Every year there is a special excitement building in the time of the upcoming Christmas holidays around the best advertisements released by some of the biggest brands in the UK and I have decided to share my top three choices for the most meaningful Christmas ads of 2018.
In order to understand why ads are so important for business and brand building, Hubspot published an article in June this year ( https://bit.ly/2mVYkXN ) reflecting on a research regarding emotional advertising and how it is used to affect customer behavior.
The Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology carried out their results stating that human emotional responses are based on four basic emotions as follows: happy, sad, afraid/surprised and angry/disgusted. To accompany this, customers will always give stronger emotional reactions to advertisements containing animals and children.
These techniques are clearly being used by clever PR experts and marketing professionals when it comes to maximizing the general interest and outreach in some of the popular brand's Christmas ads.
To start with, Londond Heathrow Airport is always one of the best when it comes to thinking of creative advertisments, especially the Christmas ones. This years they have continued the story of their well know trademark Heathrow Bears, making it back home for Christmas with family. This rather emotional ad is engaging the emotions of customers in a way of making them think about the ''old'' teddies, being the grandparents, who are often forgotten but showing also a new member of the family and how unity of all the members is the only joy for which you can possibly wish. This way the company is strengthening the nodes for positive brand recall and raising brand awareness through touching storytelling. In only 9 days since broadcasting it hit 1 million views on Youtube. https://bit.ly/2PZX4W6
In the second place is the most hyped advertisement this year so far - John Lewis. Using clever wordplay they have hinted the content of the ad few days before the official launch by removing 'Lewis' from the signs above the store entrance in London. When the ad came out, it was all clear by seeing the hashtag they used: #EltonJohnLewis, showing the obvious celebrity endorsement increasing the ratings vastly. In just one day since premiering the ad, it gained over 4.7 million views on Youtube, making it currently number #1 on TRENDING. In short - the video shows Elton John's life backwards, with all important moments of his career, making it back to the childhood memory of him with his mother and grandmother giving him a piano as a Christmas gift. The meaning behind this is to give the representation of how 'a gift' to a special person can have a huge impact on their lives, making the customers wish to give this feeling and spark to their closest ones. https://bit.ly/2PVhmjL
Lastly, my personal winner - Iceland. Their ad is very touching and the most sensible one so far, focusing on a real problem and harsh truth, rather then on cozy Christmas feelings. In partnership with Greenpeace, they have published the video in which they are shining a light on vast amounts of palm trees and forests being destroyed for palm oil, making hundreds of orangutans lose their homes and exposed it through a cartoon of a little girl and a baby orangutan interacting with each other, helping us understand the real issue.
Unfortunately, it was disliked by Clearcast, a non-profit governmental organization in the UK that pre-approves TV ads as they banned it from being broadcast completely. This has made even greater hype over the ad and Iceland as a brand as people are showing support for them, and it is safe to say that, purposely or not, their PR&marketing team ''hit the Jackpot'' with this as the outreach is huge on all social platforms. In only 8 days since posting it, it has collected over 4,7 million views on Youtube and counting. https://bit.ly/2TiFpb8
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