Content marketing is an extremely important part of a good marketing strategy, especially around Christmas. Content-based marketing has been on the rise in recent years, and looks to be the way of the future, especially in video campaigns. So what can we learn about effective content marketing from the holiday ads this season? Below are 6 examples of good content marketing videos from Christmas campaigns in 2016.
Original storytelling
One very effective content marketing strategy is through original storytelling. Some great campaigns this year used character-based story-telling to get their brand noticed. For example, John Lewis, which already has a reputation for great Christmas marketing had the “Buster the Boxer” ad this year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr6lr_VRsEo
Another heart-warming original story campaign from this year was Heathrow Airport’s “Coming Home for Christmas.”
What can we learn from these campaigns? To create a good content marketing campaign with an original story, you’ll need a mix of creativity, humour, and empathy to really promote your brand.
A well-known story – with a twist
For this type of creative content marketing, the key is taking a well-known story or characters and putting a fun or surprising twist on it. Some good examples from this year are Marks & Spencer’s “Christmas with Love from Mrs Claus”:
Or Warburtons’ collaboration with the Muppets in “The Giant Crumpet Show”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLfMrj74otA
From shifting the focus of a classic to story to a supporting character, or even using a simple play on words, these campaigns prove that there are endless possibilities out there to create unique content for an ad. If you can think of a story to relate with your brand (and twist!) for your content marketing campaign, the results can be magical.
Connecting with the audience experience
This strategy is difficult to pull off, but can be very effective if done right. The holiday season is the perfect to time create ads that emphasise empathy and nostalgia, with a touch of humour. Two great examples of ads that connect with audience experience are Sainsbury’s “The Greatest Gift”:
And H&M’s Wes Anderson directed “Come Together” starring Adrien Brody:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDinoNRC49c
For campaigns great and small, these are good content marketing ideas to stick by for the holiday, or any season.
Would you like some content marketing advice for your next campaign? We here at anova would love to help! Contact us today.
