…and we’re not talking about your favourite Christmas film either.
You can feel it can’t you? The nights are darker, the air is colder. The shops are starting to fill out and November begins to drag its way through to the last month of the year. Local towns begin to start preparing decorations, you’ve probably noticed an early bird in your neighbourhood begin to light up the house and your funds begin to slowly dissolve into a chaotic festive expense. It really is beginning to look a lot like Christmas; but what is the biggest clue? What rings the bell and gets all that anticipation snowballing? The video in Christmas Marketing that appears on our television, in our newsfeeds and the topic of conversation between your friends, family and co-workers.
It’s been long since a tradition that was universally recognised by our eager Christmas spirit and a very literal consumer-driven thirst, Christmas has not begun until you see the Coca Cola lorry advert appear. Yes, that iconic cacophony of ‘holidays are coming’ has become synonymous with kickstarting the Christmas spirit and sits quite comfortably being recognised as indicative of Christmas to us as much as the tree, Michael Buble and mince pies. Yet the company at the foundation of this has one aim- to sell us a fizzy drink. This memorable form of iconography is now the cornerstone of Christmas Marketing Campaigns. So much so, that Coca Cola has long since been rumoured to be the actual birth of modern Christmas and its widely accepted tropes altogether. Albeit up for discussion, this isn’t necessarily true…but did they set a new standard for brand engagement? In the last ten years, particularly with the rise of Social Media, companies looked to entice our business by doubling down on the emotional impact of our Christmas spirit. Prompting the ever desirable viral social points of likes, shares and comments.
In later years, one company sought to carry the torch in being just as iconic and again, with the simple strategy of selling us emotion as the product rather than its actual business. Again, we speculate, anticipate and wait for its arrival to signify the beginning of our inner festive buzz. You probably know who I’m talking about. The John Lewis adverts began to use Video advertising to create a feel-good, forgiving and empathetic video that oozed the very same festive concoction of emotions we all willingly invite during this time of year…and they do it well. So much so, that other retail giants Aldi, Tesco, and Sainsburys amped up their video marketing efforts to produce their own examples in a similar fashion. Whilst their products and services exist all year round, it is the festive flick of the switch to remind us your weekly food shop was now something different and that as a business they are ready, willing and engaged to compete for your extra budgets and attention this Christmas.
Do your customers/clients know you’re Christmas ready? Have you prioritised your communication channels to tantalise their festive spirit? Whilst we’re not suggesting a bandwagon attempt to outshine the multi million-pound platform big companies use, there’s still a variety of strategies and tools you can implement into your festive marketing.
We update this blog regularly, so come back next week when we will be giving you our 5 best tips to extend your Christmas presence online!
Can’t wait till then? Are your Reindeers ready to fly into Christmas already? Then get in touch. The Creationz workshop Elves would be very happy to help you in understanding video in Christmas Marketing and your online presence this Christmas.
They say Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year but is also a marketers favourite time of year! The minute the calendar flicks to November we all begin to anticipate this year’s Christmas adverts.
As retailers compete for the biggest, best and most tweeted about Christmas adverts, we’ve rounded them all up in a short blog so you won’t miss out on any festive magic. We’ll be updating this list as new adverts get released so make sure you come back!
John Lewis
This list of course has to begin with the most widely anticipated retailer of the season, John Lewis. The one we all patiently wait for as the countdown to Christmas begins.
The John Lewis Christmas advert, Unexpected Guest, follows the story of a young boy called Nathan who befriends an alien named Skye, after her spaceship from another galaxy crashes in the woods beside his home. The main themes of the advert are friendship and experiencing wonderful Christmas moments for the first time. As always, John Lewis has got the perfect music to match the joyful story with the advert featuring a wonderful cover of Together in Electric Dreams.
Marks and Spencer
Much to our surprise, Marks and Spencer have actually released two Christmas adverts this year! One to advertise their festive food range and another to showcase their clothing and gifting selection.
Judging by the reactions online it is safe to say their food advert featuring Percy Pig has stolen the show! In this advert, Percy is brought to life when a fairy voiced by Dawn French drops a magic wand on a gift wrapped in Percy wrapping paper inside an M&S Foodhall. It is also worth noting Percy Pig is voiced by Tom Holland aka Spider-Man. They both explore the aisles together discovering the delicious delights featured in the M&S Christmas range.
The second advert follows a woman as her day goes from dreary to magically festive in a whirlwind of M&S clothing, from cosy Christmas pyjamas to festive party frocks.
Boots
Boots have pulled out all the stops this year with former Doctor Who star, Jenna Coleman starring in their Christmas campaign!
The theme of the advert is joy, the joy of being with friends and family, the joy of getting out there and connecting with each other, the joy of giving that perfect gift. This heartwarming advert pulls on your heartstrings and it highlights some of the things we have all missed over the past two years. Jenna’s character makes everyone’s Christmas dreams come true, then heads to visit her Nan to give her a gift, a bottle of her favourite perfume, reminding her it’s what “love” feels like.
Sports Direct
The advert titled “GO ALL OUT” certainly lived up to its name, featuring an array of professional sports stars.
Their Christmas campaign features a wide array of athletes from England players, Jack Grealish, Mason Mount and Declan Rice to Emma Raducanu and Jessica Ennis-Hill all participating in a snowball fight. It is rumoured to be the most expensive Christmas advert of the year and it’s clear to see why.
