Christmas event marketing: How can major brands take advantage of this opportunity to grab super traffic?

The afterglow of “Double Twelve” has not yet faded, and Christmas is coming with the festive bells. Festivals bring their own super traffic and are the focus of annual marketing planning. Therefore, major brands will naturally not miss this golden opportunity and hold a series of social carnivals for Christmas to increase their presence for Christmas.

Then, I will analyze the Christmas cases in recent years to see what kind of Christmas marketing can really fit the users and impress them. Christmas is coming, marketers/operators may wish to take a look~

1. Emotional Offensive

Most of the festivals that have been passed down to this day have a deep cultural or emotional core. It is easier to touch people's emotions, allowing users to find a sense of group identity and belonging, thereby narrowing the distance between content and users and creating a sense of trust. Therefore, festival-related content has a natural emotional advantage and is more likely to resonate with the audience. Utilizing emotional resonance is one of the most effective marketing methods.

This method usually revolves around topics such as self, memories, dreams, love, and family , and its main purpose is to get into the user's heart.

Case: John Lewis - Man on The Moon

It seems to be a common practice for foreign brands to launch festive advertisements during Christmas, whether they are tear-jerking or cheerful and funny, they can all warm your heart.

John Lewis, the British department store known as the best at making commercials, released its much-anticipated Christmas short film, "Man On The Moon", on YouTube in 2015. The film follows its previous warm style and expresses the most simple true feelings in the simplest way: "Let everyone feel loved at Christmas", with a touch of warmth that touches the heart. At the same time, it also teaches children to learn to give while receiving.

2. Visual Feast

At least 80% of human perception of the outside world is obtained through vision, which is the most profound of the five senses of human beings. Especially in the highly market-oriented "eyeball era", major brands are taking the initiative in visual marketing.

This type of marketing is actually a silent advertisement for the brand, which can maximize the visual nerves of consumers and achieve the purpose of guiding consumers to buy. Just like Jimmypo said, "If you let the customer's eyes stay in the store window for 5 more seconds, you will have twice as many chances of closing a deal as your competitors."

Case 1: Window decoration-Tiffany & Co.

During Christmas, all major physical stores will come up with various tricks to create a festive atmosphere. They design window displays into miniature art exhibitions, which become a beautiful landscape on the street. Even if you are in a hurry and have no intention of shopping, you can't help but stop and look.

Tiffany’s Christmas window displays are also a major attraction every year. Tiffany & Co. was the first to place jewelry in a storytelling window display. These storytelling windows perfectly present Tiffany's outstanding works, and Tiffany's unique "Tiffany blue" increases visual experience and stimulates color memory.

It not only attracts people to stop and take a look at the magnificent scene, but also shows people the brand's sincere tribute to the exquisite craftsmanship handed down from generation to generation.

Left: 2015; Right: 2016

Case 2: Product packaging-Starbucks themed Christmas cup

Whenever Christmas comes, Starbucks will create Christmas themes on paper cups, which has become an event that many fans look forward to. Last year, Starbucks focused on the theme of "give good" and launched two fun cups - a white colored Christmas special edition paper cup and a red "heart" Christmas paper cup.

Compared with Starbucks' previous Christmas cups in the Red Series, the 2017 Starbucks Christmas paper cups adopted a blank design for the first time. Through the blank form, the communication path was realized from guiding user creation to spontaneous sharing.

Consumers can write greetings or create simple Christmas drawings on them, which puts an end to the previous one-way Christmas promotion method, turns Christmas into a festival of collective carnival for brands and consumers, and opens up a social marketing method of two-way interaction with consumers.

Case 3: Graphic design - various posters

Taking advantage of Christmas marketing, major brands will use some prominent Christmas elements, such as Christmas trees, Santa Claus, elk, bells, and the iconic red and green color schemes, and combine them with their own products to make Christmas posters. The symbolization of Christmas elements is the main starting point for creative marketing of major brands. Let's take a look at several sets of creative Christmas posters to inspire your creative inspiration~

Using Durex's unique copywriting and illustrations, we created a bold and meaningful poster:

The turning diameters of bus, SUV, sedan and smart are outlined on the snow, and the formation process of a Christmas tree is cleverly used to make everyone remember the compactness and convenience of smart.

This long poster of Ele.me shows a humorous image of Santa Claus delivering food in winter, highlighting Ele.me's on-time delivery.

3. Brainwashing Song

Marketing campaigns can extend infinitely along the visual path, but creative dilemmas may also arise. At this time, is it possible to deconstruct creativity from a different perspective?

Sound is an effective way. As one of the five senses marketing, sound is also another symbol of the brand. It can awaken users' attention to the brand through hearing.

For example, there is a brainwash song called "Steamed Cake Bun" at Christmas, and its popularity cannot be underestimated. As the saying goes, the first impression wins, so many brands are also working on voice and music.

Case 1: Tmall-Shopping Edition of "Jingle Bells"

Every Christmas, the Christmas song "Jingle bells" can be heard in the streets and alleys:

“Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way…”

"Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way!"

Last Christmas, Tmall launched a "bottle and can knocking version" of "Jingle Bells", the melody of which came from cosmetic boxes (bottles) of major brands. When a set of "special" instruments meets a creative band, a song you have never heard of before, "Jingle Bells", is born... After listening to such magical music, you really can't help but want to buy it!

