A woman watched TV at Christmas

Festive TV adverts and 5 ideas for marketing that we can learn from them

You know Christmas is coming when John Lewis and M&S share their Christmas TV adverts.

The same goes for the big leading supermarkets Tesco, Sainsburys and M&S.  The suspense builds, we hear whispers about the song that they’ve picked and we wait to see what story they’ll tell this year!

The Christmas TV advert has become the pinnacle of advertising, sales and storytelling to capitalise on the time of the year when consumer spending is at an all time high. According to The Bank of England each household spends just over £2,500 more than a typical month.

From Monty the penguin, a snowman with a scarf, the hare & the bear and the man on the moon with a periscope – retailers have chosen storytelling to engage with their audience and customer. And don’t forget the supporting merchandise of toys, accessories, and branded goodies that come with most festive adverts nowadays.

But, why do retailers create a story to advertise Christmas gifts and and their merchandise?  Here’s two examples:

The gifting hour

The Boots Christmas advert 2024

Here Louise at Soundbite Media reveals five reasons why storytelling in a (Christmas) advert works wonders to engage with customers:

1) Stories are designed to deliver messages in an engaging, comedic or emotional way.

The John Lewis adverts are planned to take us on a journey and transport us to another world or scenario. A simple narrative of a beginning, middle section and finale or ending takes the customer / viewer on a journey so it involves them and then leaves them satisfied, curious and enlightened at the end.

Tips for your business Can you think of a way to create a narrative with your business or service that can engage your customers? What is the story behind your business that motivates you to sell what you sell. How can you tell that story in a captivating and engaging way that is relatable to your customers?

2) Storytelling enhances and elevates your brand.

Businesses like John Lewis spend millions of pounds on their TV adverts because of how it enhances and elevates their brand. By creating an advert with a strong story – the characters, songs and objects we see in the adverts are linked with  that shop and what they do best. Through the art of storytelling we’re able to understand what John Lewis delivers – great customer service and the right products to solve your shopping needs.

A tip for your business: Advertising is a powerful tool when executed with objectives, aims and creativity.  Read 5 reasons why paid advertising can boost your business sales. The article talks about control and targeting, guaranteed visibility, audience insights, enhanced functionality and measurable results. 

3) Everyone likes a story.

Think back to when you were a small child and you would settle down at storytelling time to hear a story about wizard, dragons and a fantasy world where the princess goes on a journey to find her prince etc.  Stories make the message memorable.

Tips for your business: What are the character tools and techniques that you might want to use to creatively tell your business story?

4) Stories are useful for emotional value.

Following on from the previous point – the most memorable and effective brands use emotional connections to resonate with us. There’s a whole scale of emotions that stories use from fear, excitement, jealousy or sadness to engage with us. Once you use emotion in your story, your brand will be elevated and become memorable.

Tip for your business: What do you want your customer to feel when they see your business and interact with you. Is it about empowerment, humour or excitement?

5) Telling stories on a TV advert ties in to other marketing tools.

A TV advert isn’t just seen on TV. Nowadays it will be hosted on platforms like You Tube. It will be shared via social media like Facebook and Twitter. For example the Aldi Christmas Advert 2023 has had 4.6M views. This means that one video is being seen not just via TV like once upon a time but now it’s accessible in many more ways thanks to social and digital media.

Tip for your business: How can you use your video or content to share it in different ways and on different platforms to amplify who you are and what you sell?

I hope this article has been useful to help you think about how storytelling can engage with your ideal customer and elevate your brand image. Louise is a media, marketing and communications specialist with over 20 years experience working in TV, Radio, print and online media for BBC and Commercial brands, businesses, and services. 

Let’s stay connected:

If you have any questions or would like to discuss this article – get in touch with Louise@soundbitemedia.co.uk

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