How understanding emotions helps create great Christmas ads
In the past a sudden fall in the temperature, a flutter of snow, or the sound of jingle bells would indicate that Christmas was on it’s way. These days it’s marked by the Christmas ads that begin to appear around the beginning of November.
Our UnrulyEQ team have been hard at work trying to decipher which emotions make Christmas ads so moving and memorable. If you think back to Christmas ads gone by I’m sure a whole host of images and emotions pop into your head, from the Coca Cola truck and a man in the moon, to a clumsy cat and a dancing carrot.
The team have looked at some of the most popular festive ads from the past three years to find out what emotions they evoked, and what issues they sought to address.
The overall emotional profile of Christmas
Overall, from our analysis of ads from 2015, 2016 and 2017, we can see that Christmas ads have a clear trend of evoking strong happiness and warmth, followed by inspiration and nostalgia.
It’s no surprise that companies have decided to evoke these emotions from their ads, as for most, of us they come hand in hand with this time of year! We experience feelings of happiness and warmth when thinking about spending time with loved ones. We also experience nostalgia when we think back to what makes Christmas special to us. Normally this is a something we do every year like watching our favourite festive film, coming together to cook a Christmas meal, or playing that board game that only materialises on Christmas day and then disappears for the rest of the year!
The emotional profile of 2015 falls neatly in line with this trend that Christmas ads follow, evoking strong emotions of happiness and warmth, followed by good inspiration, nostalgia, amazement, pride and sadness. This was the year of John Lewis’ famous ‘Man On The Moon’ ad, and the year that Sainsburys brought the children’s book character Mog the cat to life.
The following year saw the strongest emotional response, outperforming across the main Christmas related emotions. This year also saw ads evoke stronger feelings of pride, sadness and hilarity than other years. Think John Lewis’ ‘Buster The Boxer’, M&S’s Mrs Claus, and Heathrow Airport’s ‘Coming Home’ ads.
Last year had a similar emotional profile to 2015, although evoked slightly lower sadness and inspiration but higher hilarity. This year saw McDonald’s launch their ‘Carrot Stick’ campaign, and BBC One created an animated ad bringing a girl and her father together over a Christmas performance.
Top 5 most emotional ads of Christmas
The most emotional Christmas ads by year
The common thread running through these three ads is that of familiarity. All of them offer a concept that is familiar to the viewers which results in a low likelihood for confusion and allows for an amplified emotional effect amongst viewers.
Another noticeable theme across these top Christmas ads is that of togetherness and inclusion. All three ads managed to capture the spirit of Christmas in different ways.
- ‘Man On The Moon’ focused on loneliness around Christmas and the importance of making everyone feel like they matter, regardless of age.
- ‘Buster The Boxer’ offers a stronger focus on inclusion, which is a common interest which can unite even the most natural enemies.
- ‘Supporting Act’ showcases the act of being present for one another when it really matters.
Both ‘Man On The Moon’ and ‘Supporting Act’ shed light on important topics of today and put a new spin on the traditional Christmas theme of happiness and warmth. On the other hand, ‘Buster The Boxer’ played on the genuine and childlike happiness that Christmas evokes in many of us, while adding a humorous twist.
The strongest emotions in the top 5
Looking at the top ads from 2015, 2016 and 2017, warmth and happiness were the top two emotions that were evoked. However we were surprised to find that the third strongest emotion was different for each ad.
In EDEKA’s ‘Heimkommen’ ad there was a strong focus on loneliness which evoked considerable sadness amongst viewers. The ad saw a strong emotional response with some polarising views due to the portrayal of loneliness showing the faking his death to bring his relatives together.
John Lewis’ ‘Buster The Boxer’ ad evoked considerable amazement, this was likely due to the highly relatable concept of the simple joy of a trampoline. Viewers were likely further amazed by how well the ad captured the genuine happiness expressed by not only the dog but all the animals playing on the trampoline. This original concept resulted in viewers being surprised by the ad, which likely fuelled the noticeable amazement.
During Barbour’s ‘Snowman’ ad viewers felt highly nostalgic. This was likely due to basing the ad on the famous animation from the 1980s and its sequel from 2012; this allowed for capturing a wider audience that would relate with the concept. The ad further offered a strong nostalgic link due to using the same style of animation as the story it is building on.
Key Takeaways
- The top 5 most emotional Christmas ads by year shows that the emotional profile of Christmas is strongly led by happiness and warmth
- The most emotional ad by year showed a common thread of familiarity with a noticeable theme of togetherness and inclusion whilst each offering their individual spin on the theme and hence standing out against the crowd
- These ads have also shown that addressing important and timely issues or playing on the pure and innocent happiness of Christmas works to evoke an intense emotional response
- The third strongest emotion by year was the evident differentiator between 2015, 2016 and 2017, offering strong sadness, amazement and nostalgia respectively
- Aligning with a somewhat different emotional profile allowed brands to stand out by offering a different angle to portraying Christmas
To download the full Christmas Insights slide deck head here.
