Christmas 2020
It’s been a year like no other for charities and commercial brands. They’ve all had to re-think their Christmas marketing strategies. Getting the tone and message right after a year of heightened sensitivity around such issues as race, social inequality, unemployment, poverty, education, health and welfare has been make or break.
Now that most of them have gone live, what trends are we seeing?
Partnerships:
From Disney to Papa Johns and M&S to Walkers, it’s beginning to look a lot like…Partnerships.
With brands under increased scrutiny to ‘do the right thing’, we’ve seen many choose to partner with causes that align with their mission.
John Lewis’s recent announcement that they aim to raise funds for charities, Home Start and Fare Share, has set the tone for more purposeful Christmas campaigns to come.
And we expect there’ll be more of them in 2021. But worth remembering:
Brands: As more businesses follow this trend, consumers are looking to Brands to commit to social change— not just at Christmas, but throughout the year.
Charities: Move early. Brands begin planning their Christmas moments earlier each year. To get in on the action, best to plan yours well in advance.
Representation
Unsurprisingly, brands and charities have been extra careful to ensure diverse representation in communications— from casting leads to the stories told; be it race, disability, age, sexual identity etc.
Charities such as RNIB are hero-ing the wonderful people they support.
This year, GOOD worked with RNIB to cast Kiera, partially sighted, in RNIB’s Christmas DRTV campaign. This campaign gives Kiera a voice, after having felt left out of Christmas due to her disability. It’s an important example of how brands and charities can put diverse people and their stories, at the heart of creative messaging. Likewise, Mr. Tyrese from our Sense Sign School campaign is back with some festive signing, encouraging people to learn BSL over the holidays.
Amazon, Disney and Sainsbury’s are other examples of brands who chose to cast diverse leads in their Christmas campaigns. However, the abhorrent racist comments aimed at the Sainsbury’s advert serve as a stark reminder that diverse casting is far from enough. There is significantly more work to be done as a society.
Our advice:
Brands: To be real allies and to create social change, whether about race, disability, or identity, do not be fearful. Continue to open your platform to people to tell their own stories, whoever they are and whatever that story might be.
Charities: Look to the people you support. Are you speaking for them or letting them represent themselves? Open your platform to those who lack traditional visibility in the media.
Joyful escapism
After the crisis of COVID-19, we’re all in need of a little escape.
Gucci’s retro ‘only you’ campaign uses nostalgic storytelling of the awkward office party to play on our saudade to return to those in-person work encounters.
Boot’s cutesy animations offer us humour and a light-hearted tone to their Christmas spot which also serves to remind people of ‘What the world needs now’ and of their pledge to support the UK’s hygiene banks.
And you can’t help but smile at Lego’s reimaging of the world. A delightful two minutes of wonder and escapism via the imaginations of children.
Our advice?
Brands and charities: You can’t go wrong with great storytelling that lifts the spirit and lightens the mood. Just because things got heavy this year, doesn’t mean you have to. Perhaps stretch it further with a little ‘life affirmation’ and positive messaging to restore some festive hope.
This Christmas, the world needs it more now than ever before.
Posted by Lucy Martin
