Is the Christmas ad set menu crying out for new courses?

With attention splintered, the TV ad is no longer the main course in a brand’s Christmas campaign. We need a more evolved approach that embraces today’s media consumption habits.

The latest batch of blockbuster Christmas ads have landed, sending the ad industry into a frenzy.

Whether it’s Nigella biting into one of Greggs’ festive bakes or Sainsbury’s BFG adventure with his old friend Sophie, these TV ads are being dissected, analysed and pored over by both national and trade media.

And at the heart of it all? The big, revered format: the TV ad.

This makes sense. EssenceMediacom’s research into media channel signalling strength found that audiences are most likely to trust claims made in a TV ad versus other kinds of ads.

This is complemented by our work with ThinkBox on Profit Ability 2, which showed that TV ads across linear and broadcaster VOD were responsible for 54.7% of advertising-generated profit.

However, the frosty winds of change are blowing. As we are all well aware, attention — and therefore advertising — has splintered. Christmas and the Super Bowl are the two last bastions of those moments when advertising reached enough critical mass through TV alone to become the conversation.

While the class of 2024 Super Bowl “ads” demonstrated brands embracing the modern media landscape — one needs look no further than the brilliant Cannes Titanium Lion-winning DoorDash campaign — the Christmas set menu remains predictable.

Indeed, when we step outside our own echo chamber and look at people’s reactions, we can see, by and large, ambivalence. Search data suggests that interest in “Christmas advert” peaked in 2016 and has been on a slow decline ever since.

A trip down memory lane

We can all admit that part of the excitement our industry holds for the drop of the John Lewis (and beyond) Christmas ad is based on nostalgia.

Some of that is the “personal” nostalgia the creative evokes generally about our childhoods or our own lives — but it’s also nostalgia for how advertising used to work.

Perhaps I can start our collective healing. I admit: I miss The X Factor! Or, at least, sometimes I look back on that era fondly. At its peak, the show attracted almost 20m viewers, providing advertisers with nationwide reach — and the perfect launchpad for the Christmas ad (as well as the Christmas number one).

But, as we all know,  there’s been a generational shift. Ofcom reports that just under 50% of young adults (aged 16-24) watch broadcast TV live every week. For anyone under the age of 35, YouTube (more than 40% of YouTube viewing in the UK is on connected TVs), Netflix and TikTok are where attention lives.

However, it seems to me there is still a tendency in our industry to centre Christmas campaigns around the TV ad, with the assumption there is an X Factor-style launchpad that will spark national debate and reverence.

The more, the merrier

Brands locked in their annual battle for festive TV supremacy need not ditch the beloved mascots. There is huge value in “winning” the Christmas advertising melee — it will inevitably be instrumental in driving sales. However, the question I pose is: is there another way?

A more evolved way that embraces today’s media consumption habits, as well as nodding to the creative transformation that has taken place under our noses in the last decade.

Sure, TV will inevitably be integral. But, for example, could Greggs not have planned for the content phenomenon that is reaction videos or meme culture when thinking about how to add depth to its headline-grabbing Nigella partnership?

Boots is one example of leveraging multiple touchpoints to show up in a digital-dominated era. The health and beauty retailer has turned heads with its “werkshop” TV ad featuring Bridgerton’s Adjoa Andoh — but that was just the beginning.

Boots identified that its target audience — namely, young adults — flock to Reddit and Pinterest in their droves, with 18- to 34-year-olds accounting for the majority of these platforms’ users (at 65% and 58% respectively). This prompted first-time activations on both, alongside a Black Friday collaboration with Snapchat.

Factor in its partnership with Pearl & Dean and Universal Pictures around Wicked and Boots is showing the advertising world that there’s more to engaging today’s consumers than just a premium TV ad.

Stay frosty

While I understand that this is the season to be jolly, it’s also the season for reflection and looking to the future.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying TV shouldn’t remain an integral part of the plan. By and large, it should.

However, it seems to me that the brief needs to evolve from “what’s my 60”, 90” or 120” video going to be?” to “what’s the idea that will spread holiday cheer with people?”.

And how do we leverage the transformed world of media and creative to get people excited by it?

Article first published in The Media Leader, December 2024.