Our Favourite Festive Marketing Campaigns!

The beginning of the festive months has quickly come upon us (and for all you bah humbugs out there I would apologise but I’m just not sorry), Halloween, Bonfire Night and the cosiest of all CHRISTMAS! This is an extremely busy time for us digital marketing agencies; whether it’s SEO, PPC, Social advertising, or video campaigns, at this time of year we get creative and think of the ideal festive campaign for your business. So I thought it would be appropriate to look back on some of our favourite festive campaigns over the years! 

McDonald’s- Remember Remember… to get me some fries!

In 2017, McDonald’s came up with a very clever marketing campaign for Bonfire weekend by doing a very simple 6-second video of their fries against a black background in the style of fireworks and posted it on social media with a simple caption of ‘Remember Remember… to get me some fries!’ This very clever and simple play on the traditional Guy Fawkes rhyme saw them receive 97 likes, 20 retweets and 7 responses on Twitter. 

Aldi- Kevin The Carrot

In 2016 Aldi released the ever so famous Kevin the Carrot for their Christmas television advert. Based on the Home Alone character Kevin McAllister, on Christmas Eve Kevin The Carrot is trying to journey across the food-filled dinner table to get to Santa’s mince pie so he can greet him when he arrives down the chimney. With the eventful dinner table journey being so tiring,  Kevin The Carrot ends up taking a nap and wakes up to find himself flying over London with Santa and his reindeers on Christmas Eve. This campaign was such a huge hit that Aldi started selling Kevin the carrot toys. Christmas 2017 and 2018 even continued sequels with ‘Kevin meets Katie the Carrot’ and finally ‘Kevin the Carrot and the Wicked Parsnip’ (featuring Katie and kids). I wonder what we can expect from the 2019 advert?Google- The Santa Tracker 

Every year Google releases its Santa Tracker for users to be able to track live updates of Santa’s journey on Christmas Eve. This is a classic use of online marketing campaigns that can quite easily target a range of audiences such as young children and adults. The campaign has been live every year since 2004 with newer developments added each year.  By releasing the fun and interactive Santa Tracker, Google successfully markets its map service as well as providing festive fun for the kids! 

M&S- Christmas with love, from Mrs. Claus 

In 2016 M&S released the ever so heartwarming television advert which starts by showcasing Mrs Claus picking up the last-minute letters through the post (one of which is addressed to herself) before waving Mr. Clause goodbye before he delivers his presents on Christmas Eve. She begins to read a letter from a little boy who is shown to be annoying his older sister, so he asks her to deliver some new shoes for her (after ruining a pair she already had). The advert then cuts to Mrs. Claus getting her own glamorous red outfit on and jumping on her red helicopter named ‘R-DOLPH’ to place the Christmas present under his tree ready for Christmas morning.  All products featured in the advert were available from M&S stores that year, and using advertising like this is such a fantastic way to showcase them! 

John Lewis- Bear and the Hare

Now for the final festive campaign (and my absolute all-time favourite)… In 2013 John Lewis released ‘Bear and the Hare’. This marketing campaign displays a beautiful friendship between a bear and a hare, and as Winter quickly falls upon them, the bear goes into hibernation to sleep whilst the rest of the animals prepare for Christmas. The hare leaves a small gift-wrapped Christmas present (to which we later discover is an alarm clock) outside the bear’s cave for him to wake early on Christmas morning with a huge smile on his face to his friends’ opening all of their presents under the Christmas tree. He gives the hare a warm greeting, and the advert ends on the headline ‘give someone a Christmas they’ll never forget’. Now I don’t know about you but with Lily Allen’s added background version of the song ‘Somewhere Only We Know’ originally by ‘Keane’ this advert certainly brought a happy tear to my eye! 

So there’s my festive favourite marketing campaigns and I cannot wait to see what 2019 has in store for us! If you would like to get in touch with us to discuss a festive marketing campaign for your business, contact us today on 0161 327 2635 and we will be happy to help!