To use a phrase that has been used more often than I’ve had mince pies, 2020 has been a year of unprecedented challenges. Whilst this time of year heralds the start of the festive season, thanks to the incoming wave of advertising, it is undeniable that Christmas as we know it is going to be very different and therefore what we see on our screens will reflect how things are as we stand.
Or
will it?
Typically,
advertisers have their Christmas campaigns in the bag by early September, but
with all the changes and restrictions we have been through, it’s been harder
than ever for ad land to predict where the nation will be, come December.
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Why all the fuss?
Christmas
is big business for retailers. Many rely on a good festive period to see them
through well into the New Year, as strong seasonal sales can signal a promising
year ahead – and if this doesn’t hold true, they have a cushion to fall back
on. This is why so much stock is placed in Christmas advertising. Crafting the
perfect Christmas ad is both an art and a science. Understanding public mood,
tapping into relatable themes, finding the perfect balance of promotion and
message is a challenge and the big retailers have taken this on with growing
budgets to meet growing audience expectations.
The
star on the top of the advertising tree is John Lewis, as the most anticipated
Christmas ad of them all. Why? Because the retailer has set the tone for
blockbuster storytelling, throwing millions into conceiving, creating and
delivering heart-warming tales that seem to belong more on the big screen than
in an ad break in the middle of I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here. For 10
years, we have been treated to tales of forest animals, snowmen, penguins and
monsters (Moz, not Elton) in a bid to demonstrate the true meaning of Christmas
– doing something nice for those you love – alongside the obvious commercial
undertones that to do so, you must purchase from that specific retailer.
It’s
become all about the water cooler moment – or this year, a chat over a Zoom video
call – where everyone has seen the advert and everyone has an opinion.
When
your advert makes the headlines, you know you are onto a winner – even if the
response is less than favourable – because at least people are talking about
you. Yes, the old adage can be true – all publicity can be good publicity, and
the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about at all.
Adopting the right advertising approach can see a significant boost to your
profits; in 2017, John Lewis’ profits were boosted by 4% in the week leading to
Christmas, compared to the same period the year before.
It’s an art and a science
Consequently, ad land puts much time, effort and
money into their campaigns. The art is in crafting a creative that resonates
and cuts through all the rest of the Christmas noise, and advertisers are
essentially storytellers, keen to tell us a tale that will mean something to
us. There are seven basic narrative plots to any good story, according to Christopher
Bookerm in ‘The Seven Basic Plots: Why we tell stories’, and at Christmas we
can identify several of these applied. For instance, ‘the quest’ is where
someone is in search of something and achieves it – see Disney’s hugely popular
offering this year, which has clocked over 1.3 million views in the first five
days. Then ‘the Journey and Return’, where a hero undertakes an epic journey of
discovery, is evident in Coca Cola’s latest ad, and ‘comedy’, where there’s
often a misunderstanding that is resolved to hilarious effect, is widely being
used this year, by the likes of Very this year.
Further to this, social exchange theory argues
that people make decisions based on costs and rewards, which means we can
predict human behaviour by taking these characteristics into consideration, and
you can see how many retailers play to this in their adverts. Buy this present
and make your children’s Christmas.
Then the science comes in. Social learning theory proposes that to be influential, one must monitor trends and predict consequences, and advertisers apply this when analysing the market and their previous efforts and through conducting research, to see which treatments might provide the golden ticket.
But, what is it about advertising, specifically at Christmas, that can persuade us to part with our hard earned cash? Advertisers know what makes people tick and use persuasive techniques and storytelling models to convey their message. In Influence at Work, by Robert Cialdini, there are six key principles to achieve this, and the first that applies here is consistency. We like brands to be consistent in what they have previously said or done, so retailers who deliver Christmas ads that are in-keeping with our expectations, such as John Lewis’ masterclasses in storytelling, can expect to be received well. The second relevant principle is likability. We prefer to say yes to those that they like, and there are three factors that determine this: 1. We like people who are similar to us, 2. We like people who pay us compliments, and 3. We like people who cooperate with us towards mutual goals.
Again, if we look to John Lewis, and their 2020 offering, they present relatable scenarios and communication how together, we can work towards a common goal. They advised last month that we could expect to see a step-change, to focus on charitable endeavours, but I doubted that the heart-warming sentiment would be lost. And, to that end, I have not been disappointed as the new John Lewis and Partners ‘give a little love’ advert was revealed on Friday morning. It has the expected emotional music track to drive the story on, and it has a touching story to tell - in fact, it has nine stories based on acts of kindness from one person to another, in both the ‘real world’ and in animated and stop-motion form.
