The competition of holiday advertising
By Madalynn Abele | 7 Dec. 2021
The anticipation around the holiday season is both exciting and stressful, and as the prospect of holiday shopping slowly becomes a reality, no one reaches into these confused audience emotions like big brand advertisers.
The list of companies that tap into the frenzy of feelings at the holidays seems endless: Aldi, John Lewis, TK Maxx, Amazon, Macy’s, Chick-fil-a, McDonald’s and so many more.
However, the holiday season actually may have too many advertisements. Richard Exon, founder of Joint, says he can’t remember a time when there were so many Christmas commercials to catch up on.
“This year feels like a high watermark for sheer volume,” Exon said. “The good news is that creatively most brands manage to carve out space apart from one another. And at a time of year when it can feel like cliches exert a gravitational pull on the creative imagination, that’s no mean feat.”
The immense volume of holiday advertising makes it difficult for brands to stand out, but by tapping into a specific emotion through a brand character, tone of voice, or the product acting as the hero, each brand is able to create its own emotional punch.
“Whilst there are few true standouts, it must also be said that very few get it wrong,” said Rik Moore, head of insight, strategy and planning at The Kite Factory. “The vast majority embrace the magic of Christmas, a safe bet as this will always remain the ambition with the public, no matter what goes on with COVID-19 restrictions.”
Through traditional marketing methods, ad impressions usually increase 50% during the holiday season. Click-through rates rise by 100%, direct traffic increases by 150%, the average order value grows by 30% and conversion rates go up 60%. The more specific and targeted the campaign is, the higher these numbers will be.
Compared to last year, when the world was shut down and everything had to be done in an adapted manner, many people are looking forward to a more normal holiday season in 2021.
“This year our research shows that people want to have an extra special Christmas after a tough 2020,” said Lynne Deason, head of creative excellence at research group Kantar. 37% of consumers in this early-November report said that they had already started shopping
Even without COVID, the pressure on supply chains has increased to meet the demand of e-commerce. Brands are lengthening the Christmas period in hopes of boosting sales. However, as advertisements come out earlier each year, the competition becomes more intense.
“Holidays are emotional to consumers, the earlier brands can remind consumers that this product or service is a fabulous gift for friends and family the more likely we will sell it,” said Andrew Smith, co-founder and managing partner for the Americas of Think Uncommon.
In a season that creates and thrives off of a variety of emotions, it is no wonder why the advertising industry takes advantage to get their brands through the quarter. Whether this is viewed as a positive or a negative, it is inevitable - the holidays are coming.