Top 5 Tips for a Christmas TV Commercial!

1. Good Music

The first thing an ad needs, especially a Christmas ad, is the right sound.  Everyone usually dreads the broken record Jingles from about mid October right up to the big day, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still find a way to use them to get audience’s attention, and to sound nice enough for audiences to want to listen to again (and again).

Coke delivers ground breaking ads all year round, but what they’ve done with music made a passing train and a slo-mo running Santa, sound like a Bob Geldof sponsored movie climax!  A similar reaction was achieved in a completely different style, with Comedian Maria Bamford cracking us up with a silly but delicious version of ‘Carol of the Bells’.  The trick was finding the balance with using a well loved carol in a new and exciting way to go viral, but not so great it was going likely to feature on next years’ Christmas Mixed CD.  Both ads in their different styles featured sound quite heavily, which sent lovely inspiration vibes into millions of living rooms.

2. Pulling the Heart String

The next tip that will guarantee your ad a winner, is an element of sentimentality.  Using a touch of cute realism for audiences in all shapes and sizes to relate to, to hook, line, and sinker.  A sweet campaign from John Lewis back in 2010, has parents hiding presents from their children, boyfriends wrapping presents for their partners, and don’t forget the hanging stocking for the dog!  The variety of people preparing for the season, built excitement naturally, without that retail pressure of ‘only our presents will make your Christmas successful’ you see in other ads.  Wal-Mart are usually one to use that angle, with kids racing to get to the Christmas tree to see all the great new toys Wal-Mart sells (at great prices), but one ad in 2009 pulled on the heart strings, when they used a small boys wish to Santa to snow for his Dad, who happened to be on tour in Afghanistan.

3. Know if you’re putting Christmas into your brand, or putting your brand into Christmas…

You have to decide from the get go, how you’re actually giving your product a holiday twist. You can either put Christmas into your product, or put your product into Christmas.  Apple’s ‘12 Apps of Christmas’ back in 2009, had the phone very clearly in the foreground, and the Christmas elements in the background as a supporting act.  Whereas brands like Oreo have that advantage of being able to slip into a classic Christmas tradition, where Santa dips a (oreo) cookies into a glass of milk.  All is a normal picture of Christmas – until he gets so distracted by the taste he forgets he’s Santa and has a job to do!  Both ads work, and one isn’t better than the other, but it’s a handy concept map to use when you’re stuck at the drawing board.

M&Ms need a special mention of perhaps blurring the two. Crossing the paths of their well known characters and Santa, we’re still not sure who interrupted who?

4. Bring it down to earth

Sometimes it’s refreshing when stuck in all the festivities, to have an ad that isn’t focused so heavily on the food/jingles/presents/official meaning of Christmas, and to just have a laugh at ourselves (in our silly reindeer jumpers).  Last year’s Harvey Nichols women’s wear did just that, as well as Vancouver Airlines’ cheeky little ad.

5. Magic

But most importantly, whether it’s in the music, the cute little kid, or a funny twist at the end, you have to have a touch of that Christmas magic…

If you need help with your Christmas advertisement, why not give the experts a call? VMP is a Brisbane-based production house that specialises in Tv Commercial production. Contact us today!

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