As marketers we always look forward to the festive season because festive season means festive ads from the biggest brands around the globe! Although brands have faced global delays with their Christmas products due to international shipments and Covid-19, it hasn’t stopped them from creating some of the most talked about Christmas ads this year. We look for the glitz and glamour of an ad but we also look at how talkable it becomes due to the brands talkability and buzz strategy to really keep their audience engaged during this very crowded period, in terms of messaging.
Here’s our top 3 favourite talkability strategies of the 2021 Christmas period:
McDonalds UK - ‘Imaginary Iggy #ReindeerReady’
McDonalds UK Christmas ad tells the tale of a young girl, Matilda, as she grows up with her furry friend Iggy. It shows how she loses touch with it when she grows up and then again is reunited after her trip at McDonalds. Using the elements of the ad as the main strategy, McDonalds have built their talkable posts on celebrity involvement (famous singer Mabel singing the ads soundtrack), engaging polls and live posting during big TV series launches in the UK via Twitter. With these three elements combined, McDonalds was able to create mass awareness, engagement and talkability all around their ads by extending the use of their content into relevant and timely events.
LEGO Global - ‘Rebuild the world!’
The LEGO Group’s Christmas ad takes viewers on a journey on how play can bring people together and overcome challenges through children's imaginations. LEGO smartly boosted talkability of the ad through social media by understanding their audiences' usability of social media. Obviously being on our phones relates to the below example from LEGO trying to boost buzz just by looking at your phone battery level. Smart huh? More of this please!
ALDI UK - ‘A Christmas Carrot’
The ad is a charming take on Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol and follows the story of grumpy Ebanana Scrooge who is very much stuck in his ways. He is abruptly woken by the Spirit of Christmas (Kevin the Carrot) who takes him on a journey through the wintry town to remind him of the true joy of the season.
ALDI are always the one to start the talkability party online especially on Twitter. Their strategy is to get other brands involved in the conversations, to secure as much reach and buzz as possible, like the example below with John Lewis. Another way is to always be present during big TV events on UK television and also drop big PR talkable news (their Winter clothing collection for example) while the Christmas retail period is hotting up. This is a strategy based on consumer behaviour insights, shopping behaviours and showing up at the right time when conversation on popular events are already building up.
Have you seen any great talkability and buzz strategies you’d like to share? Get in touch and let us know.