5 Brilliant Digital Christmas Campaigns
Social and Digital Media at Christmas is a minefield of advertising, advertising and more advertising with few brands going beyond a snowy landscape, a revised acoustic version of a classic power ballad, and a bit of tinsel thrown in for good measure.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for the classic Christmas clichés – who doesn’t love a cosy open fire or the distant sound of jingling bells?! But, much like the 9896th consecutive version of a turkey feed, you’d start to crave something different.
For the purpose of this social themed blog we’re looking at digital activations that either changed it up a little, used super smart UX or just made something fun for us to personalise.
Google’s Santa Tracker
https://santatracker.google.com/
This one has been around a couple of years, but the big G keeps adding more features and things to interact with so we’re always happy to see when it’s gone live for a new festive season. If you want to get lost down a family friendly Christmas wormhole then you’ve come to the right place, this has everything from a countdown clock, to videos to more mini-games than you can shake a stick at between now and the 25th, but worth a try right?! (“Present Bounce” is a personal favourite)
Elf Yourself
Alright, we’ve seen them a thousand times before and they were all the rage about 7 years ago. However, the novelty of Magic Mirror’s “Elf yourself” videos hasn’t waned as much as you might think. In its day it was personalisation at its finest; simple, funny, shareable. Click the link and see how many “elves have been created” per minute on the embedded counter below. At the time of writing it’s at 1.75million. What’s it at now? G’way?!
RTE Archives Advent Calendar
This nostalgic journey through the RTE archives popped up in our social feed during the week. Alright, the execution could have done with a little more polish, the calendar doesn’t exactly scream “open my doors, I have a little Christmas magic inside” but don’t let the basic display fool you – there are some absolute gems in there. The Henry Street girl behind December 2nd melted our cold dead hearts.
Ted Baker’s #TedsElfie Instagram Hunt
Ted Baker constantly breaks the mould when it comes to social led campaigns that are both smart but effective. This campaign from 2014 was a game-changer and incredibly innovative when it came to “platform hacking”. Basically, the @TEDSELFIE Instagram page was created using tiled images to make up one giant diorama-style Christmas scene. When you clicked on an image you were then presented with a number of other linked pages, individually created and tied together using tags. The idea was to find the missing elves hidden within the web of linked images and accounts. Many brands have since recreated the execution but none have come close to the brilliance of the original.
The Etsy Pinterest Gift Finder
We all enjoy receiving buyng gifts at Christmas and there’s no better feeling than receiving all of the gifts! nailing the perfect gift for that one person who has absolutely everything. It’s getting tougher every year, and “vouchers” don’t exactly make a festive scene out of your Christmas tree setup. Well, last year Etsy teamed up with Pinterest to create the Gift Finder – you type in a person, descriptor, type of gift you want and hit find. The response pulls in pinned responses from Pinterest. We’re not sold on the accuracy every time but it’ll either give you some inspiration or a good laugh...