Amidst the festive cheer and heartwarming traditions that come with this time of year, Christmas commercials have become an integral part of the holiday season, captivating audiences with their creativity, emotional resonance, and a touch of seasonal magic.
Year after year, brands around the world strive for the title of creating the most memorable and heartwarming advertisements that capture the spirit of the season. From tear-jerking animations that tug at the heartstrings to whimsical narratives that evoke laughter, these commercials not only showcase the creativity of marketing minds but also reflect the spirit of joy, togetherness, and the timeless magic of the holiday season.
As the year draws to a close, it’s time to unwrap the Christmas commercials that have managed to sprinkle a little extra magic into the holiday season this year.
Apple – Fuzzy Feelings
Apple never fails to put out a high production commercial that pulls at your heart strings, and this year was no different. Featuring the work of artist Anna Mantzaris, in this heartwarming Christmas commercial we follow the creative journey of a talented woman working diligently on a stop-motion animation project. Initially, her felted craftsmanship brings to life a series of comically unfortunate events befalling her grumpy boss during the holiday season. However, as the narrative unfolds, moved by the spirit of compassion and festive goodwill, the woman decides to rewrite her story. She recreates her stop-motion to feature a string of heartwarming scenes with her once-grumpy boss now glowing with holiday spirit.
Google – Home Alone
Google went straight for our nostalgic hearts with their Christmas commercial this year, recapturing our favourite scenes from the beloved holiday movie Home Alone. Starring a number of original cast members, most notably Macaulay Culkin and Joe Pesci, Google recreated a number of scenes from Kevin jumping on the bed, the Wet Bandits driving up to the McCallister house, and Kevin finally eating his mac and cheese as he preps to protect his house.
Of course this was all done alongside a plethora of Google product placements including Google Assistant, Google Nest Mini, and the Google Nest Hub, among others that Kevin used to help fool the robbers.
Amazon – Joy Ride
In this charming Christmas commercial, the spotlight is on three elderly childhood friends as they observe a group of children gleefully sledding down a snowy hill. Touched by nostalgia, one of the women promptly places an Amazon order for padded seat cushions on her phone. With the wonders of Amazon’s next day shipping, the trio unwrap their cushions the following day, and place them in their sleds. The best friends then recapture the joys of their youth and slide down the snowy hill together, with kids all around them watching in wonderment. While it’s more likely that these women would have broken a hip going down that hill, cushion or not, it’s a heartwarming commercial nonetheless, reminding us to embrace the magic of the season no matter your age.
Coca-Cola – The World Needs More Santas
In Coca-Cola’s enchanting Christmas commercial, we’re transported to a town adorned with Santas, each extending a helping hand to one another in the true spirit of the season. As the festive melody plays in the background with the lyrics “anyone can be Santa,” the scene seamlessly transitions to the same town, now void of Santas but brimming with regular people. Despite the absence of red suits and white beards, the townsfolk embody the kindness and selflessness of the Santas, demonstrating that the spirit of Santa isn’t confined to a costume.
Microsoft – Make Your Holiday A Masterpiece
Microsoft took 2023’s biggest trend as inspiration for their holiday commercial this year, putting AI at the center of it. In this Christmas commercial, a woman sets up a booth and asks a diverse group of individuals about their cherished festive traditions. Using nothing but her laptop and Microsoft’s Image Creator AI tool, she transforms these heartfelt memories into works of art that reflect the unique stories and traditions shared with her. The amalgamation of technology and human connection in this ad not only showcases the power of AI, but also encourages us to celebrate diversity during this season and year round.
As we near the end of not only this article, but of another year, companies across the world have once again gone above and beyond with their Christmas marketing from creative narratives that tugged at our heartstrings to visually stunning displays of artistry, each one unwrapped the warmth, wonder and spirit that comes with the holiday season. If you’re looking to have a commercial or any kind of videography made, holiday themed or not, The Influence Agency has you covered, check out some of the commercials we’ve worked on in the past and get in touch!
