John Lewis Tugs Heartstrings This Christmas [VIDEO]

A few months ago, Chipotle released its innovative and beautiful “Scarecrow” video ad and game that rattled us enough to get those who care about sustainable food excited. This Saturday (November 10th, during The X Factor), John Lewis will do something similar.

John Lewis is an England-based partnership of retailers gathered into one department store. With more than 350,000 product lines available in store and over 250,000 lines available online, John Lewis sells everything from groceries to flowers to home furnishings to hardware to insurance. Every year, John Lewis releases a Christmas “advert,” as they call it in the UK, and John Lewis’ 2011 advert, “The Long Wait,” was amazingly-well received. Last year’s ad, “The Journey” was labeled the “greatest ad ever” by the Daily Mail and brought in something like £500 million in pre-Christmas sales last year! Craig Inglis, John Lewis’ Marketing Director, explained to The Telegraph that Christmas is about more than buying gifts; it’s about finding gifts that demonstrate just how much you love that special someone:

“We know that our customers put real effort and emotion into finding the perfect gift for their loved ones at Christmas. This year’s ad brings that to life, with a creative twist, as we follow our hero on an epic journey.”

With a tough reputation to live up to, what fresh perspective could John Lewis provide into Christmas gift-giving? How about an animal that has never seen a Christmas? This year, John Lewis takes you on a  two-minutes, ten-second journey to a Christmas in the world of woodland creatures. The Christmas tree is decorated, gifts are prepared, and, this year, “the hare” is excited that best friend, “the bear” will be there to see his first Christmas ever. But, as the weather begins to change, bear become sleepy. Heading home, he falls asleep and begins to hibernate. His compassionate best friend the hare, brings a gift anyway and places it at the entrance to his den, returning to the rest of the woodland Christmas. Then, just when you begin to feel the disappointment of spending a Christmas without your friend, the bear awakens, returning to the Christmas tree, and sees the wonder of Christmas, the sunrise, the illuminated Christmas tree and his best friend in all his furry Christmas glory. The camera flashes back to the den, revealing an alarm clock set by the hare to wake the bear. Bear finally gets to experience Christmas, like never before.

According to The Guardian, Craig Inglis, Marketing Director at John Lewis explained that this ad was intended to be different:

“We are trying to do things differently and always trying to raise the bar.”

And John Lewis sure did raise the bar with this £1 million ad created by some of the animators from Disney’s The Lion King. Certainly, John Lewis’ annual commercial release is worth the anticipation! It makes us feel the magic of giving a loved one an unforgettable Christmas. It makes us forget this was a commercial and welcomes us into the story, and in doing so, it reminds us that John Lewis understands how we feel, how we all really want to provide our loved ones with an unforgettable Christmas.

This is emerging media! It’s subtle; it’s clever; and it’s so dang effective at making us interested in the brand, wanting to get involved in this world they’ve just taken us to. The film released in social media channels on Friday, but the official “airing” will take place during This Saturday’s episode of The X Factor.

What do you think? Was this ad effective at building awareness for John Lewis as a place to buy Christmas gifts?

Pumpkin Spice Lattes: “A Hug in a Cup”

Why Seasonal Marketing Works

As I sat waiting for my flight yesterday morning in the Charlotte, North Carolina airport, some nearby flight attendants held a surprisingly audible conversation about their morning-time culinary preferences, and I could not help but indulge my ears with a listen. As one said to another, “All I need is a Pumpkin Spice Latte, and I’ll be alright… Pumpkin Spice Lattes are like a hug in a cup,” I immediately became astonished at Starbucks‘ ability to generate demand for and emotional attachment to a product that they sell for only a couple months out of the year. How did they do this? It’s called seasonal marketing, and it gets consumers every time. It’s something to keep in mind as a consumer and something to consider leveraging as a business owner/marketer. Here’s why:

First, what is seasonal marketing? Seasonal marketing is promoting products in conjunction with certain seasons or holidays. Have you ever purchased candy corn, a pumpkin, a candy cane, Peeps, an ornament, cranberry sauce or candy hearts, just because? Then you know seasonal marketing well. Seasonal marketing can mean restricting product sales to a specific season (think pumpkin spice lattes), or it can mean selling a product year-round but ramping up marketing efforts during a specific season (think Peeps).

Here are the four reasons seasonal marketing works:

1)    Seasonal marketing is based on needs anticipation. The most successful businesses work to anticipate their customers’ needs for time, convenience, risk reduction and fear reduction, according to Dr. Nick Sherwin. These companies ask themselves, “How can we make sure we provide exactly what our customers need when they need it, without inconveniencing them?” Seasonal marketing answers the question by putting a pumpkin spice latte in your face right about the time you realize its cold out, and you could use a hug. Though a pumpkin spice latte may not be a need, per say, its success is based on Starbucks’ ability to pinpoint the need for comfort, right about the time the seasons begin to change. Blogger Vivian Wagner explains it this way: “The best seasonal marketing … goes beyond sizzlin’ summer sales and Presidents’ Day specials. Rather, it needs to be in tune with the time-based interests and needs of customers and clients.”

2)    Seasonal marketing is based on tradition. Going deeper than needs, seasonal marketing capitalizes on consumers’ feelings and memories, associating a time of year with their specific product. The most effective seasonal marketers create traditions revolving around their brand. Think baseball season; think Ballpark Franks. Think Easter; think Honeybaked Ham. Think Thanksgiving; think Butterball turkeys. “Holidays are about connecting with people, sharing traditions, and building memories,” explained Shannon Byrne of Blueglass Interactive. Help people make a memory around your brand, and they’ll be, at minimum, annual users for life.

3)    Seasonal marketing is based on supply and demand. Companies that only sell products during specific seasons are, essentially, limiting supply throughout the year, causing demand to outweigh supply. Because of this restriction, when supply becomes available, people lurch at the opportunity. People do this naturally themselves, in order to keep things special. Consider how many of your friends set rules on when it is acceptable to begin decorating for Christmas or listening to Christmas music. Why do they limit special things? To avoid them becoming overused and banal. Want to keep your product fresh, consider releasing it only during a specific season, or pour all of your marketing dollars into making it a big deal during one key season of the year.

4)    Seasonal marketing is based on social media. This may surprise you, but the fame of the pumpkin spice latte has more to do with Facebook, Instagram and Twitter than it does with any of Starbucks’ ads. Because of the emotion, tradition and memory associated with a seasonal product, people talk about, share pictures of, and build tribute pages to these products. Because social media is involved, social word-of-mouth marketing travels quickly, mushrooming the brand’s reach to include friends-of-friends and beyond. Byrne explains, “It’s only natural that social media have become an integral part of the holiday season. Because seasonal content is, by definition, only of temporary interest, social media campaigns that can move quickly and capitalize on rising trends are ideal for promotion.”

Now that we’ve explored the four key reasons why seasonal marketing works, the question becomes – “How can my company benefit from seasonal marketing?” Got any ideas? Share below.