Translated from the original song by Andy Williams in 1963: It's the most wonderful time of the year. Christmas doesn't just flood our homes and our hearts; also our televisions and Christmas campaigns. This annual moment, in the eyes of a brand, is a commercially profitable and seasonal moment: a moment in which the citizen will consume to transmit love and union towards their loved ones.
In the mass media (or Above the Line) we keep finding the usual cologne spots for all the brands we already know. We can also find informative campaigns for supermarket discounts and some more aimed at festive times such as those for alcoholic drinks or chocolates.
But this 2023, from my point of view, the rise of a particular campaign strategy has been noticed in the prime-time of the mass media as well as in advertising formats of alternative media (or below the line), on top of being one of the oldest strategies and with a great potential to generate conversions at the physical point of sale and now also online: Storytelling.
What does Storytelling consist of?
This strategy consists of using stylistic resources to create a story around the brand. This story must convey feelings that relate the public to the brand in the same way a reader relates to characters or the plot of a book.
Is here where we find a boom in advertising campaigns of certain brands that seek to awaken the Christmas feelings of warmth and togetherness to generate a psychological relationship with the brand's values. Some names that may come to mind are: Suchard, Coca-Cola, Ikea, Loterias del Estado or Dirección General de Tráfico. I will take a closer look at these Christmas 2023 campaigns to give visibility to this strategy.
But should we be talking only about Christmas campaigns? For nothing, the storytelling strategy has been used for many years in many different ways. We have heard many socially important personalities recount their own experiences for their live audience. I'm not talking about influencers or politicians, I'm also talking about parents who warn their children about something by explaining to them what they felt at their age.
For me, the effectiveness of Storytelling inside and outside Christmas campaigns lies in the very human fact of sharing experiences. This, combined with a good management of audiovisual resources, means that brands are able to inspire us as a real person could do to whom we listen with attention and affection.
A good example not so "Christmasy", Casa Terradellas
It's no secret that this brand knows how to tell good stories and touch our nerves. His latest spots about his pizzas have left us with Storytelling productions in a slightly more comical key, as they deal with completely everyday situations (which are still relatively difficult) making the pizza act as a trigger for a warm and familiar denouement. I invite you to watch this brand spot and read its description.
In this case we observe how pizza allows a father to help his daughter who has broken up with her partner, in another how two young people with certain emotional tension can have a first contact, in another how a family divided by changing its hometown can move forward These comic stories relate the product to the love, affection and brotherhood that the father wants to give to his daughter in a break-up, for example.
This series of Casa Terradellas spots are not part of a Christmas campaign. The brand found a brilliant and comical way to convey positive feelings to its audiences and relate them to one of its flagship products. Long live Storytelling!
What do you think? Do you think Storytelling is still effective being so widely used? Do you have examples of this strategy in other brands than those mentioned? I look forward to seeing your feedback!
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