As the holiday season rhythmically begins its steady swing, and the snow begins to stick to the wet sidewalk, I have ‘instinctually’ added a scarf to my daily dressing routine. The winter sweaters get unpacked, and boots replace that remaining pair of renegade sandals.
Everywhere you look sleigh bells aren’t necessarily ringing, but green and red advertisements are around each bend, indeed. They’ve been up for some time now – Thanksgiving is barely a blip on the holiday radar unless you are a cranberry sauce maker – but somehow the sudden crispness of the winter air make these holiday purchase urgings more noticeable, applicable.
Call me a grinch, but I’m not the biggest holiday season fan. Why is it that so many adults still get that twinkle in their eye this time of year? Why do people rack up debt at an exponential rate during these months? Surely it can’t all be keeping up with the Jones’?
Maybe it’s something a bit more magical – fitting for this time of year. Perhaps it’s that child-like feeling of wonder?
Think I’m being a bit too idyllic? Believe me, I’m with you there. But, think about the best holiday commercials…
Don’t tell me this brilliant holiday BMW commercial doesn’t make you smile, or at least give you that warm tummy feeling that you are never sure is the mistletoe smell or too much eggnog. Christmas really is for the children.
Or think of the commercials that remind us its holiday season once again, that we expect to see, like Coke’s brilliant animated Antarctic series. Who wouldn’t want their commercial branding to be synonymous with the holiday season?
Or what about humorous spoofs about gift buying or hilarious re-writes of the classic caroling we may remember from our youth? The only thing we remember more than the fuzzy joys of holiday times are those crazed horror stories we all inevitably have. In all the chaos that is this time of year, accidents are bound to happen – and when commercials can make us remember those times and laugh? That’s emotional marketing gold.
DeBeers says it best with their last holiday commercial: “This Christmas, say everything without saying a word.” Is there a Santa Claus? Yes, Virginia; it’s a state of mind.
Now maybe you haven’t bought any of these products, but these commercials sure are memorable and that says a heck of a lot considering they are up against the over-commercialized holiday assault.
So evoke an emotion. Tis the season.
December 10, 2007 at 4:51 pm
Quite often the Christmas season invokes a feeling of dread, as in “Please! No Christmas music in October”!
December 10, 2007 at 6:33 pm
People raised on impulses will definitely feel the hit after Christmas this year. Thankfully, I have low impulse on buying. I’m like a Grinch almost!
December 10, 2007 at 9:37 pm
I love that screaming kid in the commercial. Really funny.
December 11, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Thanks for the comments!
@Mark: I know! When did the last quarter of the year get completely enveloped by celebrating one (or a few) days?
@David: I’m the same way! Didn’t want to seem too much of a Scrooge, so I thought I’d focus on the warmer side of the holiday spirit
@Steven: I seriously think that scream and look is the image of total bliss. Fantastic
December 12, 2007 at 3:59 am
for the first Christmas ever I can’t bring myself to buy any family memebr any trinket. I feel as though they have too much junk, but experiences momentarily are worth gold. So I’m just going to buy everyone tickets to the Sydney Opera House to watch a symphony or ballet, at least dinner overlooking the harbour. Christmas is about heightened experiences anyway, just like what kids feel as you put it.
December 13, 2007 at 4:39 am
So many people get so angry that Christmas has “become a commercialized holiday.” In my mind, the commercials are what made Xmas what it is today. It all started with Coca-Cola and their ads of Santa. They literally fashioned what we know Old Saint Nick as. The image belongs to Coca-Cola – we are just consumers of it.
Seasonal marketing has always been primed to assault the senses and overwhelm the emotions. I think that we want that to happen. Most of us are so busy, hustling and bustling that we have no time to do all of the activities we found the Leave it to Beaver family doing.
It’s intelligent that they pray on those emotions. And if they didn’t there is a chance that I might not get a yearly reminder that I should slow down a bit and smell the coffee.
December 13, 2007 at 10:12 am
Thanks for the comments!
@Krister: I’d like to think that the time of year is about the memories, and not the trinkets that will be long forgotten in a few short months…Just as a child’s favorite toy is the cardboard box, it’s the simple things we say and do that are most important.
@Jerad: I think you hit the nail on the head with this one. People forget that Santa’s red is a modern invention, as is the fact that he’s evidently nowadays a happy/jolly guy. Notice how the nice/naughty list doesn’t seem to apply as much anymore?