to purchase a particular item.
While the traditional jewellery and perfume adverts continue to be specific, and children’s toys are still showcased in detail to try and make them the ‘toy of 2018’ the big brands in the UK take a more holistic, or experiential approach to their Christmas Adverts and they are getting more adventurous every year.
What is an experiential advert?
Experiential is a word that has become synonymous with modern advertising techniques although it is not a new idea. Getting customers to invest more time in experiencing the product or service is the aim of this type of advertising and Christmas Adverts are a great way to link customer and brand together. TK Maxx’s 2018 Christmas Advert encourages customers to search, both in store and online, for their never-ending stocking. This is a similar approach to last years advert when customer had to search for a special snow globe to have snow delivered to their home. A prize for the finders gives this experiential Christmas advert a goal for customers to discover and be rewarded for. In a similar vein Cadburys has created an advert where their chocolates are delivered as a surprise ‘Secret Santa’ by friends and family in Santa Masks, encouraging customers to try this for themselves.
Classic Heart-warming Adverts
A Christmas Advert that tugs at the heart strings is always called a success, as it stays in the hearts and minds of the consumer linking that feeling to the brand for months to come. Many of these adverts are big budget affairs and the customer expectation is often high. This year a few of the best Christmas TV adverts to stir the emotions we associate with Christmas are:
John Lewis – Always eagerly awaited, this years’ features the legend that is Elton John and takes us back through his life showing his first notes on a piano were the result of a Christmas Gift. A great well-known Elton song as a soundtrack and a reminder that John Lewis has always been there is a clever touch and although not as well received as other years, still a pretty solid performance from the John Lewis Christmas team!
Sainsburys – You get what you give was a great tune and sentiment for this Christmas advert. Taking the concept of a school Christmas play and following the growth in confidence of the main (literal) star, along with the innovative costumes of the rest of the cast (we loved the Queen and the Plug!) makes for an uplifting Christmas themed advert.
Alternative Christmas Adverts
If you want your Christmas advert to stand out from the crowd then doing something very different is the way to go. One of the most talked about Christmas adverts of 2018 is the ‘Rang Tang’ advert by Iceland highlighting the plight of the destruction of habitat for Orangutans in the production of Palm Oil. A strong message that highlights the company’s commitment to removing palm oil from all of their own brand products gives customers an insight into the Iceland Brand and what they stand for.
Burberry also took an alternative approach to their Christmas advert, although on a completely different vein. Their star-studded glamorous adverts, showcased products in a slightly eerie way. Visually stunning this advert showcased a strong point of view, had an artistic feel, very trendy rather than being festive, this worked however given what it was advertising.
Corporate Video Production
Whether you love or loathe Christmas Adverts they often highlight great production values, strong storytelling techniques, interesting brand presentation and as they are easily comparable can generate great ideas for your next corporate video.