Lidl
Lidl’s Christmas advert shares a glimpse of a futuristic Christmas, with a laser turkey cutter and relatives visiting from the moon.
The advert is designed to reinforce their key messaging, that they are “big on quality” and always “Lidl on prices”. Showing that Christmas may change in the future, but their prices and brand values will not.
Asda
The music for Asda’s Christmas 2021 campaign is the Bolero, as made famous by Nottingham’s very own by Torvill and Dean.
The ASDA advert follows a family skating through a series of festive moments before reaching the big day itself. Showing many of the much-loved magical experiences we missed out on in 2020, from the big family food shop to the school nativity and the office Christmas party.
As previously mentioned we’ll be regularly updating this blog so come back and check it out! What is your favourite advert? We’d love to know, so get in touch.
This week Facebook has announced they will create 10,000 new high-skilled jobs in Europe over the next five years to develop a metaverse as reported by Bloomberg.
But what does “metaverse” really mean?
It is quickly becoming the latest buzzword in tech and digital marketing and dubbed to be the next big stage of the internet. In short, the term can be used to describe shared virtual world environments that users can gain access to online.
Metaverse can be used to describe realistic digital social spaces that use either virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR). Experts say the metaverse will allow users to interact virtually, combining aspects of social media, online gaming and more.
However, it is not just Facebook interested in creating a metaverse, Tim Sweeney, the CEO of Epic Games (the makers of Fortnite) also has big plans for the future of the internet. The Washington Post reported he plans to see the metaverse as an “expansive, digitized communal space where users can mingle freely with brands and one another in ways that permit self-expression and spark joy”.
At Creationz Marketing we predict other online gaming platforms and technology giants will roll out their own versions and we’re excited to see how they’ll combine socialising, work and play.
Why is getting in front of a camera so nerve-wracking?
80% of all content is now video.
So, why is it so scary to step in front of the camera? We put ourselves under so much pressure to make sure any content is slick, polished and without any errors but is it needed?
No…pre-covid, I would agree that there was definitely an element of corporate videos looking very polished but the pandemic has helped break down those barriers. How many zoom calls have you been on where there has been a dog/cat walking into frame, a child crying or people walking through their homes. The corporate look has also waned with fewer shirts and ties or smart blouses. We are being more human and that is something I really feel will last a lot longer as we have given ourselves permission to be who we want to be.
Do I like recording video?
Honestly, no! I find it a challenge,
I hate the sound of my voice as well as being picky but I also know that one of the biggest changes in marketing is being more human. Since we have started to post more photos of the team, our office and who we are, we have received so much more feedback which has been great. Sam was a superstar last week and got in front of the camera and he made it seem so natural. See his video here
Will I do more videos? Yes…if you will join me on this journey. I am a firm believer in “done is better than perfect” so it is my plan to record a video for our website this week. I will post the video in our Marketing for Success group on Facebook – you can all hold me to account. Share your video too!
Are you ready to start your video journey?
There are so many videos you could produce that don’t all need you standing in front of the camera. Here are just a few ideas for you?
1. Tour of your business 2. Meet the Team 3. Work you are proud of 4. How you work with customers and clients 5. A welcome to your business 6. Top tips and what to expect 7. Client Testimonials
Which one could you start with? I would love to hear your thoughts.
Looking to find out more about video content?
To help dispel some of the myths around video marketing, Sam and Jordan are running a free webinar which you can watch on demand by registering below and they will be covering:
1. Video myths 2. Video ideas you can all put into practice easily 3. Ideal sizes/ length of video for social media 4. Additional marketing tips you can do with video content
Register your place below and we will send you an email with a link to the webinar so that you can watch it at a time convenient for you:
If there is anything in particular you would like some handy hints and tips on then simply contact us on 0115 8376 260 or email info@creationzmarketing.co.uk. We are happy to help!
Last week Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp went down for close to 7 hours. You couldn’t miss it…it was on every news channel going, you would have thought the world was ending with the coverage it got.
Clients started to ring us to see what was happening and why they couldn’t post or communicate with their pages & audiences.
A one-off?
No…did you notice that Facebook also went down again Friday night for about 2 hours??? Now it was a Friday night, we are all either out celebrating the weekend or spending time with family so not as bad you might think…or is it!
But what does this mean for your business?
One of the biggest things for us at Creationz is the number of clients that rely on social media platforms to communicate with their audiences.
It doesn’t bear thinking about, but what if the shutdown was permanent? No more Facebook!!No more Instagram!!No more Whatsapp!! Could you still communicate with your clients?Do you encourage your social media contacts to join your mailing list? Now is a really good time to stop and think about how you leverage your clients from social media into your own CRM systems – that way you OWN the conversation and you have strong foundations to build client relationships with. Our top tips to help leverage clients from social media into your CRM system:
Consider using Lead Magnets – give something of value in return for an email address on all social media channels – see an example here
Run competitions where they have to do something.
Take social traffic to your website and make sure there is content that captures their imagination. Get them to do something, fill a form in, sign up to newsletters etc.
Join our Marketing For Success Group for lots of handy hints and tips on moving your audience from social to your CRM.
With two outages in one week, you can be sure that more will follow.
If you have time this week to boost your marketing efforts, audit your current social media usage and ask yourself – could you market your business to your audience if social media was not available?
If there is anything in particular you would like some handy hints and tips on then just reply to this email. We are happy to help!
Kind Regards
Claire
p.s We are running a free webinar on the 19th of October all about the power of video and how your website and social media can benefit. Register your place today
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