Want to find out when is the ideal time to launch your Christmas campaign? Read the article to get all the necessary information and even more. You will discover top ideas for Christmas marketing and find the best way to make a profit at the end of the year.
Christmas is the season of gingerbread houses, presents and holiday decorations which wouldn’t be complete without ads and eye-catching holiday deal banners. What does it mean for business owners? It is time to launch a Christmas marketing campaign and boost sales.
When Start Christmas Marketing
10 Best Christmas Marketing Campaigns
Top Tips for Christmas Marketing Campaigns
When Start Christmas Marketing
Christmas is the busiest time for all business owners and marketers not only because they have to get presents for their family members. They need to think over gift guides, Christmas decorations, discounts and dreams about a boost in sales. But what is the best time to start Christmas marketing? Most of the business owners struggle to find an answer to this question every year.
If you start too early, it can negatively affect your sales and turn some customers off. But beginning too late, you may lose a lot of potential shoppers to your competitors. The best idea here is to find a perfect balance. Trying to simplify your holidays, we’ve analyzed the best Christmas marketing campaigns over the past years and are ready to provide you with the answer.
Many brands prefer to launch a Christmas campaign by the end of November – shortly after Thanksgiving day. Why? The Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals are over and nothing distracts your customers from looking for Christmas presents. Another important factor is that Thanksgiving is the last holiday before Christmas which makes it a great opportunity to discover the pros and cons of your marketing strategy. You can check the company’s sales and profit, the discount efficiency for specific products and services and overall customer satisfaction.
With the results of your previous holiday marketing campaign, it will be easier to prepare for Christmas. On top of that, when December comes, people get in Christmas mood, thinking about presents for their relatives and friends as well as make plans for Christmas Eve. So, right after Thanksgiving comes to an end, your main task is to invest time and money into preparing for the upcoming Christmas. But here comes another issue – how to design a perfect marketing strategy?
10 Best Christmas Marketing Campaigns
When it comes to winter holidays, all merchants are excited about marketing ideas for Christmas. Every year, they bring into reality numerous fascinating ideas of their marketers. Some of them are funny, others are eccentric, but what’s most important is that they all create this Christmas magic loved by all customers.
Wondering how to attract more customers during Christmas? We have made a list of 10 top Christmas marketing campaigns to inspire you and show how top brands take advantage of the holiday sales boom.
Coca Cola Christmas Marketing Campaign
Everyone knows the iconic marketing campaign of Coca-Cola – “Holidays Are Coming” – with their Christmas trucks and bells. The ad used to be extremely popular some years ago but then Cola marketers decided to shift the strategy in favor of other ideas. But you know what? This year the company has decided to get back to the traditional approach and launch one of the largest media campaigns to date.
The company uses the same music and visual effects as in good-old “Holidays Are Coming” TV ad, famous holiday trucks and Santa Claus but they also add some new scenes. On the territory of the UK, a real Christmas truck visits different locations offering samples and donating to charity for every can. Cola has also decided to produce a limited-edition cinnamon drink for the coming year. What about social networks? Cola collaborates with Snapchat using their lens to attract online users and a navigation app Waze. Using Waze, you will encounter Santa, who helps people to find the nearest place to buy Coca-Cola products.
Pepsi Christmas Marketing Campaign
Well, as the main competitor of Coca-Cola, Pepsi has decided to impress its customers and create something stylish. The company goes away from traditions upping a challenge to Cola’s holiday marketing campaign. How? The company has decided to choose a popular rap star Cardi B over Santa Claus. Pepsi ad shows Cardi’s Twerk Shop, where the star teaches an elf to twerk while a jingle plays and encourages viewers to give money instead of traditional gifts.
The main idea of this marketing campaign is to make Christmas holidays more modern and target younger people like Generation Z. Pepsi calls it “digital scratch-off game” printing QR codes on cans of soda. If buyers reveal three brand globes, they can win from $5 up to $25,000. But there is one catch – the money should be gifted to a friend or charity.
Spotify Christmas Marketing Campaign
Spotify – a digital music and video streaming service – has already got millions of users. But during these winter holidays, they decided to reach even more. Spotify has a Christmas tradition – Spotify Wrapped. What is it? Wrapped is a great marketing tactic that prompts new people to join Spotify community.
