In this article we propose four Christmas advertising campaigns that, in our opinion, have made history.
Christmas marketing is very important because it allows you to make an impression on your consumers
As the weather outside gets colder and colder, businesses enter the hottest time of the year.
The period leading up to the holiday season is when most brands achieve the highest volume of sales and is also when you need to focus your marketing strategies to make your mark.
In short, the month of December is a great opportunity to increase one’s ROI, including on social, and a Christmas ad campaign is just what one needs.
4 Christmas advertising campaigns that made history
Below we have identified the four Christmas campaigns that have made history. Ready to discover them?
1. Air Canada: Our Home
“Home. It isn’t just a place, it’s something more…”
A heartwarming, emotional and engaging Christmas campaign through which Air Canada helps us remember what the term “home” really means.
“We do not live at home, but home lives in us.”
This is the message of the emotional video released on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook in Christmas 2017. The beautifully crafted claim and campaign invites its viewers to reflect on the meaning of the term home.
But not everyone has the budget to create high-quality video campaigns to use for their social channels.
So what are the alternatives? You can also create videos with low-budget tools in which to convey your company values, in which to include your employees, their families, and more.
Also, if you were operating on an international context, it is good to design a campaign that fits everyone and is not focused on a single religious holiday. Air Canada airline on this was very good: they made sure that their Christmas video was a positive stimulus for everyone.
2. Starbucks Red Cup design challenge
Starbucks’ “red cup” is an iconic element for the world’s most famous brand’s winter season. Every year, customers eagerly await its release to see the new design devised by the company.
In 2016, however, Starbucks put an extra twist on its communication campaign: for one day only, it released a limited series of cups, simply with a red background, and asked its customers to design their own red cup.
The goal was to ask people to share their creations on social media with #RedCupArt.
The brand received thousands of shares on Instagram and Twitter, which teaches us that user engagement is a great way to generate online engagement and improve brand loyalty.
You can get UGC (user-generated content) in many ways, including by activating an online contest in which you raffle off some prizes.
Paying attention to Italian regulations regarding sweepstakes, launching a contest or challenge such as the one at Starbucks is definitely worth considering to improve your community’s engagement.
3. Nordstrom and the advent calendar.
The Christmas vacations are a time rich in family and cultural traditions. Why not recount them?
In 2017, the Nordstrom brand did a great job in keeping with the Christmas tradition: a social advent calendar inspired by the real thing.
For 24 days, they created Instagram mini-videos in which each “box” revealed a surprise to its users.
Product videos, tutorials, guest stars and more.
The advent calendar is aneasy Christmas marketing inspiration to implement, as long as two key elements take over: strategy and creativity.
4. All of John Lewis’ Christmas campaigns for the past 10 years.
If you’ve never seen any of John Lewis & Partners’ Christmas videos, you definitely need to fix that.
We are talking about a high-end department store chain in the United Kingdom, which is also famous for its emotional Christmas advertisements.
Emotion that often spills over into tears, because their videos tell universal stories in which we can all find ourselves.
From the child who adores his penguin (#MontyThePenguin campaign) to the loneliness of the man on the moon (#ManOnTheMoon campaign), the John Lewis & Partners brand is very good at moving its audience.
This triggers sharing: #ManOnTheMoon has received more than 30 million views on YouTube.
Emotions and feelings fly high during the holidays, and if you can tell emotional stories to your audience, you will be able to strengthen your community and build loyalty.
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