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HOLIDAY BRANDING AT ITS BEST!

Dec 2, 2019

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HOLIDAY BRANDING AT ITS BEST!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…..to look at television advertising.  Why?  Well, first there’s more of it.  Every year marketers, especially retailers, pump more of their ad budgets into holiday campaigns in order to capitalize on the largest selling season of the year. Second, most of these advertisers put more emphasis on creativity that targets the Black Fridays”, Saturdays or Black Weeks for that matter. Once upon a time, it was the time for slick, flashy, thick catalogues filled with everything one might imagine to give a loved one for Christmas.  The mailboxes and Sunday newspapers were bulging with more advertising than our growing population could comprehend and in the process has become immune to, or at the very least bored with.  With growth of online buying (they stopped shopping long ago), consumers  still want to give gifts and  yearn for the memories of (as another line of the Christmas Carol titled in the first words of this article) ”Christmas’s long, long ago.”  I have written here repeatedly that branding during the holidays should continue the messages and rationale of the branding a company does all year long if it wants their Christmas messaging to be more effective.  And many continue to do that…and many have stopped advertising at all.

However, there are still some advertisers who not only run great spots that communicate their brand strategy, but they also capture the spirit of Christmas.  Here are a few that I think you’ll enjoy and share.  Merry Christmas!

Hobby Lobby is a chain of over 850 arts and crafts stores that consistently markets itself as a store that supports important causes.  The company has a philosophy that it states as a Christian ethics and it has a reputation of treating its customers and its employees as special.  This Christmas it created a commercial that is consistent with its creative strategy and the importance of family relationship. Enjoy this spot about a mother and son discovering their love at the holidays.  Click this link to view:  https://youtu.be/AwYSfdvtMmo?t=11

Macy’s continues to fight the challenges of maintaining the specialness that department stores once owned at Christmas.  By keeping its Thanksgiving Parade, its special holiday windows on Herald Square, it ongoing Believe holiday ad campaign (Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Clause), Macy’s created a special holiday message this year that captures the spirit of Christmas  in the story of a girl who wants to be Santa and brings Christmas to life (Yes, you know her name!).

Click this link to view:  https://youtu.be/-TZGtPNJkbg

Aldi doesn’t run much TV in marketing its very successful grocery chain that I featured in an issue of this blog  a couple months ago. When they do they make it as special as a singing carrot and his friends at Christmas:  Click on this link to view:  https://youtu.be/LW_SRd2hIFw

Argos in the UK is a successful part of Sainsbury which has always done  great Christmas commercials.  This year their catalogue is a Book of Dreams and a father brings his daughter’s dream to life in this swinging spot:  Click on this link to view:  https://youtu.be/7GjeHzrn8jg

Amazon has changed the retail world in a relatively short period.  The Amazon packages that seem to arrive every day on our porches are testament to their success and how they have also changed Christmas shopping and gift giving.  Behind it all is a real spirit of  how everybody needs somebody especially with a smile like Amazon’s logo at the holidays.  Click on this link to view:  https://youtu.be/s2K0flh9uMc

Pedigreee recognizes that pets are an important part of the family, especially at Christmas time.  I wish I had done this spot when I was heading the marketing department at PetSmart several years ago.  The idea of an adopted pet fits perfectly into their good nutrition brand and makes an important holiday idea e alive through a dog’s eyes.

Click on this link to view: https://youtu.be/Zx3wfql2yd0

WestJet always does something special at Christmas that makes Canadiens realize that it’s not only a great airline, but also a great citizen:

Click on this link to view this special story:   https://youtu.be/zIEIvi2MuEk

I hope you and your family share the peace and wonder of Christmas again this year.

Ken