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This year has been one hell of a ride. With big companies forecasted to reduce their spending on Christmas advertising in 2020, we can expect to see less flash and more realness at the forefront of holiday campaigns. We’ll take you through a couple of our favourite digital campaigns of the season as well as the most talked-about tagline of the year.
Officeworks: A Socially Distanced Santa
With many shopping centres across the country forced to abandon the much-loved traditional photos on Santa’s knee, Officeworks created an innovative solution that plays within the rules of social distancing.
RYOT Studio helped Officeworks to create a virtual Santa that you can access straight from your phone. The “Show Them You Know Them” campaign provides an AR solution to an IRL problem and shows the world that even if Christmas is different this year, we don’t have to give up our favourite traditions.
Users can choose from 4 different poses and easily take their yearly festive photo without even leaving the house. The immersive ad is available in-store or through mobile phones. The real magic of this campaign comes from the ability to share the link directly on social media platforms or print and collect from the nearest store. The photos save instantly to the camera roll on your phone so that you can keep them as long as you’d like.
RYOT Studio has beefed up the campaign by creating native ads and articles through Verizon Media’s (RYOT Studio’s parent company) editorial outlets like Yahoo and HuffPost. These additional elements will work to trigger high levels of engagement.
Woolworths: Buy Local
Woolies has topped our nice list this year by rolling out a comprehensive video and digital campaign just in time for the holidays. Their “Sharing the Spirit of Christmas” campaign highlights the connection between the supermarket chain and Australian grown ingredients. The spot encourages families to come together this December and support locally sourced food and farms.
Woolworths has wholly revamped its digital presence to coordinate with this summer campaign. They have created a Christmas landing page on their site that includes a list planning feature, festive food guides and a charitable component through their partnership with OzHarvest that aims to provide meals for Aussies in need. They’re also pushing their eCommerce option as they encourage Australian’s to shop from home, avoid the supermarket, and have all their festive fixings delivered to their doorstep or Direct to Boot.
Woolies has created a successful campaign by focusing on a few of the most important takeaways from 2020. While they encourage family togetherness and connection, they want to promote a Covid safe holiday. They are also working to bolster local companies and give back to those who won’t have a Christmas dinner waiting for them this year. Splashed across OOH, TV, radio, social and digital, this holiday campaign hits the mark.
Myer: A Confusing Christmas Slogan
Myer wants to help Australians celebrate all of their missed moments from 2020. By encouraging people to turn Christmas into a catch-all holiday that allows them to blow out missed birthday candles, commemorate christenings and graduations and cheer for their favourite sports teams.
With their “Bigger Than Christmas” campaign, the department store hopes to encourage an extra celebratory atmosphere with the launch of their one-stop-shop Giftorium. The event mash-up feel of the ad gives the sentiment of these bygone events being better marked late than never.
They launched the campaign with a one-of-a-kind Christmas carol of their own making. While the song speaks to all of the missed moments of the year, it’s their digital, OOH and social approach that has left consumers confused. Whether you love the creativity or think the idea has missed the mark, it’s definitely succeeded at grabbing attention online.
Led by the tagline “Happy Congratulations and Merry Christmas”, the campaign has stumped many online shoppers and passers-by. While it tries to bring together some of the sayings we use for commemorative events, it seems to be falling flat to some people. Others are praising the retailer for a catchphrase that sums up how they’re feeling about this year.
As we move into the silly season, we look forward to seeing what other kinds of digital solutions big brands have as holiday shopping moves heavily online. If you’re looking for assistance with digital marketing, the Zib team are here to help.
