Penny for your thoughts on Christmas marketing? Is Christmas “Creep” Getting Out of Control? I think so.

Christmas Marketing in my corner of the world started at the beginning of September! I mean come on - we’d only just “gone back to school” after a long and wet summer. This photograph was taken in Sainsbury’s when the temp was a raging 30 degrees outside!

With autumn barely underway I started wondering whether retailers are killing the joy of Christmas by stocking festive items too soon?

While pondering that thought I went to Google to see if anyone else felt the same and came across an article that highlighted that an IPA survey found that two-thirds of UK consumers are set to cut back on their Christmas spending this year due to the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.?

With this changing landscape, I imagine that marketers are going to have their work cut out for them this year.

In their Christmas Amidst the Crunch 2 report, 2023, the IPA also reports that in terms of the communications from brands around Christmas, most consumers want them to be festive (37%), funny (21%), nostalgic (20%) and value-focused (20%). In addition, nearly half (46%) of consumers want to see Christmas advertising that reminds them of better times.

Something for brands to bear in mind is that humour, a significant ingredient in Christmas advertising, can help counter unhappiness about campaigns beginning weeks before they previously did. Jokes about the early arrival of such holiday pitches are part of a popular trend known as “meta” marketing : ads that offer wry comments about ads.

The antipathy that many consumers once displayed when advertisers tried to front-run Christmas appears to have diminished into a kind of grumbling acquiescence. Some shoppers may welcome early ads because they start buying holiday gifts in October.

That being said, here are my 3 golden rules for how brands should engage with us for the upcoming seasonal bonanza.

1. It’s important to start running Christmas activities early, but not too early. I think now that we have Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping, which Finder estimates will see Brits spending an estimated ￡3 billion this year, I would encourage brands to seriously consider leaving it to the end of November.
2. Traditionally, there is HUGE competition for share of voice, purse and thought between December 6th and December 20th, which is when Christmas marketing, ads and music in stores are at their peak saturation levels. Brands should be present then but should make sure that they are relevant, entertaining and festive!?
3. Don’t run Christmas campaigns for too long. Their effectiveness drops drastically in the days leading up to Christmas Eve since most people have already finished their shopping.

What are your thoughts on the issue? Are you sick of Christmas joy yet? Or worse yet Chrismtas moozak??