Connecting with your Customers – The Power of the Christmas Advert

For many Christmas presents the ideal time to connect and engage with your customers. However, in a B2B market, you can find that most businesses will start to wind down and possibly move projects to the new year.

Christmas presents the biggest advertising opportunities of the year, with big names spending millions on producing entertaining Christmas adverts.

Every year retailers are pitted against each other as companies try to outdo each other with transformational and inspirational ad’s, signalling the start of the Christmas season.

So why do they do it?

Christmas adverts have become such a big part of Christmas, with adverts becoming short films in a way, designed to advertise the company itself more than a set group of products.

Monetary returns – are there any?

John Lewis’ 2014 Christmas advert– ‘Monty the penguin’ cost the retailer £6.9 million, contributing towards a 4.8% rise in like for like sales in 2014 over the Christmas period.

Whereas both Tesco and M&S reported a drop in sales from last year’s festive period, despite spending far more than John Lewis throughout November and December.

Getting us to talk about them

If it’s not always about the revenue increase, why do so many companies entrust their time and money in marketing specialists?

The main driving force behind the best Christmas adverts is the ability to illicit an emotional response with a company’s target market.

Creating this connection with the customer engenders trust and helps to dictate customer behaviour at one of the most lucrative times of the year.

These adverts also have the power to help differentiate a company from rivals, with the more inventive adverts destined to perform better and attract more attention.

This in turn encourages us to talk more about the adverts, the message and the company, both verbally and on social media.

Adverts these days rarely even feature a product, some just focus on a particular message that the company wishes to be associated with, instilling a metaphorical connection in our minds (and hearts).

That being said, this year’s John Lewis advert ‘Man on the Moon’, with the catch phrase “show someone their loved this Christmas” featured one product; a telescope, which sold out within five hours of the advert going live!

But I’m a Small Business!

Of course, small businesses will not have the resources or manpower to carry out campaigns of this magnitude.

However, there are lots of things that SMEs can do in order to create a similar connection with their target consumers.

By implementing an international standard, and achieving certification by a qualified third party you are sending a message to customers that they can trust that you will keep your promises.

Whatever your business, there is a standard suited to you, allowing you to connect with customers with a validation they can understand.

This can also help you to differentiate yourself from your competitors, through your processes, staff and your customer commitments.

Look out for the remaining days in our ’12 days of Christmas Adverts’ will your favourite be included? Get involved and let us know your favourite on Twitter and LinkedIn!

ISO Quality Services Ltd are proud to specialise in the implementation and certification of the Internationally recognised ISO and BS EN Management Standards.

Primarily working with clients throughout the whole of the UK and Ireland, ISO Quality Services Ltd also cover Europe and the UAE.