As the calendar year draws to a close, marketing teams everywhere begin to roll out their Christmas campaigns. These are often backed by enormous budgets, with one source estimating that ad spend has been doubling year on year on social media alone.
Join us as we take a look at all the different ways in which brands have been putting that money to use…
10 examples of Christmas advertising and marketing campaigns
Each year, music streaming service Spotify runs its ‘Wrapped’ project to give users a detailed report of their top songs from the past 12 months on the platform. In December 2019, they rolled out a special version of Wrapped that showcased a user’s favourite tunes from the past decade.
This annual Christmas digital campaign is a great example of UGC (user-generated content). By encouraging people to share interesting stats such as their most-played songs or favourite genres, Spotify is able to generate quite a buzz on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
The best part? The reach of their campaign is largely organic. At the time of writing, the #spotifywrapped hashtag has been used on Instagram over 100,000 times! 😮🎵
Starbucks is another brand that likes to flex its marketing muscle during the Christmas period. With new festive cup designs released each year, they’ve managed to establish a unique brand tradition that fans look forward to.
In 2017, they launched ‘Project Give Good’, featuring giveaways and cups with white space that customers could colour in and personalise. By encouraging people to post pictures of their designs along with the hashtag #GiveGood, they left no stone unturned in the UGC department. 📸
TV ads
Although the world of advertising has made a significant shift to the online space in recent years, some of the best Christmas advertising campaigns are still those found on the good ol’ box.
There are many memorable TV Christmas campaigns from over the years, but we’ve become big fans of Aldi’s Kevin the Carrot character and his annual appearances. In 2019, the plot thickened as Kevin was confronted by an angry bunch of Brummie sprouts known as the ‘Leafy Blinders’.
Angered at their position at the bottom of the Christmas dinner pecking order, the gang of sprouts have Kevin tied to a box grater in attempt to cut him down to size. As the narrator explains: “In a dark village square an angry mob shouts, because Christmas before Kevin was all about sprouts…” 🥊
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Online ads
The rise of digital advertising has seen brands spend big on popular platforms such as YouTube. Online Christmas campaigns are the new normal for many big names, and there are numerous examples to draw inspiration from.
In 2020, Search Engine Journal put together a great round-up of online Christmas ads . This list contains a wide range of emotionally engaging adverts, but we have to say we’re big fans of John Lewis and their ‘Give a Little Love’ campaign.
We’re already looking forward to this year’s edition and of course the bonus return of @JohnLewis on twitter! #notaretailstore
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Branded games
Are you new to the world of branded games ? Also known as ‘gamified marketing’, these online experiences offer up a cost-effective way to stand out from the crowd and add something special to a Christmas brand campaign.
Insurance firm Beazley are no strangers to using branded games as part of their festive marketing. In December 2018, they launched Beazley Risky Rider – an online game that saw players racing around a track on snowmobiles collecting policies and hitting tiles to get speed boosts.
Branded games support a wide range of marketing goals – from running a digital advent calendar competition and rewarding a target audience with prize giveaways, to boosting engagement on social media and collecting GDPR-compliant sign-ups through a game leaderboard. The image carousel below gives you an idea of all the different things you can do with a Christmas-themed game.
If you want to find out more about how you could use a game this Christmas, grab yourself a copy of our free eBook: Game Time! Your Guide to Christmas Game Success 🎄💯
Get your copy now!
