Everyone has their winter holiday tentpole moments. For some, it’s seeing the Rockefeller Christmas Tree lighting, or watching A Christmas Story or the return of a memorable TV commercial.
The lifespan of a TV spot is relatively short, around six to eight weeks, during its first run. But some campaigns are so effective at capturing audience attention and encapsulating the brand’s spirit that they can run and run for years.
“It becomes a sense of an event about which brands are cutting it as cultural entities in our lives, rather than being advertised at,” said Dom Boyd, managing director for Kantar’s U.K. Insights and Marketing Effectiveness Practice. “It’s something that we share, something that we are happy to engage with and to comment on and that’s when brands are really at their best.”
Holiday ads as cultural check points
There are numerous examples of holiday ads that appear year after year. Think about Hershey’s “Christmas Bells” spot, which has run with minor tweaks since 1989 or Corona’s “O’Tannenpalm,” which has run for 33 years.
In Scotland, the country’s most popular soft drink Irn-Bru has been repeating its “Snowman” animated campaign since 2006 and a sequel ad released in 2018. However, the original continues to be the go-to campaign for the brand and has been viewed 1.5 million times on YouTube.
We believe that our strong brand foundation and emotional essence helps this ad continue to resonate with U.S. consumers year after year.
Saul Trejo, director of brand marketing for Corona USA
“Few things are more synonymous with Scottish Christmas than seeing our Snowman flying over Scottish landmarks for the first time each year with an Irn-Bru in hand. Last year, it debuted on TikTok, and we saw over 100,000 likes across our social media within an hour as we continue to see it engage old and new generations,” said Kenny Nicholson, head of brand for Irn-Bru.
Arguably the most famous recurring campaign is Coca-Cola’s “Holidays are Coming,” which began to share its message of joy with the image of its brightly lit big red truck rolling into town in 1995. The ad was remade in 2020 to bring it more up to date but the creative idea and format remained the same, as did the song. The brand has also had its Polar bears appearing in similar ads over the years.
System1 research has measured the ad over the years and found positivity growing over time, hovering above the five-star “exceptional” score in recent years.
System1 has also compared the scores of the much-anticipated John Lewis Christmas campaigns which change year on year, finding the response to be highly varied from one year to the next. Amazon has a similar strategy of releasing campaigns that aim to evoke joy but have few other ties to each other.
“It’s one of the big challenges … when they’ve had to be consistently different,” said Boyd. “We know from our Brand Z data that consistent differences are very powerful and just do better. It’s definitely a truism that too many brands change too often, but the challenge around Christmas now is how do you set a new agenda and avoid being cultural landfill?”
Being exposed to the same ad repeatedly can help consumers build a higher level of awareness for a brand, explained Pinar Yildirim, an associate professor of marketing at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
“One benefit of nostalgia or repeated advertising is using a tested, likely positively received campaign again,” Yildirim explained. “This may reduce the downside risk, and there may be some cost efficiencies in planning and production.”
Saul Trejo, director of brand marketing for Corona USA, said that the longevity of the “O’Tennenpalm” ad is attributable to its simplicity and consistency. This year, it will run across more than 13 English and Spanish-speaking networks starting Nov. 27 and social media.
And while the spot has run for more than three decades, the brand has not been scared to refresh the concept. It created a virtual palm tree last Christmas, and this year, it will place it on Corona Extra slim color-changing cans.
“The spot is a testament to the resilience and cultural resonance of the Corona brand, and we believe that our strong brand foundation and emotional essence helps this ad continue to resonate with U.S. consumers year after year,” added Trejo.
Good ads don’t wear out
System1 recently conducted comparison research of 50,000 long-running ads. In the U.S., the longer an ad runs, the higher score it receives from System1.
“That would suggest that ads aren’t wearing out,” explained System1 marketing director Nick Williamson.
“What consistency gives you is ads that are more likely to wear in than wear out,” said Lynne Deason, head of creative excellent at Kantar U.K. “Over time, as a brand commits to a core idea that builds familiarity, you start seeing things like distinctive brand assets, so people then know which brand the ad is for more clearly.”
Citing Cadbury’s recent ads centered around sharing and kindness, Deason explained: “What you’ll see with a consistent campaign is the one ad that cracks the idea. And from that moment of joy, when suddenly it’s landed, it really resonates, then you really start to see things building.”
Cadbury tracks the impact on brand equity when releasing the ad each year, which is defined by how meaningful and memorable the brand can be over the holiday.
“On a qualitative level what we want people to feel is that ‘Cadbury makes Christmas more magical,’ and that’s the result we are seeing that has prompted us to reuse this campaign and to build on it each year,” explained Emma Jayne Paxton, senior brand manager for Cadbury Christmas at Mondelēz International.
System1’s Williamson said another approach is using unique touchpoints such as a brand mascot and owning a format that can also build familiarity. He cited discount supermarket chain Aldi and its Kevin the Carrot ads from recent years as an example of increasing success.
Preparing for a new campaign
“Familiarity and regularity are powerful brand assets,” said Sam Cartmell, executive creative director of Ogilvy UK. “The trick is using creativity to keep that asset fresh and relevant. Creatively, it may seem limiting at first glance but, in reality, having some constraints, some jumping off point can be wonderfully freeing,” he said.
Recent research from Kantar also reveals campaign consistency leads to stronger brand awareness.
Ecem Erdem, Kantar’s global manager for creative, said brands should evaluate their needs and objectives first and re-evaluate the effectiveness through testing. An annual review of the media buying strategy will also reduce wear-out.
“We also know that consistent brand imaging/messaging tend to help consumers to solidify their perceptions about a brand, which can also turn into higher recall and brand awareness,” added Professor Yildirim.
A new example of a potential recurring holiday ad comes from Ocean Spray, which has produced an evolved campaign for its cranberry sauce this holiday. The juice brand also still intends to run last year’s ad following increased sauce sales and shifting consumer perception for the brand.
“A key mark of the success was that it really tapped into how people organically think about and use cranberry during the holiday season,” explained Monisha Dabek, svp and chief commercial officer, USA for Ocean Spray.
“As we planned for our 2023 ad, we asked ourselves, what else is true about cranberries in culture during the holiday season? Cranberry juice cocktail felt like the most natural evolution since we know consumers are mixing our cranberry juice with other beverages, especially during the holiday party season. Last year’s ad and our new 2023 spot resonate strongly because the cranberry use—last year’s jiggle, this year’s mix—are inherently understood by the end consumers,” she added.
