Sainsbury's: a Fading Christmas Star?

It all started so well.  Sainsbury's launched their 2014 Christmas TV advertisement online on 12 November, and then premiered it on ITV the following day.  As we were first commenting on it, the ad was getting 150,000 hits an hour on YouTube.  At the time of writing (23 November) it has been seen 11.6 million times, an average of a million views per day.  Not as impressive as John Lewis's 17 million viewings, but streets ahead of all other supermarkets.  Even the companion film, the making of our Christmas ad has been seen over 300,000 times.

The Sainsbury's advertisement: image from the Metro

Sainsbury's announced the ad on their Facebook page on 12 November.  The reaction was immediate, with the post clocking up nearly 8,400 'likes' to date, 888 'shares' and 631 comments from fans. Once again, though, comparisons with John Lewis put these figures into perspective:  Monty the Penguin had nearly 150,000 'likes' on Facebook, 156,000 'shares' and nearly 13,000 comments.

So, what is the problem with this campaign?  As we noted at the launch, choosing the subject of war for an advertisement was always going to be risky. In the initial few days the critical reaction, in the mainstream press at least, was favourable, but there was little of the viral link sharing that we had seen around the John Lewis campaign.

Part of the problem may have been popular confusion: people just did not know how to react.  Most agreed that it was an emotional film with an uplifting theme.  But Monty the Penguin was a compelling, emotional narrative with a happy ending.

Within a few days a muted counter-reaction started becoming evident in the press.  The Guardian's Ally Fogg denounced it as "a dangerous and disrespectful masterpiece".  Ellen Stweart in the Metro called it "distasteful at best and exploitative at worst".  Sainsbury's were accused of hypocrisy by the Independent, the Daily Mail and the Metro.  

The Guardian's tweet about Fogg's piece was retweeted 114 times and favourited 69 times.  Stewart's article scored just 15 retweets and 12 favourites.  So although the original Sainsbury's campaign was muted by comparison to John Lewis, the counter-reaction was fairly slow coming also.

More worrying, perhaps, was the fact that by November 16, just 3 days since the ad was first broadcast, the Advertising Standards Authority had received 240 complaints from viewers,  "most citing the cynical use of 'World War One themes/imagery to promote a supermarket' as 'upsetting' and 'disrespectful'" according to Adland.

Sainsbury's itself seemed to lose interest in the possibility of the campaign going viral.  Although it reminded its Facebook fans of the campaign on 18 November, there was comparatively little re-engagement, with a mere 136 likes, 3 shares and 18 comments.  However, their piece on the same platform on that day about the campaign-themed chocolate bars drew 4049 likes and 513 shares.  Another reference to the ad on 19 November, the last to date, scored a dismal 56 shares and 280 likes on Facebook.

Since the launch the official Facebook postings have used the hashtag  #ChristmasIsForSharing just once.  By contrast, a 21 November posting about range of turkeys in store had 93 shares and 3245 likes, 59 comments.  Almost all postings from Sainsbury's on Facebook since 18 November have been food related.

The Sainsbury's campaign appears to have engaged on an emotional level with audiences, but that engagement has not translated itself into any of the sustained interactions with the brand that John Lewis has demonstrated.  Most of us like the advertisement, we think it is worthwhile, but we don't know what to do with it.  By contrast Monty the Penguin makes millions of us laugh and cry: we identify with him, and by extension with John Lewis.  Most importantly we want to tell our friends and family.

Waitrose: in the Shadow of the Penguin

Heston Blumenthal: dropped from
the Christmas advertising in 2014

Waitrose is another retailer that decided not to use celebrities in its TV advertising in 2014.  At least this is how the supermarket announced the new campaign.  It is slightly misleading as celebrity chef Heston Blumental continues to work for Waitrose, but his focus is far more on cooking, with the results being posted to the firm's YouTube pages.

Waitrose is part of the John Lewis group of companies: the department store arm of the business has been making headlines with the runaway success of its 2014 campaign, featuring Monty the Penguin.  But Waitrose started its campaigning early, with the launch on October 15 of  'Donate Your Voice', where ordinary members of the public were encouraged to record their voices singing a Dolly Parton song, with the final result being a compilation of voices in a single released for charity.  This was an ambitious attempt to achieve three things: to build brand value, to gain points for Corporate and Social Responsbility (CSR) and to encourage digital engagement.

The results of Donate Your Voice were released as a short video on YouTube on 10 November.  This was shortly after the launch of a separate, dedicate TV advertisement from Waitrose, called The Gingerbread Stall.   The latter was broadcast, but has also clocked up over half a million viewings on Youtube to date.  The Voice piece, by contrast, has had 125,000 viewings.

It seems a pity that Donate Your Voice seems to have been overshadowed by both Monty the Penguin and by the Gingerbread advertisement.  The single, which had been talked up as a possible Christmas Number One has not got into the charts, while the John Lewis music (Tom Odell's Real Love) rose to number 7 in the middle of October before dropping back.  The proceeds from Real Love were earmarked for the World Wildlife Fund: three separate charities are due to benefit from the Donate Your Voice campaign.



