Christmas advertisements have become their own genre with their own time of year, a form of commercial art built around a series of short movies with products playing a part in a story designed to trigger an emotional reponse.
These festive ads, which mark the close of the year with a digital shouty art festival, are currently intensifying as retailers roll out large slices of their budgets to convince shoppers to lob their festive season spend their way.
According to Nielsen numbers, 22% of Australian supermarket ad spend -- about $44 million -- was placed in November-December last year. Almost 30% of department store annual ad spend was in those last two months of the year, about $45 million.
Michael Klaehn, QUT associate lecturer in Social Media, Advertising and Communication, says retail brands realise they don’t just need to have a 30 second commercial anymore and some aren’t even going to be on TV at all.
“The Christmas ads aren’t just ads anymore; they’re short films with a lot of product placement,” he says.
“Brands know the power of social media and the ability for people to share to their friends which equates to more potential Christmas shoppers.”
Klaehn says the big UK brands relied on that shareability of Christmas content and the fact that if there is something to talk about, such as who is in it or singing the track for it, an ad will perform better.
He describes the anticipation for the 2019 ad from UK retailer John Lewis as fever-pitch with bets taken on who would be singing its tune.
Last year John Lewis featured Sir Elton John. This year it is Bastille singing the 1980s, Can't Fight This Feeling, with a little girl and dragon called Edgar with a fiery problem.
Within a week of its release on YouTube, the ad had more than eight million views, says Klaehn.
“It has competition this year from Selfridges Future Fantasy – A Christmas for Modern Times, a short movie with a Shakespearean/hip hop flavour.,” he says.
“Directed by Nabil Elderkin, starring Noomi Rapace, Miguel, Daniel Arsham and others, it is definitely dividing opinion so therefore achieving its goal of being talked about and shared.”
That’s why the celebrity factor is strong in UK Christmas advertising.
Klaehn says Mariah Carey has been engaged again for Walkers Crisps while M&S Food has a Christmas campaign featuring UK TV celebrities from Big Brother and Britain’s Got Talent plus a cute choir singing an arrangement of a Fleetwood Mac song. Meanwhile, Target features Sam Smith singing Donna Summer.
“The use of celebrities is not really a direction Australian brands go for,” says Klaehn.
“Our ads are more focussed on family values, cuteness, nostalgia and quirky humour.”
ALDI’s The Miracle Ham is based on the insight Christmas hams tend to last forever. No matter how much is eaten there is still enough for days and days of sandwiches and salads.
“It does seem like magic and that’s what they have tapped into,” says Klaehn.
However, Klaehn says some ads can backfire when they try to be too clever or out-of-the-box.
“Ikea has created its first ever Christmas ad with a soundtrack by East London grime artist MC D Double E. It doesn’t seem to be in the spirit at all - effectively shaming people into sprucing up their house with Ikea furniture probably isn’t the most effective sales technique,” says Klaehn.
“What we have is a gang of trash talking toys and figurines. It doesn’t really feel like Ikea, which is a shame as they have a very strong history of great work.”
Klaehn says the British are the undeniable champions of the Christmas ad.
However, his favourite this year is an American ad, Frito-lay, which has rewritten “A few of my favourite things” sung by the actor Anna Kendrick, and it’s sprinkled with all of their brands throughout the video.
“It’s cheesy sure, but it’s entertaining and if it helps these brands to sell a few more bags of chips per family then it’s worked,” he says.
“Another American ad that’s interesting is one for The Gap – it totally bypasses TV with a purely online campaign. I think we will see more of that as people shop less on the high street or in shopping centres and more via a digital device.”
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