4 BRANDS THAT DOMINATE CHRISTMAS MARKETING

Breaking Down The Strategy

When this time of year comes around, millions of people all over the world do the exact same things:

• They put up their Christmas decorations

• Start to wrap presents

• Bang on some Christmas music

And people like Mariah Carey cash in big from the tradition.

In fact, it’s said that Mariah Carey makes a whopping $2.5-3 million from royalties each year on her ‘All I want for Christmas’ song.

Crazy.

But it’s not just singers who make a killing every Christmas. Over the years, a few brands have managed to tie their products or their name to Christmas too.

And it’s a genius marketing move.

Every year they can just rinse & repeat and watch people flock to shop with them.

But which brands do it best and how in the world did they make it happen?

I spent this weekend diving down the Christmas marketing rabbit hole, here’s the 4 best brands to do it (+ a lesson to learn from each) ↓

1) Coca-Cola

Before 1931 there were hundreds of different depictions of Santa Claus around the world.

But most painted him out to be a very large stoic looking figure (like the photo below).

Until in 1931 when Coca‑Cola commissioned an illustrator to paint Santa for Christmas advertisements.

Those paintings established Santa as a warm, happy character with human features, including rosy cheeks, a white beard, twinkling eyes and laughter lines.

And the Santa we picture toady was “born”.

A happy, jolly man… in a Coca-Cola branded red outfit.
Like, the guy is literally Coca-Cola branded in red & white.

But Coca-Cola didn’t just stop there.

When people started taking to the jolly Santa illustration they doubled down and started to launch campaigns every Christmas with Santa.

• They had billboards of him

• They painted him onto their trucks

• And of course, used him in all of their ads

Now, every year when people think Christmas → They think Coca-Cola.

Arguably the cheapest bit of brand awareness you could ever get (even though Coca-Cola spend billions to keep it that way).

And in essence all they did was tie a brand character to Christmas - a theme you’re going to hear a lot of in this breakdown.

2) Starbucks

Christmas time & cold weather are like 2 peas in a pod.

The nights are dark, snow is on the way and everyone is looking for a way to warm up.

So what do millions of people buy more of during Christmas time? Hot coffee.

And for years, people just went to whatever coffee shop they wanted.

Then 26 years ago, Starbucks introduced its first-ever festive Holiday Cup.

No idea why they made it purple, but clearly it stuck.

So the year after, as the holiday season was approaching they began teasing the arrival of their new holiday themed cup.

The year after, the same thing.
Year after, the same thing.

Today, 26 years on, they have people all over the world running to Starbucks on release day to see and get their hands on a festive Starbucks cup.

According to Rachael Higgins (who is arguably the most in the know person when it comes to Christmas marketing campaigns) this years holiday cup launch campaign garnered:

• 580K likes on Instagram

• 5.5M views on Instagram Reels

• 45.2K #starbucksredcup posts

All because the cups hold an emotional connection between the consumer, the holiday season and the Starbucks brand.

3) John Lewis

If you’re not from the UK, you may not get this one. But if you are from the UK you definitely will.

Because the John Lewis advert release literally signals the start of Christmas in Britain.

And every. single. year. it gets millions of views.

Views like this on a advert are unheard of and John Lewis get them with little to no effort.

Why does it work?

→ The ads give people a feeling of Christmas
→ People watch it to get in the Christmas spirit
→ And now people tie John Lewis to the Christmas period

But it doesn’t just convert to views on YouTube, it converts to a huge boost in sales too.

Last year, John Lewis reported sales jumped 9.3% over the Christmas period.

A shockingly high number for a company so big.

4) Aldi

Out of all of the brands on this list, Aldi is arguably the most impressive case in my opinion.

Because they literally pushed they way into the Christmas story over the last few years.

Pre-2016 Aldi and Christmas had nothing to do with each other and there wasn’t a person on this planet that associated the two.

Then in 2016 they created a character called ‘Kevin The Carrot’ and well, everything changed.

• The ad went mega viral.

• The ‘Kevin The Carrot’ stuffed toy sold out

• And everyone fell in love with him

Now, every year people wait for the Aldi Christmas ad - just like they do with John Lewis.

And look at those views!!

Nearly 20M views just on the last 4 Christmas ads - bonkers.

Again, all because they created a brand character that tied the brand to the season.

A key thing to notice that every single one of these brands do is…

They create something that ties THEM to Christmas.

For Aldi, that’s Kevin The Carrot.
For Coca-Cola, that’s Santa.
For John Lewis, it’s their ad.
For Starbucks, it’s their cup.

My two cents → find something that ties your brand to Christmas - because people love Christmas.

A little early to be talking about Christmas? Maybe.

But writing this definitely got me in the Christmas spirit.

Maybe I watch my first Christmas film of the year this weekend… who knows!

Until next Sunday.

— Niall

This has been a breakdown of 4 brands Christmas marketing strategy. I hope you have learned something and can implement a similar strategy in your business!

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