Case 2: JD.com - "JD.com BUY"

JD.com’s ghost song “Jingle Bells BUY” is also adapted from “Jingle Bells”. It is as easy to sing as the original song, and its catchy lyrics and cheerful and lively tune make people smile. Some netizens even spontaneously edited it into a variety of magical versions. The interesting UGC helped fuel the viral spread of the song.

https://v.qq.com/x/page/v0177e2qts8.html

4. Breaking through the Dimensional Wall

Since the beginning of the 21st century, two-dimensional culture has flourished in Japan and gradually spread to the world, gradually changing from a niche non-mainstream culture to a mainstream culture accepted by the general public. The term "second dimension" is now mentioned more and more frequently.

From the spread of the two-dimensional population to the rapid development of the entire two-dimensional cultural industry. Brand owners are aware of the huge energy and commercial value of ACG culture among young people. In order to cater to this group of people, two-dimensional marketing is also slowly infiltrating brand marketing activities.

Case: NetEase Comics x KFC - Deer Girl Spends Christmas with You

NetEase Animation teamed up with KFC to create a unique Christmas theme party for ACG fans. With the IP virtual idol "Lu Niang" as the core, the in-depth integration of online and offline created a two-dimensional marketing line that broke through the dimensional wall.

Online, there are special episodes of the Deer Girl comics customized for KFC, popular Chinese comics fan posters, H5 invitation letters, and topics on Weibo and NetEase Comics.

(Comic extra chapter)

(Popular Chinese comics poster)

(H5 invitation letter)

Offline, there is a KFC Deer Girl theme store layout, free NetEase Comics VIP card when buying fried chicken, party activities to the climax, two-dimensional coser couples eating fried chicken for free, and three-dimensional customer interaction.

(Party Event)

Judging from the data: the total online exposure of this event exceeded 50 million, the reading volume of related Weibo topics was nearly 8 million times, the reading volume of related WeChat was more than 200,000 times, the clicks on the comic extra chapter reached 150,000 times, and the number of people participating in the offline event was over a thousand. It directly increased the daily turnover of KFC’s cooperating stores by 25% , setting a new record. At the same time, the daily activity of NetEase Comics app increased significantly.

This shows the huge potential of the two-dimensional market. Ogilvy's Zhao Yuanyuan also predicted that the future marketing trend will be the two-dimensional market.

5. Immersive Experience

If a brand wants to be deeply rooted in people’s hearts, it cannot be limited to the product itself. We must use a more complete customer experience to promote a retail revolution. Whether it is the unexpected packaging or the freshness brought by technology, it closely connects the senses and emotions, constantly creates surprises for people, increases brand memory in a happy mood, and can leave a vivid and bright color in the memory.

The Event Marketing Institute, a global experiential marketing research organization, predicts that the global experiential marketing budget for 2017 will increase by 11% over 2016, the first double-digit growth since the global financial crisis in 2008. In the future, the prospects for experiential marketing will be even brighter.

Case: Coca-Cola-Christmas Truck

In 2017, Coca-Cola launched the Christmas truck as per its previous tradition. In the UK, Coca-Cola trucks traveled to 45 cities to deliver free Coke to citizens and launched the topic "Holidays are coming" on social media. Coca-Cola trucks were equipped with fun photo walls so that fans could take photos and share them on social media.

In addition, the Coca-Cola Christmas Truck also co-planned the Christmas Truck stay project with the British hotel booking website laterooms. Users share Christmas stories by registering online and sharing Christmas stories through UGC, which stimulates users' enthusiasm for participation and allows users to experience the joy and festive happiness brought by Christmas rituals from their own perspective. This also matches the "happiness" positioning that Coca-Cola, which claims to be a "happiness seller", has consistently conveyed.

However, Coca-Cola's Christmas truck has caused controversy since last year. Democratic MPs banned it from entering Liverpool, fearing that it would stimulate sales of sugary drinks and cause problems such as "the spread of obesity."

6. Make use of new technologies

The rapid development of various new technologies in recent years has also opened up a large new field for brands to develop new Christmas methods, and a large number of AR technologies have also been used in Christmas marketing.

Case 1: CapitaLand MALL-Exclusive "Christmas Elf"

CapitaLand MALL has customized 12 Christmas elves exclusively, combined with AR interactive experience, and set up "AR Christmas elves" in CapitaLand shopping malls around the country, just waiting for you to pick up your phone to capture it. You can take photos with the elves or take selfies at will, and you can get unexpected surprises after taking photos!

Case 2: McDonald's - AR tray paper

At Christmas in 2016, McDonald's made some changes to the placemats. A Christmas advent calendar was printed on the placemat of each food tray. Users needed to download the corresponding AR application, scan the placemat, and they would see a door like a calendar open. Hidden inside the door are games, avatars, filters, and a $10 Amazon gift certificate.

VII. Conclusion

In this fast-paced era, hot spots are undoubtedly the most effective and fastest way to attract traffic. So, what are you waiting for? Why not take advantage of this opportunity and use the festive atmosphere to increase popularity for your brand? After all, if you successfully leverage holiday marketing, 1+1 can be greater than 2!

Finally, I wish you all a Merry Christmas in advance!

Source: Activity Box Operation Society