The Holiday season
means different things to different people. In marketing, it’s equivalent to
the Super Bowl. The gift giving season, and its accompanying flurries of cash
and credit, have inspired some seriously creative – and effective – ad
campaigns from brands in every industry. And just like the annual white-out
blizzard that always seems to follow you down the freeway to your in-laws’, it
can be hard to see the end goal through all the seasonal noise.
Luckily, there are
tons of great examples of brands who have pulled off some truly inspiring
holiday campaigns – the kind that give us ideas for our own clients. As our
gift to you, here are some of our favourite holiday marketing concepts over the
past few years. No matter which medium you prefer, we hope these examples can work
a little holiday magic on your business objectives.
Highlights:
Beer, pizza, personal shopping, also beer
As stereotypes
go, malls are generally not seen as favourite spots for adult men. Enter the
holidays, when malls are generally not seen as favourite spots for any adult. In
2015, a Scottsdale, Arizona location of Lululemon Athletica decided to throw a
“Dude’s Day” to help ease the burden of shopping for one’s significant other.
The event was completely designed to remove the pains of mall shopping from the
equation, with complimentary personal shopping, pizza, and cold ones. The event
organizers also created a printable shopping list for type-A’s to jot down
their items and save time in-store. By making it easy for guys to find gifts
their SO’s would love, Lululemon was able to reach mall-adverse patrons by
positioning themselves as a refuge from the madness.
Highlights:
Hilarious, highly-shareable, holiday without the hackney
Holidays or not, many
ad campaigns have failed because the big idea behind the concept simply didn’t
resonate with the target audience. Dollar Shave Club, a subscription razorblade
service, absolutely nailed it with their 2015 campaign, “The Perfect Gift for
Almost Everyone”. Dollar Shave Club’s brand persona is reflective of their
ideal customer: uncomplicated, unfussy dudes who value function over fashion
and don’t take themselves too seriously. So, how could the brand possibly
reconcile those values with the Christmas shopping season—the most complicated,
fussy, most-taken-seriously occasion of all? With this collection of
self-deprecating, holiday-jeering, and totally hilarious set of shareable
digital ads and animated GIFs.
Highlights: Fun
and easy, boosts sales with daily discount codes or surprises
While brick-and-mortar
retailers struggle to accommodate demand through the holidays, e-commerce faces
a different challenge: competing with the myriad other websites to move
consumers through the sales funnel. While it’s great to save costs on physical
space, these businesses need that special ingredient to convert window-shoppers
into bona fide customers. For SupaJam, that meant creating a seriously fun
“Advent Calendar” campaign filled with surprises and savings. For each day of
the 2013 holiday season leading up to Christmas, SupaJam’s Twitter account
posted a new “treat” – everything from wacky videos, to festive blog posts, to
exclusive coupon codes. What we love about this concept is, provided you have a
social media account, the idea can be adapted for any platform and budget.
Highlights: The
feels, wow-factor, stands the test of time
If you saw this
landmark holiday campaign when it came out in 2013, I’m willing to bet you
still think about it when you think of our nation’s folksiest airline. Make no
mistake, there were bigtime bucks behind making that kind of impression, but
the brand got exactly what it paid for: a spot that will go down in Canadian advertising
history. There are so many golden things happening here: the real wishes of
real Canadian families, the leveraging of airport technology to capture them,
and that tear-jerking carousel scene that transforms the drab setting into
something magical. Known as the “friendly” airline, WestJet’s personality comes
through in everything from their cheeky Santa to the hardworking WestJet
“elves”. If your brand is looking to make a lasting impact, take a page out of
WestJet’s passport and explore the place where your product and your customers’
lives intersect.
Highlights: A fun and professional idea that
combines engagement and goodwill
If you’re in a B2B
environment, you know how tricky it is to get festive without being tacky,
offensive or consumer-focused. SDL managed to avoid all three by focusing on
the “goodwill to all” part of the holiday manifesto. During the holiday season,
SDL sent out an eblast with a special catch: every clickthrough to the campaign
landing page would trigger a $1 donation to the SDL Foundation, their
proprietary charity organization that funds projects in disadvantaged
communities. The tactic managed to be seasonal, creative and constructive: all
things a B2B campaign should be.
Highlights: More feels, excellent concept
execution
It just isn’t
Christmas without a little bit of heartbreak. In this serious of
heartstring-tugging outdoor displays, Sydney Dogs & Cats Home brought the
waterworks with their simple message: “All they want for Christmas is you.” The
images make an instant emotional connection, and transition beautifully to
full-colour print spreads. If you’re a pet person, you may find yourself
staring at these and wondering if you have room in your life for one more.
Highlights: Super creative, fun, uses the full
capabilities of the medium
Ted Baker, a UK
clothing designer, is known for their quirky, contemporary designs inspired by
vintage classics. The #TedsElfie campaign was just as bubbly, unexpected and
cool as the brand itself, going all-out with an extraordinarily complex
Instagram elf hunt. Through intricate grids of holiday scenes, secret accounts
hidden in each frame and prizes for the winners, the genius behind #TedsElfie
is the incredible way the brand was able to fully utilize every feature of
their target audience’s favourite social media platform.
Highlights: Highly relatable, great design
We’ve all done it, and
we’ve all felt bad about it. Then Harvey Nichols gave us permission to own it.
The iconic print ads, featuring clean design that put all the focus on the
hilariously below-par gifts, inject some refreshing dry wit into the holiday retail
frenzy. The campaign invites people to celebrate their “treat-yo-self” gifts
with a social media hashtag, a nifty way to make consumers feel “in” on the
holiday sarcasm. We also love how the print ads, stark white with just a hint
of seasonal red, are a nice break for the eyes while flipping through endless
pages of high-contrast holiday colour palettes.
Whatever your
marketing goals for the season, we hope these examples gave you some
inspiration – or at least a warm fuzzy feeling.
Have you seen any campaigns
this season that should have been on this list? We'd love to hear from you on
social media, but you can also shoot us an email – or a Christmas card.
______________________________________________________________
Thanks for reading!
Enjoyed this article? Sign up for The Summit - our monthly Newsletter.
Say Hello On: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn