Christmas advertising influences just 1% of consumers’ purchasing decisions, but the impact of festive ads goes far beyond sales figures.
Cringe-worthy and cliché, heartwarming and wholesome…However you feel about them, Christmas ad campaigns are part and parcel of the holiday season.
With 70% of young adults relying on them to ‘get into the festive mood’, Christmas adverts have become highly-anticipated cultural events in their own right. In 2023, brands spent a record-breaking £9.5 billion on them.
Yet according to a 2016 poll by moneysavingexpert.com, only 1% of consumers think that a brand’s Christmas ad influences their brand loyalty or purchasing decisions.
Christmas advertising is about much, much more than increasing sales numbers. Let’s take a look at some popular festive ad strategies from this year’s lineup to find out what exactly festive campaigns can achieve.
Famous faces
As consumers count their pennies and shop selectively, brands are working harder than ever to capture their attention. Hoping to stand out from the crowd, many pay a premium price for a celebrity face to front their Christmas campaigns.
According to data from System1, getting a celeb on board isn’t guaranteed to increase sales. But it can help to change consumers’ perceptions of the brand.
Take Asda’s 2023 series of ads featuring Christmas crooner Michael Bublé for example. On a mission to get people to ‘reappraise the brand for quality as well as price’, Chief Customer Officer David Hills says that ‘he couldn’t think of anyone better to show this off’ than the pop star. By aligning Asda with Bublé, the campaign also aligns the brand with the qualities consumers associate with the pop star – quality, luxury and old-school glamour.
Festive mascots
Asda’s value supermarket competitor, Aldi, has taken a different approach by featuring animated vegetable mascot ‘Kevin the Carrot’ in their festive campaigns since 2016.
And he’s been a huge hit. Last Christmas (I gave you my heart…), 70,000 people sat in online queues to purchase Kevin the Carrot plush toys, while a bespoke X account for the character has nearly 18,000 followers. The brand’s 2023 ad is also taking an early lead in System1’s Christmas ad rankings, with the database’s Chief Customer Officer, Jon Evans, singing its praises:
‘Santa’s never been this central to Christmas ads, and audiences can’t get enough of Saint Nick this year. That makes it even more impressive that Kevin the Carrot can go toe-to-toe with the big red guy in branding terms, a sign of the power of investing in a strong fluent device character.’
À la M&S and Percy Pig, Kevin the Carrot has given Aldi a whole new revenue stream – and boosted their online presence, too.
Stretching the spend
Invention isn’t always a necessity when it comes to festive campaigns. Revisiting the ads of Christmas past can be just as exciting for audiences – and no brand knows this better than Coca-Cola.
Despite premiering nearly 30 years ago, the brand’s iconic Holidays Are Coming ad still finds its way onto our TV screens every Christmas. For 44% of Brits, it even marks the ‘official start of the festive season’.
In a world where advertising trends are constantly evolving, Coca-Cola’s decision to stick with its classic formula proves the enduring impact of a well-crafted and emotionally resonant Christmas campaign. It’s a festive ad that creates positive brand associations and sticks with audiences for years – it ain’t broke so why fix it?
Does a big budget = big results?
No overview of Christmas campaigns is complete without mentioning John Lewis, arguably the king of Christmas advertising.
Since the brand’s inaugural festive ad in 2007, its signature feature-film style, tear-jerker ads have become holiday season staples. But with a big-screen format also comes a big-screen budget; the multi-million pound adverts have been some of the priciest campaigns in recent years.
John Lewis’ mammoth marketing spend is clearly reflected in consumer activity. Thanks to the success of its Christmas advertising, the department store’s sales are estimated to have increased by more than 35% since 2012.
And a boost in sales is just the tip of the iceberg. As the brand essentially invented the cinematic Christmas ad, John Lewis has effectively positioned itself as the go-to ‘Christmassy brand’. Even if only out of curiosity, eyes are on their ads every year, without fail.
The takeaway
When it comes to advertising at Christmas (and any other time, really), there are all kinds of different metrics to measure success by. Increased brand awareness, online engagement and fostering positive brand perceptions all translate to sales one way or another.
Whether it’s carols, carrots or Canadian crooners, brands spend big money to reach their customers at Christmas. For John Lewis, investing in an advertising strategy that arguably jump-started the festive ad bonanza has paid off, while Aldi has stood out from the crowd with a lovable mascot.
However brands choose to engage their customers with seasonal advertising, the key to success is a solid understanding of your audience, a clear strategy and tangible goals. Knowing what works for your business might mean skipping the Christmas fuss altogether – as Marketing Week columnist Mark Ritson says, for some brands it’s better to save the budget and ‘make your current ads effective for longer’.
Need help with a Christmas campaign or just want to find out more about festive (or otherwise) B2B marketing and PR? Get in touch.
