Now that autumn is upon us, the UK’s largest brands are preparing for the launch of their Christmas advertisements. These advertisements have likely been a labour of love for much of the year (or more) and it’s easy to see why. Households consider the festive advertisements from the likes of Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Morrison, and particularly John Lewis, a tradition to watch, since they mark the countdown to Christmas.
With that said, brands that only focus their efforts around the festive period have a misguided strategy in place. Brands receive a massive increase in social media hype and brand awareness with each advertisement produced, and in turn, ultimately drive sales and ROI. If efforts are only focused during the Christmas season, the majority of a brand’s sales are driven during the same period, which means ROI will drop through the remainder of the year.
Deliver impactful, relevant Content
Take John Lewis’ 2015 advertisement, The Man on the Moon, which was viewed approximately 25 million times on YouTube and received 23,000 mentions on social media in just two hours following its release in November. Views translated to sales, as the “Make your own Telescope Kit”, which was featured in the Man on the Moon advertisement, sold out online within minutes of airing.
Following this, Sainsbury’s released its advertisement, Mog’s Christmas Calamity, which received a significant amount of engagement following its release in November 2015. In just one week, the advertisement garnered more than 26 million views. As a result, the brand hit 30 million consumer transactions in the week leading up to Christmas.
By delivering impactful and relevant content leading up to Christmas, both John Lewis and Sainsbury’s were able to ensure high social media engagement, driving brand awareness in advance of the Christmas holiday to ultimately drive sales. In turn, each brand accomplished a high ROI from advertising and marketing efforts driven by their respectful campaigns. So why, then, don’t these brands sit at the top of the UK’s iconic YouGov’s BrandIndex, which measures the best of the best when it comes to public brand perception?
Adapt to timely trends, not just the holidays
With Sainsbury’s success of Mog’s Christmas Calamity and Christmas Truce the year prior, many would think that the brand had surpassed all expectations. However, the brand shocked the marketing and agency world and terminated its 40-year partnership with AMV BBDO. Long story short, the only time the brand gained an increase in awareness, social engagement and sales was during the holiday season.
Take supermarket brands Aldi and Lidl, which currently sit at the top of YouGov’s BrandIndex for the UK mid-year, one of the highest authoritative measures of brand perception. To put things in perspective, John Lewis is currently listed as number four and Sainsbury’s has not even achieved the top ten. According to Sarah Murphy, director of YouGov BrandIndex UK, Aldi and Lidl achieved the top of the chart in 2015 yet again because, “their marketing strategies have evolved over the past 12 months. While they have always marketed themselves being value for money the emphasis now is on the quality side of that bargain and not just the cost.”
The capability to continually adapt and cater to brands’ target consumers (highlighted by Murphy) is becoming increasingly vital. In order to do so, brand campaigns have to look beyond the traditional Christmas advertisements and consider timely trends throughout the year.
Focus advertising efforts throughout the year to maintain success
To stay ahead of the competition, it is critical for brands to maintain positive sentiment across social media channels, in addition to staying top of mind for key audiences throughout the year. In order to do so, brands should focus advertising efforts on impactful content and trends for customers throughout the duration of the year, and not just Christmas. If not, brands will without a doubt fall behind the competition.
The realisation that consumers need to be hit with content when, where and how they want it is vital for a successful brand campaign. The tools available to marketers today empower brands to tap insights gleaned from social media, resulting in data-driven content decisions which allows them to discover which content to target customers with and when, over the course of the year. The true test that lies ahead for all agencies partnering with large, well-known brands is to come to the realisation that a brand is for life, not just for Christmas.
By Lucy Wimmer, director of global corporate comms at DataSift
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