It's a sad reflection of our current economic climate that we have already seen a plethora of 'Christmas Sale' ads. I mean, what are we going to do on Boxing Day? So other than the 'SALE, SALE, SALE' commercials, which ones have caught your eye?
Here are my thoughts on some of the adverting winners and losers this Christmas...
Supposedly we are all tightening our belts but I'm amazed to see some of the major brands waste small fortunes on poorly conceived, prime-time commercials.
An example of this 'yuletide craziness' is Curry's/PC Worlds 'Darth Vader' effort. What are we meant to think about their customer services team when they are being trained by the most evil of Jedi knights? Do we really want to be served by those who have gone over to 'the dark side?'
2. 'Smellies' Perfume and aftershave products always do well at Christmas. Perfect gift for him, perfect gift for her. Why so ideal? Is it because they have a high perceived value? Perhaps. On unwrapping the gift, the receiver feels that a lot of time, thought and expense has gone in to buying the present. In reality though, they are the ideal 'panic purchase' gift that is left until 5 minutes before the shops shut on Christmas Eve - or is that just me?
Regardless of your experience, now is the time for perfume and aftershave brands (more commonly referred to as "smellies") to push their sales. Year on year, we are bombarded with similar, formula-driven, glamorous, seductive, black and white commercials with deep, Franco-Italian voice overs. The likes of Dolce&Gabbana, Gucci and YSL are all at it, not knowing whether the commercial is effective or not... but who cares right? Wrong. Call me cynical but isn't 'stand out' one of the main ingredients of a successful advert? Don't you want to be different from your competitors? Stand out from the crowd? Just ZiG when they zag? The one commercial that does it for me is the simply executed Lacoste advert. A simple idea where the white Lacoste shirt is folded until it transforms into a bottle of aftershave. Now it might smell like Luis Suarez's after match socks, but I know which 'smelly' I'll be checking out on Christmas Eve at 5.25pm.
And finally,
several brands have gone for the 'aaaaaaaarh' factor. This is what Christmas is all about, quality family time. It's about going to the school panto and listening to the children singing the praises of 'my mother' (Littlewoods) or sitting down and playing on the Wii with the son who you're too busy to see for 364 days a year (Sainsburys). A little contrived? Well perhaps
3. John Lewis's sentimental, TV commercial has hit your heart? What a nice surprise when the little boy unselfishly rushes to his mum and dad's bedroom with a present for them after you thought he was just another excited kid waiting to open his presents. Nice touch and the remake of The Smiths lyrical classic seems to be doing well in the charts too. Well done John Lewis's marketing team but I think that it's going to take more than a 30 second commercial to reverse the recession? I look forward to seeing how the sales figures do come the end of January.
