Tis the Season (for Lessons in Advertising)
Welcome to Monday Marketing Briefing, where the week begins with a quick jaunt through the marketing world. Stick on the kettle, grab a chair, and enjoy the latest news, insights, and opinions (all of which are my own).
By the time last Friday evening arrived, Excel had burned itself into my mind; every time I blinked, I could see little cells full of numbers waiting for me in the dark. Regardless of the absolute slog behind 'Data Week', however, it really did hammer home just how crucial data is to us marketers, even when it's tricky or time consuming to get hold of.
This was further proven in a less eye-straining way during a trip home at the weekend. I spent some time helping my mum to prepare for an upcoming Christmas fete, putting on my art critic hat to review the watercolour paintings she took (but didn’t sell) last year.
I quickly drew some conclusions based on what she'd brought back home with her:
Even this little exercise in data analysis proved useful; using what we’d learnt, we curated a new selection of stock for her to take.
So although my eyes hurt from staring at spreadsheets and my brain feels like an over-saturated sponge, I know that everything we did last week will ultimately be worth it when we can strategise with confidence.
After all, without data, it’s just guesswork – and who’s got time for that?
Ah, Christmas - the Holy Grail of marketing opportunities in the Western World. If predictions are correct, 2023 in particular will really see the value of the season ramp up, with brands expected to spend a record-breaking ￡9bn on Christmas advertising.
While many B2C marketing teams breathe a sigh of relief and put their feet up after months preparing for festive campaign launches, for those of us who are merely spectators, the season’s just kicking off.
Yes, already we’ve got sight on which adverts and campaigns have been dubbed as early leaders in the Christmas competition, thanks to System1's ‘Ad Effectiveness’ Rating. The top-rated are perhaps not the most surprising bunch - and you might not even be that invested in what they're doing - but it's interesting nonetheless to ponder what it all means once the snow has settled.
Take M&S tying with Aldi, for example. After Christmas has come and gone, will this early matching translate into a good start to 2024 for them both, or will we see hard sales figures separating them before spring hits?
Honestly, I find all of this festive campaign hubbub equal parts entertaining and intriguing. In particular, it's fun to dissect stand-out campaigns to figure out what makes them work. Here are a couple of lessons I think we could learn from 2023's festive offerings.
Charm, Character & Entertainment
According to System1's ratings, Aldi’s latest Kevin the Carrot campaign is taking the early lead, with the plucky root vegetable bagging himself a 5.9 - the highest possible rating.
Despite being a relatively new kid on the block, Kevin has quickly become a recognisable IP come Christmas, complete with easily marketable merchandise, bags of charm, and adverts that simply entertain. Much like Shaun the Sheep or Wallace and Gromit, one does wonder what Kevin will get up to next.
Creating a striking character can be somewhat akin to catching lightning in a bottle, however, so we can also learn something else from Aldi's efforts: keep things fresh. Over the last couple of years, we've seen Kevin being joined by new characters, and finding himself in different scenarios to shake things up a bit. This year, he's lampooning Willy Wonka and it's utterly charming.
Whether or not his adventures translate into sales of actual carrots, we’ll have to see; there’s something dystopian about him driving customers to buy his own kind that feels oddly Dickensian.
?Snappy Formulas & Hype
This year, John Lewis' Christmas ad features a chaotic Venus flytrap called ‘Snapper’, who causes the usual assortment of mischief - including spitting out presents and confetti. But despite the flashbacks to Little Shop of Horrors, Snapper has landed in the retailer's top 4 most effective adverts, according to ad effectiveness platform, Daivid.
Over the last 14 years, the John Lewis’ Christmas advert has become something of a staple, signalling that the holidays – and the next top ten hit song – were on the way. The winning formula replaces the consistent presence of a mascot such as Kevin with hallmark elements that the audience recognises instead. In years gone by, a countdown to the advert's release has further emboldened the formula, injecting it with a healthy dose of hype.
Unfortunately, there are some challenges to be wary of, with a formula paving the way for criticism; one bad execution will ruin the entire Christmas campaign, and could stick with a brand long after the leftover turkey has been eaten. Just as challenging is the temptation by others to try and replicate the advert (and sometimes doing it better).
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Then again, missteps can help you to refine a formula, and imitation is the sincerest form of flattery - just make sure you stand out from the copycats.
Don't Let the Zeitgeist Make You Lazy
I literally could not write this without mentioning the iconic Coca-Cola advert. Yep, even after all this time the 1995 advert still managed to beat the high-scoring 2023 advert this year.
From Coca-Cola, we can learn two things.
Firstly, elevating brand recognition to zeitgeist-like heights takes years of consistent recognition. Santa driving a massive lorry will be ingrained in so many people's minds as a magical Christmas memory, that its presence is a given.
Secondly, we can learn how to lean into that recognition and tradition without shirking innovation. In fact, Coca-Cola keep innovating. This year, their Christmas campaign is leveraging AI to offer digital experiences, as well as out-of-home elements and previously well-received truck tours.
This is the perfect blend of tradition to tap into the collective consciousness, and innovation to generate results. Genius.
Adverts Aren't Everything
Of course, all of these adverts – and every other festive offering we’re about to be bombarded with – can teach us one of the most important lessons of all: the advert isn’t everything.
So many additional factors play into these campaigns, and it’s easy for them to be overlooked. John Lewis, for example, is known as a higher-end retailer; with consumer confidence low and a pandemic marring the last couple of years, would it be any wonder if their Christmas numbers didn’t hit the mark? Does that mean Snapper needs to be mulched? No. But it does mean the weight of their success can't sit solely on the shoulders of the marketing department.
There are also other factors to contend with, outside of just buying habits. The decline in young people tuning into traditional broadcast television – or being exposed to adverts at all, thanks to premium streaming subscriptions – means that there’s a long-overdue pivot required.
Brands need to consider how to interact with customers who are able to evade the ads, and who have perhaps lost the will to seek out an advert or join in the hype. It’s been a couple of years now since anybody asked me if I’d seen the John Lewis advert yet. Meanwhile, Coca-Cola's 'holidays are coming' turns me from Grinch to Elf in about three notes, but I haven’t actually seen it played anywhere – and aside from a bit of nostalgia for the 90s version, it isn’t a video many people would actively seek out to watch on social media.
This last point, however, isn't just a festive issue - it's one we have to contend with year-round, and is the very reasons experiential marketing, user generated content, and influencer marketing are all popular avenues to consumers. Innovation isn't just for Christmas, after all.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I really need to start thinking about festive shopping...after I've watched a few more of this year's adverts, of course.
John Lewis' 2023 Christmas ad might have landed outside the top ten (I'm still surprised we've got a top ten when bonfire night was like a week ago but whatever), but it's still the retailer's best-performing Christmas ad in two years.
Gulp. Threads being described as having had a 'fall' so soon after its initial rise isn't great news for Meta. For brands, however, there's supposedly some hope.
To be more accurate, this week's first item is a story that caught my stomach instead, as Domino's prepares to introduce their loyalty scheme to the UK market.
Meanwhile, this is article about the ongoing effectiveness of legacy ads is actually an old story from November 2022, but it's very fitting for this week's topic.
While last week was data, data, data, this week is all about interrogating our findings (and doing some creative items to balance things out). It's sure to be a welcome change, with only a hint of spreadsheet scattered throughout. I feel like a marketing weather presenter.
Thanks for joining, and have a great week!