Christmas came early. These 5 ads are absolute crackers

This is a very good thing for marketing effectiveness.

During Christmas, brands create their best work.

And they release more of it.

So they get the least use of their best work?

You can see this in the System1 data below. More 5 Star ads are released but the average ad life decreases. It’s a Christmas tragedy.

Now, I’m not saying we should keep our Christmas ads on through January (although … I have a suspicion some campaigns could pull it off), but great ads can’t just be for Christmas.

So, what’s the answer? How can we milk our Christmas cows for as long as possible?

I believe in the Christmas marketing miracle

A one-off great execution can create huge results, regardless of strategy. A single ad can change your brand’s fortunes.

I’ll probably get a few planners happy to risk the naughty list to beat me up (again) for this, but it’s true.

There are countless examples of campaigns whose entire strategy was just to make people feel something with an ad, with no complex ‘tension’.

Jaffa Cakes’ Full Moon. Half Moon. Total Eclipse.

The Cadbury Gorilla.

Even Levi’s Laundrette.

I’ve written about this before; it’s why media spend (ESOV) and the emotional reaction to advertising explains about half of long-term market share changes. Marketers overlook the power of “fame” driven by broad-reach emotional advertising.

However, before I get whacked outside 12 Bishops Bridge Road, the brands that marry long-term solid strategy and creative excellence see consistent, repeatable market-shifting results. Or, as Sir John Haggerty calls it: turning science into magic.

I recently released some new System1 and IPA research on creative consistency showing exactly this. Brands that stick with their killer positioning and creative ideas for longer and put them across more channels produce more brand and business effects. They literally report double the very large profit gains. Some call this brand coherence. I call it solid creative foundations: an insight-driven positioning and a creative idea with legs.

Using the same positioning, idea, assets, characters, or even the same ad grows familiarity. People love familiarity. It increases processing ease. People love easy. And it refreshes the same memory structures, much easier than building new ones. So you see your brand image and salience grow. That’s what the chart below shows: consistent brands make stronger advertising every year.

That’s what I’m going to focus on in this first batch of Christmas advertising goodies.Powerful emotional advertising, supercharging long-term strategy.

Here are five campaigns we need to look at.

Etsy – Waldo Anthem

Etsy is first on my list because I reckon marketers will overlook this bit of genius.

For many years, Etsy has carved itself a clear positioning: niche-crafted gifts. If you need to find something special, even for yourself, it’s probably on Etsy, especially if it’s personalized or crafted.

At Christmas, it’s no different. But they came up with this cracking creative idea that finds the drama in the insight. People often ask, “Where’s Wally?” but no one asks, “Who’s Wally?”. And the best way to show Wally we care is through a niche-crafted gift just for him.

How brilliant.

The ad itself is well-crafted and has an emotional story. As I’m currently going through the same thing, trying to get my boyfriend a gift that reflects how much he means to me, the punch at the end… well… it made me a little wet-eyed. This is what you call in the business a “peak-end” effect. Here’s the full System1 report. It’s Etsy’s strongest ad released yet.

Amazon – Delivering a show-stopping season

I started this Tindall on Effectiveness column because of Amazon’s 2023 Christmas ad. Campaign pegged it as a Turkey but System1 testing predicted it to be one of the strongest Christmas ads released that year. There is no surprise a rather excellent Christmas and financial year followed for Amazon.

But what’s extra special here is the strategy. The wonderful Ed Smith (a marketing GM at Amazon) explained it to me simply last Christmas. In all its advertising, Amazon is the magical intervention. It reminds me of my FMCG marketing training. Find a product truth and ladder it up into an emotional benefit.

The truth is that Amazon has everything, can be delivered in hours, and is often affordable enough to order without a second thought.

Emotional benefit: Amazon creates magic in any situation.

You see it in Amazon’s ads year-round. Whether it’s a student turning her room into a lush greenhouse. Or a janitor becoming the singer of his dreams. Excellent, consistent strategy, and brilliantly emotional creative. Giving this a whopping 5.9 Stars again in our testing.

Asda – The Ghome of Christmas

I’m a huge, huge, huge Asda fan. I have the app. I call my mum when I see stuff she’d like there. Every two weeks, the lovely delivery team rocks at my door with my usual order (red flag: I eat the same thing for breakfast and lunch daily).

I also love its advertising. Buddy the Elf was epic, and so was Bublé. But I think the most recent Christmas campaign is extra special because it has Gnome legs. Asda produces thousands of Gnomes each year. It’s totally nuts and very ownable. Putting Gnome characters in their ads that are distinctly Asda is genius. It has the makings of a 10-year-long creative platform. This leads me to...

Aldi – Get into the Christmas Spirit with Kevin The Carrot

I saw someone post trying to slam dunk on System1 for constantly shouting about Kevin the Carrot being best-in-class the other day.

This person needs to ease up on their keyboard and have a read of the Effie Gold effectiveness case study, which shows how Kevin the Carrot effectively created +54% Christmas share growth for Aldi over a couple of years.

It’s insane, but it’s essential reading for marketers. Aldi is openly sharing all its data and strategy behind one of the strongest marketing moves in the past decade.

The strategy is sound. Show Aldi has a premium and quality range at Christmas, so you don’t need to shop elsewhere. And the case study details how its ads grew in creative quality from 3 Star to 5.9 Star since 2016, showing consumers loving them more and more. This year is no exception.

Consistency wins. Keep on at it Kevin, never give up.

M&S – 2024 Christmas Advert

Marketers massively overlook M&S’ relentless commitment to high-quality, easy Christmas food.

The way it has picked a space to play in, followed through with the product itself, and hammered it for years is genius.

The brand even caught the eye of my ASDA-loving Mum. I came home one year, and she was… surprisingly calm. Even a little drunk by lunch, she was having a great time. Something was up. I walked into the kitchen to see M&S. All the food ready to go. She even had a piece of paper detailing when each thing needed to go into the oven. No 10-hour cook for her.

M&S changed my Christmas. That’s what M&S are selling.

There’s the emotional benefit. And Dawn French has been expertly used for years to tell you that. If you look at their 5.9 Star report this year, flip to the end spontaneous associations page. Viewers recall “convenience”, “party”, and “Christmas”.

Are you serious?!

That is effectiveness gold. Salience baby. Owning your category entry points. Emotions will sweat those hard.

These are five early Christmas campaigns that I think are particularly impressive. But my opinion means nothing. Over the next few weeks, System1 will test every UK and US Christmas ad to get to what matters - the consumer’s opinion. I’ll be sharing more in this column and on my LinkedIn.

• More from Tindall on Effectiveness.

• Christmas 2024: watch all of the latest ads