Share this
About the Author
Sara Ensan
Sara Ensan is a Senior Digital Designer at TIA with a love for bringing ideas and brands to life through captivating visuals across digital platforms. Outside of work, she's always looking for her next travel destination, going to a concert, or making Pinterest boards for a house she doesn't own yet.
For the latest tips, growth hacks, and news in digital marketing
Nominations are open for the influence awards
Do you follow an influencer that you absolutely adore and think they deserve to be recognized for all the great work that they do? Click below to nominate your favourite North American influencers for The Influence Awards!
Perfect Your PPC Marketing Strategy Paid Search Checklist
1. Define Your Goals
Are you aiming to increase web traffic or grow your social media presence? Figure out why you’re leveraging paid media in the first place and build your strategy from there. Having clearly defined goals in mind will help you focus on your brand’s key priorities.
2. Outline a TOFU/MOFU/BOFU Strategy
Designing strategies that cater to all three stages of the buyer journey ensures that you’re maximizing your brand’s reach. Every user at every stage is valuable—and you have to make sure you’re creating paid media content that speaks to each audience type.
3. Research Keywords for Search
Effective paid media is tied to targeting the right keywords. If you’re leveraging paid search ads to appear on SERPs (search engine results pages), then in-depth research is necessary. Bid on the keywords that are most relevant to your business to trigger only the most effective ad appearances.
4. Craft Engaging Ad Copy & Stand-Out Creative
Gather your team—because it’s time to start coming up with ad copy that wins attention. The key is to resonate with your audience and inspire engagement. Be real. Be relatable. And most importantly, don’t underestimate the power of creativity.
5. Create Conversion-Friendly Landing Pages
Do the landing pages on your website effectively push visitors further down the sales funnel? If not, you’re letting potential customers slip through your fingers. Optimize each of your landing pages so that they nudge users towards converting.
6. Choose Your Paid Platforms
The options are plenty when it comes to paid advertising, including Google, Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn, Microsoft, and Pinterest among others. Analyze who your target demographic is, research where it’s best to connect with them, and then target the platforms where you wish to build awareness.
7. Build Campaigns & Ad Groups/Sets
If you’re ready to build your paid media ad campaign, you’ll find that it will be further broken down into “ad groups” to ensure more effective pay-per-click advertising. These ad groups house one or more ads that have similar targets or categories. Let’s say your brand’s website features categories such as clothing, shoes, and accessories. Creating ad groups according to keywords that fall under these categories will help the PPC system decide when to show ads for these products.
8. Don’t Forget About Retargeting Ads
Retargeting ads are bound to succeed because it’s a second shot at a conversion. Visitors have shown interest in the product/service once before, and sometimes all it takes is a little reminder to push them to the checkout page. So don’t forget to retarget and aim better this time.
9. Run A/B Tests
In the world of paid media, what works and what doesn’t? You’ll have to run A/B tests to find out! Whether you’re testing which keywords bring more traffic or which social platforms earn more ad engagement, you won’t find out what really works for your brand until you test it.
10. Track Your Results
Revisit your initial goals. Did your efforts bring about the results you expected? Tracking results is an essential step in your brand’s paid advertising campaigns. The data you collect from currently running ads will help lay the foundation for your future campaigns.
11. Adjust as Needed
After tracking your results, you’ll be able to see where adjustments are necessary. There’s always room for improvement, so keep striving to consistently resonate and build trust with your audience—it’s how to create paid ads that pay off.
Perfect Your PPC Marketing Strategy Paid Search Checklist
Thank you for your submission!
Our Spring Sale Has Started
You can see how this popup was set up in our step-by-step guide: https://wppopupmaker.com/guides/auto-opening-announcement-popups/
Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter! Please check your email inbox for your exclusive download of The Yearbook
Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter! Please check your email inbox for your exclusive download of The Yearbook