Why it’s time to ditch the Christmas ads.

It’s been called UK advertising’s equivalent to the Super Bowl, has been building for well over 30 years (Woolies - remember them - did it long before John Lewis, kids), and recent weeks have heralded the latest salvos to be fired as the UK’s retail giants battle for our Christmas spend.

But, as I tucked into my first mince pie of the season (Pret, not great), I wondered whether, in the context of the long term retailer price war, the annual Christmas battle has become for shoppers’ heartstrings rather than pursestrings? Has it become a bit too “naval-gazing-y” as the big guns try to out-Dougal Dougal in a stand alone Christmas ad rather than use it as a beacon within a longer term campaign?

Is there a retailer in the UK who can find the winning combination to unlock a more consistently emotional, year round campaign?

Since partnering with adam&eve, John Lewis have created a genre of emotionally charged, beautifully shot one-off ads. In following this convention, most of their competitors’ ads bear little resemblance to the heart beat of <insert retailer name here>’s price focussed communication throughout the rest of the year. 

This is something Asda may have faced into in their Christmas campaign for 2016 - moving away from the one off blockbuster to an episodic approach depicting the run up to the big day in 22 different ads (Jeez, just think of the PPMs). The work is more consistent with their halloween ad, for example, and suggests there can be a middle ground between price and emotion.

In their Christmas ad, Morrison’s deliver a message (“Morrisons makes it”) consistent with their recent work. Their marketing director, Andy Atkinson, has stated that, for him, establishing their point of difference over a longer period is important. So far, 2016 has been a good year for Mozzas - I hope this approach pays off for them.

Tesco’s offering is at least consistent with the rest of the year’s work, but lacks the fairy dust that their competitors have generously sprinkled on their seasonal commercials For me, it feels too run of the mill and easily merges into their other spots. They’ve gone too far the other way.

Sainsbury’s stance to only launch their Christmas campaign after Remembrance Sunday is applauded chez Turner (I just can’t contemplate Christmas until Autumn’s flurry of family birthday’s has been negotiated). For me, their 2014 tribute to the WW1 football truce remains the most emotional and best of the Christmas crackers. 2016’s spot hits home to anyone who perhaps hasn’t got their work-life balance errr balanced (*cough*) but again, it’s very different to the way that they've previously communicated price messages.

Wieden + Kennedy have recently picked up the Sainsbury’s brief. My experience of working with them suggests they will be worthy, emotional adversaries to the likes of adam&eve DDB - but can they find a way to make the more mundane price-first comms feel like they’re cut from the same cloth? Not something that was achieved during their relationship withTesco, but perhaps Sainsbury’s can benefit from that experience.

So what’s my point? Simply, that I enjoy this time of year and the focus brand communication gets from the general public - it certainly paints what we do in a better light than “that episode” in each series of the Apprentice. And it seems that the public value the more emotional ads. However, I’m left wondering if there’s a retailer in the UK who can find the winning combination to unlock a more consistently emotional, year round campaign.