5 SMS Marketing Lessons from Our Favourite Christmas Ads

Every Christmas, there is one commercial advertising campaign that stands out above all others. Multinational brands such as Coca-Cola with its iconic truck and McDonald’s, who have perfectly captured the essence of  ‘Driving home for Christmas’ are amongst those who stand out from the crowd year after year. But what are the five of the most popular ever Christmas advertising campaigns, and what takeaways can we use to make our SMS Marketing more effective than ever? Our experts take a look.

1. Coca-Cola

Who is not familiar with that iconic truck and the accompanying jingle ‘Holidays are coming’? And then there is the familiar face of a jolly, merry Santa Claus. Rumour has it that Coca-Cola was even responsible for the modern day image of Father Christmas, although there is little evidence to substantiate this. Regardless, one thing Coca-Cola certainly can take credit for is not just making Christmas something that their brand celebrates – with Coca-Cola, the brand has become the very embodiment of Christmas itself.

You may not have the budget to compete at the same kind of level, but consider how you can adopt an SMS Marketing strategy that does something more than simply honour an unspoken obligation to ‘be Christmassy’ – instead, try to create a campaign in which your brand becomes a part of what Christmas is all about. How can you convince your customers that Christmas just wouldn’t be the same without you? It’s no easy task, but it will certainly pay dividends if you can pull it off.

2. John Lewis

John Lewis is a name that comes up on the favourites list again and again – often for different adverts. So what is the magical touch that consistently wins over the hearts of audiences old and young? One thing that they manage to use to great effect is the idea of playing with our perception – in 2011’s ‘The Long Wait’ campaign, for example, our hearts were won over by the depiction of a young boy and his excitement about giving a gift to his mum. The following year’s ‘The Journey’ campaign sees another great play on our perception of all things Christmas as we follow a snowman’s epic quest to win the heart of his female counterpart.

Can you put a fresh twist on your SMS Marketing campaign this Christmas by finding a new angle on your product or service? Can you work a story into your wider marketing strategy that can be played on through your SMS Marketing?

3. Sainsburys

Although considered by some to be controversial and in bad taste, it is hard not to consider the 2014 Christmas advert by Sainsbury’s as a top candidate on any list of favourite Christmas ads. To coincide with the centenary of World War One, they released the famous ‘Christmas is for Sharing’ campaign, telling the heart-warming tale of opposing soldiers on the front line during the famous Christmas Eve truce. Although audiences were divided, it was a much-loved advert that beat its biggest rival – John Lewis – to become the favourite of the year and also one of the most popular to date.

The key message in this campaign was that Christmas is a unique time of year that brings people together despite their differences. Think about how you could capture this sense of togetherness in your SMS Marketing Campaign. Does your product or service lend itself to sharing?

4. Marks & Spencer

Another all-time favourite Christmas advert is Marks & Spencer’s 2006 ‘Not Just Christmas Food’. The advert didn’t just feature the brand’s Christmas lines – it combined a sultry voice-over with mouth-watering images that made the idea of popping into your local store simply irresistible.

Whilst the limitations of an SMS message prevent you from achieving quite the same, it is nonetheless possible to recreate this effect with the careful use of language. Think about how you can use descriptive language to play on the imagination and help your customers visualize the experience of your product or service, as well as create evocative images of Christmas.

5. Yellow Pages

Although it might seem to be a stark contrast on a list that is decidedly weighted to retail, it would seem wrong to complete a list of top Christmas adverts without mentioning 1992’s brilliant ‘Mistletoe’ advert for the Yellow Pages, coming to the rescue in a wordless interaction between a boy and the somewhat taller girl stood below the mistletoe.

The brilliance of this advert lies in the ingenious use of the product to achieve an outcome far removed from its actual purpose – and capturing our hearts in the process. Could your product or service have a similarly unique functionality this Christmas that you’d never thought of?

Although it can be hard to capture the full impact of some of these festive favourites through SMS Marketing alone, there is certainly plenty of food for thought to help you start thinking outside of the box. And remember – SMS Marketing doesn’t have to be used on its own – it is a great solution to incorporate as part of your wider marketing strategy, giving you many more options to unleash your creativity.

To find out more about how SMS Marketing can help your business this Christmas or to get set up and ready to start your SMS Marketing campaign today, call our team of experts now on 0800 954 5305.