The Importance of Storytelling in Christmas Advertising in 2022
As we reach the start of November and begin to see out another year, we begin to see a switch from normal advertising to our Christmas advertising that revolves around a strong brand storytelling campaign. Big brand favourites like John Lewis have the public on strings waiting to see what they come up with and usually always hit the nail on the head. They usually capture the holiday spirit and spark nostalgia whilst making you feel some sort of way. But how effective is storytelling marketing especially for Christmas campaigns?
What is storytelling marketing?
Storytelling is when brands use a clear narrative to connect a brand to potential customers. Through its narrative, it will create a connection by sharing similar values with its ideal consumer. A well-crafted storytelling campaign will help customers develop empathy and loyalty to develop a bond between the brand and the customer.
Why is it important?
Storytelling marketing helps highlight the humanity in marketing, which makes it more appealing to the audience. Using relatable characters, values or conflicts in your storytelling lets your campaigns drive a stronger connection between your brand, its products and the target audience. A captivating storytelling campaign will connect with your potential customers and makes the brand stand out from the noise. Strong adverts, like the ones we see at Christmas, will help develop a group of loyal brand advocates.
Storytelling & Christmas Advertising
Over the past 10 years, Christmas adverts in the UK have become a high-budget affair as companies compete to take the Christmas crown. A strong Christmas advert can make a massive impact on your brand with “YouGov” stating that from 2017-2021, John Lewis brand awareness has on average almost doubled from the beginning of their Christmas campaign to two weeks after the launch. The “unexpected guest” advert in 2021 had a brand awareness score of 16.8 and soared to 38.1 after the campaign was launched.
Falmouth University has conducted research that shows John Lewis department store sales go up 2.7% within the 6 weeks building up to Christmas and John Lewis estimates that since 2012, sales have increased by 35% thanks to their Christmas advertising.
How effective are Christmas Adverts?
When evaluating the effectiveness of any advert, you must first consider what the goal is. We have handpicked a few successful Christmas adverts that have different goals
- Drive Store footfall– Aldi’s Kevin the Carrot campaigns do well to drive in-store footfall by encouraging people to buy Kevin the Carrot toys & accompanying items. Aldi capitalises on the popularity of its Christmas Characters.
- Brand Awareness– The master of getting people to discuss their brand is John Lewis. They use creative TV adverts with popular songs to get people talking about their brand and raise awareness. It’s become a staple of Christmas in the UK
- To showcase their products and drive sales– Over the past few years, Boots do a great job in showcasing their wide range of products as the perfect Christmas present. Their #JoyForAll campaign this year is the perfect mix of Christmas advert and product placement.
As a marketing agency, we love to see the different creative aspects brands use to help their brand stand out from the crowd. What’s your favourite Christmas campaign so far?
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