A John Lewis Christmas

Christmas ad season has well and truly arrived and thanks to the increasing use of on demand TV, you tend to find that LIVE 'shared viewing experiences' like the X Factor become the sole focus for such spots. This year it feels increasingly like all of the ads are merging into one.

They're all doing a great job for Christmas and for that festive feeling, but are they doing anything for the brands?

It seems that every retailer has decided that after years of unrivalled success, they too, need to produce a John Lewis ad or an M&S one.

The likes of Matalan, TK Maxx and Debenhams have all produced ads that feel incredibly similar in tone and content (though not quite as good), and it begs the question of whether the spots will benefit the brand in question anymore than it will benefit John Lewis for being misattributed.

Here's John Lewis & friends...

Here's what could be an M&S ad...

And finally there's the uncanny similarity of Morrison's and Asda. It's no surprise that this is all about their primary customer, mum, but the angle is almost identical. I'm not sure what i'm supposed to think of the Morrison's brand at the moment and it shows in this ad which is a major departure from the fresh food and provenance themes of 2012. The pay off at the end doesn't really do enough to rescue what is quite a depressing ad - so much so that rather than cast mum as the heroine, they find themselves being investigated by the ASA for reinforcing gender stereotypes. Compare that to the upbeat take on 'Mum's Christmas' by Asda and there's only one winner.

Christmas at Waitrose. Or is it Virgin Mobile?

Retailer's Christmas decorations seem to go up earlier and earlier each year - this time it looks like Virgin Mobile and Waitrose have inadvertently clubbed together to promote a 'knitwear' theme....

Waitrose have made a better job of their look & feel. It works well across the store creating impact at the checkouts, pulling out specific seasonal products and creating a 'pared back' feel through the tree decoration at the entrance.

 

It has an authenticity about it that you'd expect from Waitrose and it reflects their primary advertising message about giving more to local good causes this year rather than spending it on a 'fancy TV advert' as Heston insists on telling us every single evening. All very apt for these recessionary times.

December queues

As if the High Street wasn’t struggling enough, December brings with it a paradox for stores looking to capitalise on the busiest shopping month of the year. Stores hope to benefit from an influx of shoppers; meanwhile shoppers undergo a harrowing afternoon wrestling for presents in hot, overcrowded stores and then queue for what seems like hours to pay for things. Not really the best advert for the High Street shopping experience – why would a shopper come back? 

Queuing for three times as long isn’t going to endear me to any retailer – a walk past Neal’s Yard yesterday morning illustrated the point – a queue of 20 people at 11am waiting to buy their Christmas cheese, people were even queuing for Christmas booze outside Gerry’s on Old Compton Street!

Almost queuing out of the door at Gerry's

So given that retailers have embraced technology to take the sales transaction online, why not use technology to aid the in store experience as well?

I’d like a queue app. Let me know how long the queues are through the day, so I can time it right and when I’m in store let me know which checkout has the shortest queue. If Gatwick Airport can manage it (eventually), surely the big retailers can. They could even go one step further and use extra shop assistants to take transactions on foot for those waiting in the queue with smaller basket items – a small change that could make the purchase process a lot more efficient, and the whole experience a bit more pleasurable, that way I may be encouraged back again, rather than spending even more money on Amazon next year.

Christmas coffee cup effect

On the face of it, it seems like a win win for Costa. If Starbucks benefit from Christmas sales hike by changing the colour of their cup, then why don’t we do the same thing?

To mark the Holiday season, Starbucks cups change from white to a festive red colour. It’s long been muted that the colour change provides a sales hike. In reality, it’s the festive season itself that does that. More social shopping taking place, gifting purchases, colder weather, seeing more of friends and family all contribute to a significant sales spike. In fact Starbucks generates almost 25% of its yearly sales during the six-week long Holiday shopping season with many Starbucks stores doubling their average weekly sales during these six weeks.

After 4 years of ‘conditioning’ in the UK, the red cup now acts as a trigger for that ‘Christmas spirit’ feeling, allowing Starbucks to extend this lucrative period into early November while also continuing to strengthen consumer affinity with the brand year on year.

Which brings us back to Costa – a limited edition Christmas cup could no doubt have a similar effect on their November trading, but unfortunately the execution just doesn’t feel premium enough. Rather than a warm fuzzy Christmas feeling, you’re left holding a cup that looks like a NASA canteen reject from the late 60s.