Maximizing profit in adland this Christmas

As we soak in the last of the late summer heatwave, Sainsbury’s has this week announced that Rick Astley will feature in their Christmas 2023 TV advert. Since John Lewis launched their first Christmas ad back in 2007, the annual reveal of the upcoming Christmas creatives build a lot of festive hype, with the actual content often reflecting the mood of the nation. Getting the balance right between both emotive and marketing-driven messaging can capture both consumer attention and spend, while also driving brand awareness and incremental reach across social media platforms. Covid-19 saw the big retailers tap into themes of nostalgia and togetherness, while in 2022, the emerging cost-of-living crisis saw brands position themselves as trustworthy and empathetic in a time of financial struggle for many consumers.

Christmas 2023 will once again take place against a backdrop of economic hardship, war in Ukraine and global supply issues. Furthermore, recent studies by Which? have shown that consumer trust in supermarkets (which rely so heavily on the festive period) is at its lowest point since the horsemeat scandal of 2013, as they are accused of keeping prices artificially inflated to boost profits. So how does a brand juggle socio-economic awareness while still positioning itself to win spend, drive brand loyalty and maximise profit in the “golden quarter” of the year?

Tone is everything, now more than ever. With consumers being more distrusting and wary in the current economic climate, brands that manage to convey genuine empathy and understanding will resonate much more strongly with consumers and be vital in retaining customer loyalty. One of last year’s most viral Christmas ads came from a small independent production company in West Yorkshire. The Magic of Christmas tells the story of a widowed father who is struggling with festive pressures amid the cost-of-living crisis. Billed as an alternative to the John Lewis advert, this short film struck a chord with millions of people struggling because of the economic downturn. Viewed over 20 million times across social media, this ad highlighted how connecting with your audience on an emotive level can be massively successful on a small budget across social.

Inclusion is key, according to Kate Nightingale, Chief Behavioural Officer at Humanising Brands, who said: “Those that create Christmas adverts that feature brand ambassadors who are truly representative of their customers and employees will be the big winners. This means a wide diversity across age, all gender identities, racial, cultural and religious backgrounds, disabilities, neurodiversity, LGBTQ+, subcultures, economic backgrounds and much more.” There are obviously considerations here. It isn’t enough for brands to just feature people of various ethnicities and backgrounds in advertising, it’s vitally important that they authentically capture the lifestyles and cultures behind these people. Shilpa Saul, Comms Director at The Unmistakables, summed this up beautifully: “Providing underrepresented communities with subtle surprises and representation they will appreciate can help brands move from perceived tokenism to authentic inclusion.” Asda’s Have Your Elf A Merry Christmas ad featuring a younger woman in a mobility scooter in-store and a young woman in a wheelchair in the outdoor choir, is a wonderful example of authentic inclusion.

At the heart of Christmas is the idea of community and shared experience. From family, friends, and community centres to charities and sports clubs; Christmas is about surrounding yourself with loved ones, making collective memories and spending time with the people and things that really matter to us. Tapping into the moments and things that consumers genuinely care about is key to brands maintaining their relationship with their customers. Jessica Myers, CMO at The Very Group, states: “Retailers with campaigns that resonate with families will win a special place in their hearts. For retailers, it’s all about sparking those festive feelings and joy while focusing – either implicitly or explicitly – on the things their customers care about. This could be ease of experience, the right choice of products and ways to pay or simply showing that, as a retailer, you truly understand them.”

John Lewis, almost synonymous with Christmas at this point, has led the way with these sorts of adverts. The Man on the Moon in 2015 saw the retailer partner with Age UK to tap into the theme of loneliness over the Christmas period (DDB talk about the activation of the campaign here), while their 2022 The Beginner campaign was a partnership with Action for Children and Who Cares Scotland? to raise awareness of children in care by showing the relationship forming between a father and his adopted daughter against the backdrop of an everyday parent/child moment.

The early bird catches the worm. With the current cost-of-living crisis, consumers are increasingly tying in their Christmas spending with Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals. As such, the line between Black Friday and Christmas messaging has become blurred, and brands should certainly consider developing and launching their Christmas gifting messaging in line with the November deals period.

Knowing your audience and considering channel planning will drive success. The best Christmas creative will still underperform if not delivered to the right audience at the right time. While a central, longer-form TV ad will build reach and awareness, it’s important that brands also create consistent and shorter-form, digestible content that is suitable for use across other media platforms. In the last decade, social media has become invaluable for brands looking to drive viral moments and sustained conversations around their adverts, especially when targeting younger audiences.

So as Rick rolls onto our screens with Sainsbury’s this Christmas, hopefully this week’s edition of The Specialist View has got your creative juices flowing. There’s a lot to consider when looking to create a successful Christmas ad, but the payoff can be immense too; not only in relation to brand awareness and profits, but importantly, to consumer loyalty and trust too.

Ofcom drops plans to remove stricter ad rules 

Ofcom has decided not to change the rules governing the amount of advertising on commercially funded public service providers. In the UK, we have the Code on the Scheduling of Television Advertising (COSTA), which is a set of rules that restricts the amount of advertising allowed per channel per day. The relaxing of these rules would benefit broadcasters as there would be potential to increase advertising revenue and thus see more investment into new content.

Ofcom believes that additional advertising, “may result in a deflationary effect across all linear television, which might help slow its decreasing competitiveness compared to other types of advertising”. Ultimately Ofcom have decided to keep the rules in place, citing that benefits would unfairly differ between sales houses, and the burden of more advertising on viewers, particularly when additional advertising minutes would result in the reduction of News content minutes per day, especially in peak hours.