The viewing figures comparison is misleading, as voices from the earlier campaign featured in mainstream TV commercial.  This encourages audiences to download the single.  Curiously, given the company's apparent mastery of social media, the Waitrose Facebook page does not appear to have promoted the advert at all - it linked to a 'behind-the-scenes' film about the ad, before continuing to talk about foods and recipes as normal.  Strange, as Waitrose has more than 200,000 fans on Facebook.  The lack of attention given to the advertisement was replicated on Twitter (Waitrose has 172,000 followers), where there was a token reference to the behind-the-scenes video and nothing else.  Since then more food, recipes and the celebrity chef.  No hashtag, no apparent effort to leverage the social media value of the Donate Your Voice campaign.  Business as usual.

John Lewis, by contrast, has gained maximum value from its TV commercial and built a mass of social media engagement around it.  Waitrose seem to have had some good ideas built around their core brand values of people and altruism, but hasn't followed through with them.  Their half million viewing on YouTube look impressive, excepdit when compared to the 17 million that Monty the Penguin has been able to achieve.

Argos: Hip Hopping to #christmas

Argos's Christmas alien: SO last year.  Picture Marketing

Argos has produced something very different from the rest of the High Street this Christmas.  Get Set for Advent also marks a departure for Argos, which has traditionally based their Christmas ads around a family of aliens.

The new campaign is described by Marketing magazine: it is an up-tempo offering, based around a giant advent calendar containing gifts, BMX bikers, shiny reindeer, dancers, and other performers.  The dancing child at the top of the set is said to represent the fairy on the top of a Christmas tree - a mixed metaphor, perhaps, but never mind.

Overlaying the images is an atypical soundtrack: less brass band and more inner city hip-hop.  The music is by Run DMC, is called Christmas in Hollis, and is available for download from iTunes or the Android store.  Argos knows it is talking to the smart phone generation and Run DMC is the real thing, a band hailing from Queens, New York.  The ad "Will deliver energy and excitement into millions of living rooms to provide a modern twist to Christmas", according to their head of brand marketing.

This 21st century approach may be part of a wider campaign to modernise its image: the old catalogue in store is to be replaced by tablets and is targeting Amazon with a same-day delivery policy. Backing this up they have launched a Santa List app allowing children to make a digital wish list via their smartphone or tablet.

This foregrounding of the music matches what is being done by John Lewis and by Asda, both of whom feature new recordings which are available separately for sale.  But while these two make a point of having the proceeds donated to charities, Argos's is a profit-based transaction.  Christmas in the Hollis is an established number for the band and has been available without Argos's help since 2009.

The ad was premiered on TV on November 6, in a commercial break during Coronation Street.  25 years ago that would have given them an audience of 30 million; these days it is a more modest 7.5 million.  The ad was also posted to YouTube where it has gained 200,000 viewings in 5 days.  John Lewis's equivalent managed the same in its first couple of hours.

The 21st century impetus of the new advertising and app doesn't seem to have translated to social media.  Although Argos have 100,000 followers on Twitter the nearest they get to a hashtag is #christmas and #christmasad.  Hardly meme-generating.  Similarly their Facebook page links to the advert on YouTube and promotes the app, but doesn't try and develop an engaging narrative.

Curiously, Argos released a YouTube video simultaneously called Get Set for Emma Bunton, promoting the former Spice Girl's range of clothing and footwear.  This doesn't seem to have been promoted and at the time of writing was getting just 100 hits a day.

Overall the Advent campaign is surprising and refreshingly different.  But Argos seems to missing opportunities to engage with its fans, rather than merely selling them stuff.  While Argos and John Lewis have their artists and favoured charities promoting the social media campaign, there is nothing from Run DMC on Twitter.

Hip hip may be the face of the new Argos, but they need to try harder.

Boots: #SpecialBecause

Picture: the Daily Mail

The Christmas shopping season is as important to UK pharmacy Boots as to any other retailer on the high street.  What is unusual about their 2014 marketing campaign is that while most others bolt social media onto the TV advertising, Boots seems to have come up with the idea of a meme around giving first, and then designed other elements around it.

Boots are promoting #SpecialBecause, the pleasure of giving rather than the joy of receiving that features in many competing offerings.  Exceptions include Marks & Spencer whose social media campaign #FollowTheFairies is fed by a team travelling the UK performing random acts of kindness.  Boots is running something similar, "celebrating the little things that make big differences".

The advertisement tells the story of a family that makes the effort to make a mother feel special when she has had to work over Christmas day.  It features music by Alexi Murdoch, his Song for You subtly chiming with the whole theme of giving.  But while John Lewis and Asda have recorded special versions of their soundtracks and released them as singles, Boots uses Murdoch's recording unaltered.  In fact there is only a passing reference to it on YouTube.

On Twitter Boots encourages customers to engage with #SpecialBecause, but the idea seems to be taking time to catch on.  The advertisement was first screened on 7 November, like Tesco's new Christmas ad being premiered during the finale of Downton Abbey.  7-8 million viewers guaranteed.  YouTube has been less generous, delivering just 170,000 views in the 3 days since.  The official Boots Facebook page, with over 750,000 fans, have also been fairly coy about the campaign.

The decision to downplay the soundtrack seems like a missed opportunity.  John Lewis gained additional publicity when its Christmas number Real Love charted at number 21 in its first week.  Both they and Asda have had the charities which benefit from the royalties promoting the campaigns and helping generate the memes.  Boots's rivals are being seen to be supporting worthy causes: surely these are #SpecialBecause?