Littlewoods: #CelebrityWishes

Image from Event Magazine

Celebrities feature in the 2014 TV commercial from Littlewoods.  The ad's theme is one of pantomime, as the characters appear to be acting out Aladdin on stage, complete with celebrities Myleene Klass and Christopher Biggins.

This creative execution is likely to be less controversial than their 2011 offering which received more than 450 complaints.  The ASA, the UK's advertising regulator, refused to investigate, and a lively debate started online about the merits of the campaign.  Most of the comments were negative to Littlewoods. Audience engagement, yes; a social media meme, perhaps not.

Many people watching the ads will be unaware that Littlewoods no longer has a presence on the High Street having started closing stores in 2004-5 and moved to online trading.  It is now in a highly competitive sector, up against slick online-only operations like Amazon as well as the online trading sites of other retailers.

The 2014 advertising, both on broadcast TV and online, links closely to the firm's shopping portals.  The ad itself is full of products and gift ideas.  Klass has a role as a fairy magically transforming gifts (something happening in this year's advertising from M&S which features two fairies). Klass's role in transforming wishes is part of the message to be developed on social media, themed around #LittlewoodsWishes (see below).  Biggins is there for comic relief.

>

The TV campaign started on November 7, during the commerial break for Coronation Street, something which should have given Littlewoods around 7.5 million viewers.  At the time of writing the Youtube video had a respectable 350,000 viewings. A punchy soundtrack is delivered by Sam and the Womp's Bom Bom.  Littlewoods don't appear to have any plans to commercialize this in the way that Asda and John Lewis have done, where specially recorded tracks have been made available for download on iTunes and other platforms.  Myleene Klass is a talented classical musician in her own right, but her appearance here has more to do with her role as a 'brand ambassador' and fashion designer for the store.

The pantomime theme is not a random creative choice.  It highlights Littlewoods's deal with the Ambassador Theatre Group where Littlewoods are sponsoring pantomimes in 10 UK locations.  Tied into this is an ambitious 'Christmas Wishes Tour' which will travel to the cities involved (including Birmingham, Liverpool and Glasgow) with a themed combination of entertainment and retailing designed to put Littlewoods back into city centres.   The designers claim that  "This is a great example of experiential and digital out-of-home working hand-in-hand to drive customer engagement with the Littlewoods brand. The immersive nature of the activity, along with on-site technology and prizes, brings the brand to life and into consumer’s hands."

The tour will give Littlewoods the chance to develop a social media campaign around the hashtags #ChristmasWishes and #LittlewoodsWishes.  M&S is doing something similar with its #FollowTheFairies campaign.  Both campaigns are interesting examples of where retail brands are combining broadcast messages with online narratives linking into real-time, face-to-face engagement. Littlewoods is going further than most by using NFC technologies at their events to entice customers into their online stores via their smartphones.  We would expect to see Littlewoods using Klass and Biggins at these events.

Littlewoods have made brief reference to the new campaign on their Facebook pages, where they have approaching 200,000 fans.  Similarly, there has been a half-hearted promotion of #ChristmasWishes and #LittlewoodsWishes on Twitter where they have a more modest 39,000 followers. Myleene Klass is far more active in this medium, and tweets almost constantly to her 450,000 followers, including linking to her work for Littlewoods.  Christopher Biggins is quiet by comparison although this might change as #LittlewoodsWishes is ramped up.

Overall this is turning out to be an imaginative campaign with the various elements carefully thought through.  The mix of online and real-world, shopping and entertainment, should work well.  Currently, though, the focus is very much on engagement equaling transactions, and the social media elements have yet to get going.

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.