A
third principle of persuasion science is the idea of consensus. This suggests
that people will look to the actions and behaviours of others to determine
their own, particularly when times are uncertain. And for me, this is where
‘give a little love’ falls down. It focuses on acts of kindness, reportedly
inspired by those witnessed during the first lockdown, but there isn’t a lot of
social distancing going on and the characters on the Underground and bus, both
animated and real, seem to have forgotten their face masks. If we rely on the
actions and behaviours of others to determine our own, watching ads that do not
reflect our current reality can be incredibly jarring and at worst, can impact
on what we perceive as being acceptable. At this point in time when the
Government mantra of ‘hands, face, space’ is understandably being repeated at
every turn, seeing people interacting with others in close public spaces
without observing these guidelines undermines this important effort.
Don’t say the ‘C’ word
The approach to Christmas in the ads shared so
far this year have a few things in common – not wanting to say the ‘C’ word or
address the pandemic too directly; endeavouring to raise our spirits with
tactful humour; and reassuring us that this Christmas can still be great, which
is something of course the public is desperate to hear. Christmas is the season
of believing, and the stories being told on our screens at present give us a
source of hope.
One of the major retailers first out the gate with a festive ad was TK Maxx, who address the current national situation indirectly by telling a quirky tale of a farmer dressing his goat in designer gear because ‘she’s had a really hard year’. Indeed, haven’t we all? In this approach, TK Maxx acknowledges the obvious without labouring the point, and the humour displayed is proving to be a hit with consumers. We have to remember, it has been a hard year, so in some respects, the public doesn’t need reminding. And after all, retailers have products to sell, and depressing one’s audience isn’t going to do see things flying off the (virtual) shelves.
Indeed, a sense of humour seems to be serving some brands particularly well. Very, for instance, highlights the clichés of Christmas, both good and bad, that many of us can relate to, in order to raise a knowing smile, whilst Asda has continued using its real-life family, introduced earlier in the summer, to keep a relatively upbeat tone. As dad Sunny puts it in the new ad, "I guess Christmas is going to be different this year, so let's really make the most of it. The parties might be smaller, but we can still have great food and we can still party."
Well, you said it Sunny!
Give a little thought, John Lewis
Whilst John Lewis and Partners have
been consistent in their delivery with the new advert, I think they should have
had a reality check. If it’s been inspired by the random acts of
kindness witnessed during lockdown, then surely it should have been more
reflective of how we are currently living. The lack of face masks being worn by
those in the ad, including characters (real and animated) using public
transport, is unsettling. This advert is first being shared in a time where we
are living through lockdown 2.0, and the majority of us have adapted to the
‘new normal’, so much so, that seeing people standing too close together or
without a mask on when sitting on the Underground or on a bus is just not
acceptable.
The ad tells us at the end that ‘together, we can make a difference’, and I completely agree; had John Lewis and Partners considered featuring people wearing face masks in the appropriate settings, it would have supported the ‘hands, face, space’ messaging the majority of us are living by and reinforced the fact then when we all come together in the same way, we can indeed make a big difference.
Comfort over COVID
Retailers are doing their best to be mindful yet uplifting in their tone but as much as we hold on to the hope that we can spend Christmas with our nearest and dearest, we are undoubtedly in a very worrying and stressful period of our lives, unlike any of us have encountered before. We can watch these ads and raise a smile at the clichés of Christmas past or shed a tear over the heart-warming stories of love overcoming all obstacles. We can relate to the scenes being shown and take a nostalgic walk down memory lane does a lot to bring us comfort when we most certainly need it.
But of course, we don’t know what the coming weeks have in store, we are yet to learn what Christmas 2020 will look like and not everything we are seeing on the screen is reflecting reality.
The reality is that thousands have been impacted by loss, of loved ones and livelihoods, as a result of the pandemic. The reality is that many families will struggle this winter. The reality is we are washing our hands, covering our faces and making space between us and others in an attempt to do our bit to keep everyone safe. The reality also is that John Lewis is cutting around 1,500 jobs.
The trouble that retailers have is the big lead up to the season. Usually adverts are designed, filmed and in the bag before September, but the ever-changing circumstances this year have created a big challenge. This may be why so many have either ignored or indirectly nudged and winked at 2020 being a very different year, but if you are going to be bold enough to address the reality of this Christmas, then you need to see it through. Hats off to Amazon for including someone in a face mask when telling their story of a ballerina disappointed by not being able to perform, but finding a way for the show to still go on.
The concern for being timely should be
outweighed by the need to be sensitive and responsible. No-one could have
predicted 2020, and advertisers had a tricky job to predict the public mood and
circumstances of Christmas, months before the big day arrives. But those that
have demonstrated good natured humour and awareness of the context we are
living in right now will fare far better in the battle for sales.
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