Fave holiday marketing campaigns

The holiday season is in full swing and that means that this year's holiday marketing campaigns are as well.

Let’s unwrap some of my favourite holiday marketing campaigns this year and why they are my favourite.

Etsy Holiday Commercial

This ad focuses on Waldo (as in Where’s Waldo?), who shares that he loves being in a crowd, he talks about how people often see him or look for him. At the end, Wenda is shown giving Waldo a personalized gift - a compass, and Waldo says that when he’s with someone who knows him, like his friend Wenda, he truly feels seen.

I enjoyed this because it takes something many of us are familiar with (Where’s Waldo) and puts a fun and sentimental twist on it for the holidays.

A lot of good marketing makes you feel an emotion and there’s a quote I’ve seen floating around online a lot, which is “to be seen is to be loved” and I think this ad is a great example of the feeling everyone wants - to be seen and loved for who we are. 

Etsy is a shopping platform for handmade (and often personalized) gifts, which makes this a great fit for this idea featuring Waldo. I also love the idea of gifting handmade and buying from smaller creators and businesses.

Coca-Cola - Holiday Caravan Magical Moments

I may be a Pepsi kind-of girl, but I can appreciate Coca-Cola - especially during the holidays! Coke is a classic and if you’re a millennial or older, you probably remember some of their classic commercials (holiday or otherwise) featuring the iconic holiday bear. Their commercials and packaging also often features the image of Santa around the holiday season. 

This year, the Coke Holiday truck is once again travelling across Canada to spread joy and cheer, offer free drinks, and of course, features a very special guest - Santa!

I love when brands get out there and interact with people like this and Coke is such a classic - so this is certainly one of my favs this year. 

John Lewis - The Gifting Hour

If you’ve seen any of our past blogs, you’ve probably seen us mention John Lewis before, they’ve had some great holiday campaigns, so it wasn’t surprising to me that I enjoyed this one

The Gifting Hour features a woman shopping at the last minute for the perfect gift for her younger sister, and it shows how the secret to finding the perfect gift is knowing where to look. I will admit, this may have hit me in the feels a little harder because I am a big sister who’s always been close with my sibling, but that’s part of what makes a great ad - the emotions, the relatability. Especially during the holiday season.

Well, that’s it for my list this year, tell us what you think about these choices and let us know what your favourite holiday marketing campaigns are!