What Can We Learn from This Year’s Holiday Ad Campaigns?

With the holiday season in full swing, there is no shortage of advertisements.  So how do you make your brand standout among the rest?  By using the latest marketing trends, you can make the most of your marketing campaign, while still staying true to your brand.

What can we learn from this year’s most successful holiday advertising campaigns?

Advertise on Social Platforms – More and more consumers are looking to social platforms for their holiday purchases.  Put some of your advertising spend towards advertising on these platforms, in addition to your organic posts.

Target is focusing on social media advertising for their holiday campaigns this year.  They rolled out Snapchat geofilters, Facebook’s Canvas e-commerce ads, carousel ads, and Instagram takeover ads.

Create Engagement with Hashtags – Hashtags are a great way to get consumers involved, while also branding your business.  Whether through a contest or through a promotion, you can use hashtags to bring your campaign together in an engaging way.

StubHub is using hashtags to their advantage this holiday season by encouraging people to tweet their ideal ticket gift with the hashtag #tixwish.  When participants tweet StubHub with their responses, they’re entered to win a variety of prizes.  

Oreo is also taking advantage of hashtags this year.  They’re looking to create a new holiday song, and participants can enter for a chance for their memories to be included.  They are encouraging people to share their holiday memories and stories, while including the hashtags #wondercarols and #promotion. This is a great way to get people excited about the holiday season, while also promoting Oreos.

Captivate Your Audience Through Storytelling – Consumers are flooded with information online.  As a brand, you want to be able to captivate your audience and keep them interested in what you have to say.  One way to do this is by telling a story that catches their eye and keeps them interested, while ostensibly promoting your brand.

Again, Target shines by taking advantage of the powerful nature of storytelling this year.  Throughout the holiday season, they are releasing 60-second videos, each telling a small part of a holiday story.  While the commercials will be aired on TV, they are also available on their YouTube channel.  Take a look the beginning of their holiday storytelling commercial spots here.

Pull At Their Heartstrings – Another way to capture interest without coming off as “salesy” is by creating an advertising campaign that consumers can relate to.  Pull at their heartstrings in a way that encourages community involvement and positivity.

Toys “R” Us created a truly heartwarming holiday advertisement this year.  Their commercial featured young children surprising their elderly neighbor by setting up decorations on his front lawn.  In return, the neighbor gave the children gifts as a thank you.  Their advertisement was a heartwarming way to connect with kids, while still capturing the holiday spirit.  Watch the video yourself here, but grab some tissues first.

Small businesses can benefit from taking a look at how major brands are utilizing marketing trends to their advantage this holiday season.  Ready to apply some of these trends to your 2016 advertising strategy?  Visit the Ferocious Media website to learn more about our digital advertising services.

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