Content Marketing: 6 Effective Christmas Ads from 2016

content marketing

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.

About The Author
Avatar photo
Kaiya Herwitz
Feugiat gravida ornare volutpat est eget ultrices. Dignissim leo nunc in id. Accumsan maecenas quam sodales euismod at molestie urna. Morbi et pharetra non nisi, vitae nisi, pellentesque. Tincidunt et volutpat pellentesque rhoncus. At condimentum sit lacus aliquet id enim.

Get started today

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. At mauris tristique enim risus facilisis.

Start now