Four festive ingredients for the perfect Christmas ad
And so this is Christmas. If you’ve been keeping up with adland lately, or you’ve turned on the tv, you will have noticed that the annual excitement around the release of all the best Christmas ads has begun.
Although unwrapping presents still seems a while away, the gift of brilliant, heartfelt content that lives up to the seemingly impossible challenge of capturing the emotional scale of Christmas is already ours – as early as November.
Why? Because the Christmas period is the biggest time of the year for global retail, with many top brands pulling in around 20% of their annual revenue during the peak pre-Christmas season. Launching a campaign a week before Christmas would result in a devastating lack of exposure and influence over consumer behaviour.
It’s also one of the key points in the year when consumers are actually seeking out content from brands and are willing to sit through 60 seconds of brand messaging.
So what do the world’s content-leading brands all have in common? We take a look at the top four festive ingredients.
1. A story that tugs at the heartstrings
Triumph over adversity, for example. Big guy sticking up for the little guy. Or arch enemies getting over their differences. Something that reminds us what it means to be human, and that buying gifts for friends and family is the emotional path to universal harmony.
2. Animals
Everyone loves animals. Anthropomorphise those critters and you have your whole audience going awww… on their way to the checkout. This includes the likes of Myer’s reindeer character who makes a return appearance this year, as well as weird but engaging creatures like Moz the Monster from UK Christmas ad maestros John Lewis.
3. Children
We see our younger selves, we see our kids, we see the global goodwill that children remind us exists. It’s even better when you bridge the generation gap between children and grandparents. A brand that embraces every generation appeals to those looking for one store or brand to take care of everyone’s present in one simple visit.
4. The perfect song
The winning choice seems to be an emotive, acoustic version of a previously successful pop song. The target market for Christmas ads is the busy mum. Put her in a nostalgic mood by covering a song she remembers from a while back (when she was young and free and had a little more time to listen to music) and you’re halfway there.