Christmas Adverts That Stay With Us
The festive period is upon us and we’re sure you would of seen plenty of Christmas adverts back on your screens. Whether it be the famous John Lewis advert or the M&S advert that shines through for you, everyone has a Christmas advert that stays with them.
We wanted to ask our team what their favourite Christmas advert was and why to prove that some of those enchanting ads can stay with you for a whole host of different reasons.
I’ll kick off. In my opinion nothing could top the sweet Man On The Moon advert for John Lewis a few years ago. The little girl in the advert spots an elderly man living alone on the moon through her telescope and makes it her mission to send him a present at Christmas. The advert sees us out with the touching words “Show someone they’re loved this Christmas” and I implore anyone to not feel a little something in their hearts as he smile
s with joy when receiving his present.
Next up, was Laura who picked the Sainsbury’s advert from 2014 as her favourite ever Christmas advert. This reflected on the famous story of the English and German troops putting down their weapons during Christmas and playing football together. The advert touchingly shows two young men Otto and Jim exchange a handshake both at the beginning and ending of their Christmas Day, depicting the sad truth that war brings. Laura said, “Christmas is a time of coming together and celebrating, regardless of our differences. There can be great humanity even in the darkest of times.” Agreed.
Marisa went for The Bear and The Hare, how could we forget Lily Allen’s rendition of Somewhere Only We Know for this one? Another John Lewis advert that moves us and reminds us of the power of friendship. This advert follows the journe
y of the Bear and the Hare who never get to spend Christmas together as the Bear hibernates, until the Hare cleverly thinks of a solution… I’ll be honest, from all the John Lewis adverts it was between this or the Man On The Moon for me – both brilliant contenders! Marisa said, “I love the music and how it narrates the story of their friendship, its very heart warming and who doesn’t love animals!”
Finally, Leigh chose an absolute classic which is the Coca Cola advert! I mean, what’s not to love? Everyone knows that when that appears on our screens, Christmas has officially begun and that’s all in the power of advertising. And on that note – holidays are coming, holidays are coming, holidays are coming…
The point is, isn’t incredible that years go by and these brands continue to recreate adverts annually but only some of them really stay with us? This shows the power of TV advertising completely and how brands and businesses have the ability to create something that audiences will discuss for years to come.
What will be the Christmas next advert that will stay with us? I look forward to investigating it!
Which Social Media Platform Is For You?
Social Media has come a long way from just being somewhere to post your holiday pictures. Social Media is an asset to making sure you can grow your business whether this is being able to build brand awareness or able to connect with prospects and clients. But it all starts with the correct platform to make sure you’re connecting with right people, in the right way.
Instagram
This platform is all about visual content. It’s true what they say, a picture paints a thousand words and if you can bring your brand story to life through a photo or video - then Instagram is the perfect tool for you.
Instagram offers a range of features that can also help you to grow your business - from audience insights to a range of resources to build content with. You can create Instagram stories, live videos, upload longer video content to IGTV and even do some fun, quick reels. It’s not all about posting photos any more.
This platform certainly feels like the place to be if you’re looking to be more creative or create a brand that you can have a little fun with. 81% of people that use Instagram find out about new products and services from this platform, so if you have a product to sell and you’re not logging into IG - why not?
This platform is famous for its B2B marketing, allowing people to network and connect with jobs or businesses. Many people see LinkedIn as a place to find themselves a job or recruit, logging in purposefully only for this. But in recent years, it’s popularity in using it as a personal portfolio for yourself or when creating a ‘formal’ persona has meant it’s an absolute must as an extension of your business. Your business accounts across Social Media might lack ‘personality’ so having a LinkedIn account to share thoughts and highlights is a great way to get yourself and your brand recognised.
This is the highly conversational platform which enables its users to build a personal brand and direct engagement to it’s audiences.
The great thing about Twitter is, if done correctly, then organic reach of your posts can really go far and wide. The more authentic and relevant your content is - the better your organic reach will be. Twitter is about staying topical and ahead of the curve, especially in a world where many users will source their news from this platform. In fact, 82% of B2B content marketers used Twitter for organic content marketing.
Twitter is great for getting your brand voice heard, in a less formal way than LinkedIn.
Even though it can sometimes seem tricky to know which platforms you need to begin with - the most important thing to consider is what is authentic to YOUR business and brand. Once you know what you want to achieve from putting your brand out on social media, the next step is making sure it’s actually you and your brand voice.
We at CME are proud to be able to help when it comes to social media, whether it be advice on what platforms to use, a Social Media management plan or creating you the perfect content to sit across these platforms. Not started with Social Media yet? Or you’re tried and tested but need a refresh? We can help. Speak to us today at hello@cmemedia.com
Podcast: Our Lockdown Pal
We don't know about you, but we have become very attached to our favourite podcasts. In fact, we've become so accustomed to the sound of our podcast host voices that it's almost like they're our lifelong friends.
Last year, in March, we were locked into our homes and for lots of us - we quickly began to devour every box set, film, book or podcast that could help tick that time away.
If you were to simply type into Google, "when did Podcasts become popular?", articles will show that actually audio-blogging has been around since we could capture our voices onto transmittable audio. But with the enhancement of technology, such as the iPod in the early 2000s, this is where podcasting really began to shape itself as a popular media form for almost anyone to enjoy. Fast forward to 2021, now around 7.1 million people in the UK now listen to podcasts every week according to Ofcom research.
With numbers such as these, it is hardly surprising that audiences have aligned a great deal of their day to listening to their favourite podcasts and in doing so, listening has become massively important to them. In a study by Audience One, they found that 65% of listeners feel like they're listening in on a conversation with friends with a whopping 34% of these listeners using podcasts to uplift their moods.
It's for that reason, that we at CMe have become passionate on putting our clients on the Podcast map. With podcasting being so pronounced in the day to day life of so many, we know how important it is to be able to utilise this space commercially. By having ads placed strategically within the content of the nation's favourite podcasts - it is clear how impactful this could be for businesses.
And there are a number of ways in which this can be done and we can create a bespoke campaign to fit your brand marketing strategy however you see fit.
But what are the different types of ways?
Spot Advertising is where we are able to target different 'verticals' (think categories!) based on podcast content, which could be anything from comedy to politics to family friendly listens. Spot Advertising allows you to target based on demographics such as age, gender and even social demographics or interests based on data collection.
Host Read Advertising is one of our favourites. It does what it says on the tin and means we can get audience engagement by having the podcast host actually talk about your product/brand/business. This can be totally bespoke, engaging and fine tuned to which podcast this sits across.
Sponsorship Advertising is when we are able to generate brand awareness by creating a constant familiarity across a set of different podcast 'verticals'. An ad is created and played across a whole host of different podcasts from comedy, sports, politics and more to get a wide audience coverage.
Every campaign can be built bespoke for our clients and we are lucky to work with the biggest digital audio streaming services to give them the very best podcasting campaigns.
But anyway, enough from us. We've got some of our favourite podcasts to catch up on and judging by the numbers, you probably do too.