The meaning of Christmas (advertising.)

It isn’t about the content, it is about the moment.

It isn’t the medium or the message (for once), it is the occasion.

It isn’t the relevance of what you say, it is how you get talked about.

It doesn’t matter what the ad is, it is all about the communication strategy.

There has been a cracking batch of Christmas adverts this year.  LinkedIn is buzzing with expert and inexpert opinions.

Private Eye has chipped in on the John Lewis ad with a cartoon featuring a teenage son saying to his dad : “I know what vinyl is, and I know what a record player is, but what is ‘a shop?’”.  John Lewis’ much anticipated Christmas 2025 commercial has a lovely narrative, which somewhat excludes the actual J Lewis Christmas shopper who is in the main a woman over 40. But nice ad.

McDonalds is an example of great Christmas product to tie in with the ads.  Could there be more Grinch products to buy?  Can’t think of anything they missed.

The loveliness of the Waitrose ad is a wonder.  Never mind that Keira Knightly really doesn’t look like she eats many pies the sentiment is beautiful.

The Google Pixel ad even features product benefits, as Dave Trott points out, as well as a Love Actually star or two.  I don’t know that the branding is quite as prominent as a classic Trott ad would have made it, and I’m not sure that its going to win over iPhone fans but it’s a great piece of entertainment.

As is the Disney advert, which has led friends of Tom Curtis to wonder if his instagram account has become more famous than he knows.  A child’s drawing comes to life, making the wonder of Disney manifest.

But it doesn’t really matter what the content of the ad is, or how much is spent on a director, or production, nor even the media spend.  Christmas ads work, because is it is Christmas and the newspapers, the media in general and social media in particular are talking about Christmas ads.  Just watch James May watching the ads for us before he shows us his own gin’s baffling Christmas message.  AI has of course been a talking point too, but even if Coca Cola has spent less on their ad than in the past, and even though it has been criticised, I still hear people talking about how much they love seeing “The holidays are coming” as part of the run up to the big day. 

Effectively the communication strategy for all of these ads, whatever the creative brief and whatever the media plan, is the same.  Join the conversation at a time of year when, for once, people are looking out for adverts, sharing them on their social feeds and having an opinion on their emotional resonance.  (The only other time people are as eager to be entertained by adverts is when they are waiting for a delayed late night train on the Northern Line.)

The Christmas ad moment is a relatively new development.   The first John Lewis Christmas ad was in 2007 but the tradition of looking out for the breaking advert developed a few years later.  Many pundits think that the twist behind The Long Wait in 2011 when the joy of giving rather than receiving presents was celebrated put the store’s ads on the map in a new way.

Most retail brands have joined the party. 

There are plenty of other sectors where brands could benefit from the increased salience that a Christmas celebration of emotion would bring.  For example travel, where TUI’s Elf celebration gets the brand front of mind, just as the post Christmas booking season kicks off.

The strategy is about being part of the conversation. There is one question that strategists and creatives need to deliver for.  Getting yourself talked about should be the primary question, what will make your ad lead the conversation?  What will it take for your ad to win Christmas?  And more brands can join this Christmas party.  In fact, of course, you have to be in it to win it.  

If you want to build brand fame, brand warmth and brand saliency then joining the Christmas conversation is a brilliant way to start the year ahead.