Last May, a couple of days work unexpectedly dropped out so instead I researched and wrote something on Christmas 2016 trends, thinking it might come in handy for my work with agency retail clients. Since Christmas 2016 planning is now a distant memory for agencies (last month I was working on shopper marketing for Father's Day 2017) I thought I'd share … Continue reading Christmas 2016 trendwatching
So pretty much every retailer has shown their hand now in The Great Christmas TV Ad Showdown. Judging by online views and my friends with kids, Sainsbury's Mog is by far the most popular. And the grocery gurus I follow on twitter say that cuddly Mogs are flying out of stores. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuRn2S7iPNU But it's actually not … Continue reading Sainsbury’s might win The Great Christmas Ad Showdown on views, but Lidl and Asda nailed it
Since most of the big retailers have now shown their hand in the 2013 Great Festive TV Ad Standoff, now feels like a good time to pull them all together in one place. Let's start with John Lewis, a brand for whom the festive ad stakes were set very high following 2011 and 2012's triumphs … Continue reading roll up, roll up for your Festive Ad Roundup
I went to visit a friend in London last weekend and we decided to brave Oxford Street since it was their special traffic free VIP shopping day. It was a great idea in principle, but thousands of soggy shoppers clashing umbrellas with each other doesn’t make for a very VIP-ish afternoon (although the fake snow … Continue reading a festive tale of Johnny LouLous and the impromptu middle class sit-in
Although it seems a bit early, what with Christmas still being six weeks away, all the big stores have rolled out their festive campaigns, so it’s as good a time as any to do a compare-and-contrast exercise. Let’s start with the supermarkets: ASDA and Morrisons’ agencies seem to have been working from a very similar … Continue reading Christmas ads compared and contrasted
Christmas may come but once a year – but every year it arrives even earlier. Last week Tesco were advertising their Toy Sale “with You Know What only a couple of months away…”. All the big furniture retailers would like you to order now in time for Christmas, but DFS have gone one step further … Continue reading seasonearlity
I detected a definite shift this year towards homemade gifts, with jam, chutney, Turkish Delight and flavoured vodka all being unwrapped at my house on Christmas Day. Having heard similar stories over the last few days I can only imagine that businesses selling kilner jars and jam pot covers had a bumper December. From Kirstie’s … Continue reading homemade gifting is on the up, but will AdLand feel the impact?
So, I said I'd deal with the M&S X Factor Finalists Christmas Commercial in a separate post. Now obviously, this is part of a much wider M&S / X Factor tie up that includes sponsored airtime competitions, behind the scenes films and so on. I assume the brief was about repositioning M&S for a wider, … Continue reading M&S and X Factor – which brand are they actually promoting?
There are some great Christmas ads already airing...and some not so great ones too. Boots has continued the Here Come the Girls theme with a crack team of women getting Christmas sorted while everyone else is asleep. It’s engaging, funny, on brand and totally relatable. It also stands up to repeated viewing, which is a … Continue reading xmas ads – Christmas Crackers and Festive Flops
The nice folks at Innocent Drinks (the smoothie people) always pop something lovely in the post to me at Christmas (like this and this). For xmas 2010 it’s this very lovely wrapping paper: The accompanying card asks me to ‘wrap up something good for someone who deserves a bit of goodness’. So my very recently redundant friend … Continue reading Christmas all wrapped up thanks to Innocent