At the beginning of December, the company offers an opportunity to relieve music that you’ve been listening during the year as well as creates a top of songs, including genres and artists that you might like next year. Users also create their Christmas playlists and share them with friends and other people in their social networks. It creates a huge ad for the company at the end of the year.
Starbucks Christmas Marketing Campaign
Starbucks is a global coffee icon which some people love and some don’t – barely anyone is indifferent. The company is popular among the younger generations who spend time on social networks and coffee shops. Trying to impress its customers and make them happier during holidays as well as boost sales, the company creates a seasonal offer and widely promotes it on Instagram and through other social networks. So, the company has decided to bring back its Christmas red cups.
Starbucks offers free limited-edition reusable red cups to all customers who order a holiday beverage. What is a holiday beverage? It is a drink available to order for a short period of time. Promoting seasonal beverage with a free eco-friendly holiday cup in social networks, the company cause a buzz around and creates a feeling of urgency – a perfect marketing strategy to encourage impulse buying. Moreover, Starbucks creates funny questioning posts on Instagram to attract the interest of its followers.
Walmart Christmas Marketing Campaign
Walmart is an American retail company with a chain of discount department stores and hypermarkets in Canada, the UK, Japan, China and other countries. The company also has an online store providing its clients to shop as fast and convenient as possible. Being one of the world’s largest companies by revenue, Walmart invests lots of money in its Christmas marketing and as a result, makes a huge profit.
Walmart surprises its customers with early deals, top gifts, create new shopping services and offer discounts and funny activities in the stores before Christmas Eve. This year, Walmart has found a great way to attract lots of customers and their children. Each Saturday in December you can visit Walmart from 12 to 4 pm and meet Santa Clause. Take photos with Santa and share all your wishes with him as well as post your experience on social networks – great idea, Walmart.
Mark your calendar! 📆 Santa’s on his way to your local store. Join us on Saturday from 12-4 pm local time and get a selfie with Santa. 🎅 pic.twitter.com/WiKj9PrtFK
— Walmart (@Walmart) December 5, 2019
Target Christmas Marketing Campaign
Target is one of the largest retail companies in the United States as well as one of the main competitors of mentioned above Walmart. Company has lots of brick and mortar shops and maintains an online store. Target strives to please its customers during holidays and win the fight for their attention.
There are plenty of interesting gifts, discounts and Christmas activities in Target. The company offers deals throughout December, including 50% discounts on toys and video games. A great choice for a gift, right? Trying to attract more visitors and boost sales, the company also holds a free holiday event – Target Wonderland. If you live in NYC, visit the store from 13 to 22 of December for festive fun, take photos and enjoy sweet gifts.
Make this season the merriest yet at our FREE holiday event, #TargetWonderland! Join us in NYC Dec.13–22 for festive fun, photo ops & sweet treats. https://t.co/E6riLh9rGp pic.twitter.com/RtW0nI0Bsg
— Target (@Target) December 10, 2019
McDonald’s Christmas Marketing Campaign
McDonald’s is still huge among fast-food fans. The company has a massive chain of restaurants and cafes worldwide. With its revenue, they have an opportunity to create a special order for the customers during Christmas and benefit from it. How has McDonald’s decided to surprise its customers this year?
Well, the company launched a creative TV ad campaign with Archie the Reindeer. It is a cute video about a reindeer that was brought alive in a girl’s imagination. The company, trying to attract attention and promote its seasonal menu, also created Christmas cups with the image of the deer. McDonald’s offers Millionaire’s Lattes and other Christmas drinks in cups in various colors, including red, blue, purple and others. The company also created a merch Archie the Reindeer. So, you can buy t-shirts, gifts, winter stuff and other interesting products from the official McDonalds store.
Santa Tracker by Google – Christmas Marketing Campaign
Google is not for nothing called one of the leading tech companies globally. Its marketers and developers always implement interesting ideas to amaze Google users. You might have seen their interactive 404 page with a dinosaur or played Atari Breakout or Packman in the browser. But during the Christmas holidays, Google users always enjoy Santa Tracker. What is it?
Santa Tracker is an annual entertainment program launched in 2004. It allows the users to track Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. Google developers add more new features like plays, videos, Christmas tutorials and other activities daily from the beginning of December. You might be asking how it helps the company in Christmas marketing? Google promotes the site on its social networks and adds various questionings under Santa Tracker posts to raise up the interest. There you can take part in a race and pick the deer that will win.
H&M Christmas Marketing Campaign
H&M is a fast-fashion brand of clothes that operates in over 60 countries and sells online in 30 of them. The company decided to do something new during this Christmas and reach a wider market. How?
You’ve already seen the Cola’s ad this year. H&M has decided to collaborate with them and promote some interesting Christmas stuff for both Cola and H&M fans. The campaign is called “Adding extra flavor” which you can easily find in the company’s webstore. There you can buy hoodies, joggers, sweatshirts, hats, t-shirts and more with Coca Cola prints. Great way to boost sales of both brands during Christmas!
Add extra flavor to your street style this season! Enjoy some Coca Cola! https://t.co/nlWhGY32Lx 🎅 #HMMan pic.twitter.com/n8Be9lbmI4
— H&M USA (@hmusa) December 18, 2019
Best Buy Christmas Marketing Campaign
Best Buy is an online retail store with an emphasis on electronic products. Trying to encourage customers to buy gifts in Best Buy, the company decided to create an interesting ad video showing the beautiful side of Christmas shopping.
The video tells a forward-looking story to improve the appeal of the mass market during the holiday season. The story begins when children who open Christmas gifts and rewinds until it reaches the moment when a father buys products and talks to Best Buy store employees. The company also offers 12 days of deals Christmas campaign with new deals every day and promotes its Christmas sales in social networks.
Get your holiday shopping all wrapped up with the biggest deals of the season. https://t.co/BDeRtSPX07 pic.twitter.com/aJUWp1Ut4G
— Best Buy (@BestBuy) December 9, 2019
While there are lots of holiday marketing campaigns that can inspire you, the main question is which one is the best for your business this Christmas?
Top Tips for Christmas Marketing Campaigns
Choosing the right holiday promotion for your business, especially the small-scale one, you might be wondering how to design an interesting offer and attract lots of customers. So, we prepared the top tips to help you kick off your holiday marketing campaign and stand out among the competitors.
#1. Provide Gift Guides. What for? Many people quite often don’t know how to choose gifts for their friends and relatives. We recommend providing gift kits like the best gifts for children, girlfriend, parents and more. Helping people to decide what to give, you will make their life during holidays a bit easier and sell your products at the same time – it is a win-win.
#2. Use Email Marketing for Christmas. Sending out emails with your Christmas deals to your customers is a must. You need to do it before your competitors to outrun them and win the customers first. Check out the emails that you’ve got last year yourself and try to remember which ones drew your attention. Don’t forget to create a sense of urgency – knowing the time when the deal is over, people won’t miss to visit your website and buy something.
#3. Use Videos like Cola or McDonalds. A good video ad can attract more customers than the most appealing picture, especially when your campaign helps to generate the right Christmas mood.
#4. Start a social media campaign. What do people like most about shopping? Free products! Launch a contest for the best Christmas decorations or holiday costumes for pets, create a list of presents for the winner and post information about it in social networks.
#5. Get creative with Christmas slogans and send out personal postcards to your customers to win their loyalty.
#6. Cooperate with other companies like H&M and Cola. We have analysed lots of campaigns – cooperation with the right brand will help both attract new customers and make a profit during the Christmas season.
#7. Place impulse buys around the store if you have brick and mortar. We recommend planning the locations of your products throughout the store and use ad banners of discounts or sweets to call the attention of customers during shopping.
#8. Holiday web design for ecommerce & holiday decorations for brick and mortar. What is the best way to keep customers and inspire to come back? Christmas design. Improve your online platform and brick and mortar to create a great holiday atmosphere for your visitors and customers. And don’t forget to go greener! We assure that offering the option of green Christmas packaging you will easily attract environmentally concerned people.
Conclusion
Here you go! The best Christmas marketing ideas and our useful tips to boost your online and brick and mortar sales for this winter. We tried to share all our knowledge to improve your marketing and hope that we delivered lots of new information to empower your campaign.
What is your marketing strategy this holidays? Share it in the comments and read our blog to know more.
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