According to the National Retail Federation’s final consumer holiday spending survey of the season, the average holiday shopper has completed 53.5 percent of shopping, similar to the 52.9 percent seen this time last year. Approximately 10 percent of holiday shoppers claim to have finished shopping – or 22.6 million people; that means 90 percent of holiday shoppers still have gifts, food, decor and/or other holiday items to buy. The notable trends from the survey are the popularity of experience gifting, popularity of The Week After Christmas, Gift Cards Usage and the prevalence of Mobile devices for Holiday shopping.
Experience Gifting Trends With Millennials
National Retail Federation asked holiday shoppers about their intentions to buy an experience Gift such as tickets to a sporting event, cheese of the month club or an adventure outing like whitewater rafting. The survey found that 22.2 percent are planning to give an experience-type gift and 36.5 percent would like to receive one. However, those numbers jump significantly for millennials. More than one-third of both 18-24, 36.1 percent and 25-34 year olds 35.4 percent are planning to give a gift of experience, and half say they’d like to receive one – 55 percent of 18-24, 49.6 percent of 25-34 year olds. Two in five at 43.4 percent 35-44 year olds would like to receive an experience gift.
And, while many will go the experience route, many stand by more traditional purchases. The survey found 50.8 percent said they have already bought clothing and accessories and 34.5 percent have already bought toys. Additionally, 33.5 percent have bought gift cards and 22.8 percent have bought electronic items.
“Giving the gift of experience is something anyone can enjoy and this holiday season, consumers don’t have to go far to find something perfect for the foodie, fashionista, thrill-seeker or sports enthusiast in their lives,” said Prosper’s Principal Analyst Pam Goodfellow. “With retailers quickly getting in on this trend by offering their customers ‘bundles’ for the perfect experience, it really is a win-win for consumers and retail companies this year to tout these unique gift ideas.” (more…)
Hyundai inked a deal with the NFL, separate from its Super Bowl package, to become the League’s official car, SUV and luxury vehicle. The campaign this first year has revolved around celebrating fan passion, including sponsorship of the NFL’s Kickoff celebration and the release of two fan-inspired ads that run every Sunday: “D-Gate” and “Field Goal.”
Hyundai has signed up with INNOCEAN Worldwide, for developing the four new Super Bowl TV spots.
Hyundai is a longtime Super Bowl advertiser and, after sitting out last year, is back in the game for the eighth time in the last nine years. The new ads are just one part of Hyundai’s integrated Super Bowl marketing program, which will also include a strong digital media presence, experiential activations in the San Francisco Bay Area and more than 400 Hyundai vehicles serving as promotional cars throughout Super Bowl week.
Doritos
PepsiCo’s Doritos brand revealed its list of semifinalist consumer-created Doritos ads for its 10th and final “Crash the Super Bowl” contest, earlier in December. Consumer Created Ads and User generated content has been a popular engagement theme for Super Bowl.
Sweepstakes and Experiential Theme
Marriott Rewards
Marriott Rewards, the company’s award-winning loyalty program, launched its “50 to 50” campaign that includes a sweepstakes which gives members in three countries a once-in-a-lifetime chance to take a group of 50 of their friends and family to attend the game and enjoy an exclusive VIP Super Bowl 50 weekend in the San Francisco Bay area. The trip includes flights, hotel, tickets to the game and an unforgettable VIP weekend experience at the biggest game of the year.
Snickers and Skittles
Mars Chocolate North America’s SNICKERS® Brand and Wrigley’s SKITTLES® Brand will each return with all new commercials that will air on Sunday, Feb. 7, 2016, during Super Bowl 50 on CBS. The brands also are launching the company’s first joint in-store promotion leveraging their status as official National Football League (NFL) sponsors to “Make Super Bowl 50 Even Sweeter.”
Anchored by their award-winning “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry” campaign, SNICKERS® is a Super Bowl veteran.
Last year, SKITTLES® made game day “awesomer” for NFL fans and players through an integrated campaign that culminated in the brand’s inaugural Super Bowl ad. SKITTLES® opted to “Settle It” in a commercial that featured a small town full of people with abnormally muscular right arms. In the ad, two men enjoyed a bowl of SKITTLES® and when it comes down to the last lemon SKITTLES® candy, they “settle it” with an arm wrestling match. This year, the brand plans to make Super Bowl 50 even more awesome with another unexpected commercial produced by DDB Chicago.
“We had an amazing rookie Super Bowl experience, so we’re thrilled to be back,” said Matt Montei, Senior Marketing Director, Confections and Seasonal at Wrigley. “Once again, we have dozens of awesome integrated activities planned for our Super Bowl party this year with the ad serving as our grand finale.”
The joint national in-store promotion will begin on December 28, 2015, and encourage consumers to text SWEET50 to 87654 for the chance to win instant prizes, as well as enter a grand prize sweepstakes. Instant-win prizes range from USD 75NFLShop.com e-gift cards to free SNICKERS®, M&M’S®, TWIX®, 3 MUSKETEERS®, MILKY WAY®, SKITTLES® and/or STARBURST® Brand Singles. The grand prize package includes everything a fan needs to host the ultimate Super Bowl party including a USD 2,000 Electronics gift card, a USD 600 pre-paid debit card, and a USD 250NFLShop.com e-gift card. The joint promotion is supported with national print, radio and in-store media. No purchase necessary. Final rules will be available on December 28, 2015, at www.sweet50.snickers.com.
LG Goes For Creative Horsepower
LG Electronics first-ever Super Bowl commercial will be produced by Ridley Scott’s production company, RSA Films. Jake Scott will direct the spot that showcases LG’s widely acclaimed OLED TV technology and introduces a soon-to-be announced addition to its OLED TV line. LG’s Super Bowl 50 commercial spot will illustrate the company’s commitment to exploring new technologies and communicate the bold message that OLED TV isn’t just a new TV; it represents a whole new era in television technology.
LG’s commercial draws upon the expertise and creativity of this father and son collaboration. Ridley Scott’sThe Martian recently won the 2015 Best Director Award from the National Board of Review, as well as garnering a Golden Globe nomination for best picture. He is also known for his breakthrough 1984commercial for Macintosh, named the best Super Bowl ad of all time by Forbes. Not to be outdone by his father, Jake has six Super Bowl commercials under his belt, including Budweiser’s ‘Lost Dog’, USA Today’s highest rated commercial from last season.
Budweiser and Bud Light
Anheuser-Busch’s is the exclusive beer advertiser for the game. Budweiser and Bud Light are expected to get ads, as usual.
Pepsi Half-Time Show
As part of the year-long celebration of Super Bowl 50, which will be played on Sunday, Feb. 7, 2016, the NFL announced on November 26, the PEPSI SUPER BOWL 50 HALFTIME SHOW on CBS will echo elements of the NFL’s On the Fifty campaign – honoring the past, recognizing the present and looking ahead to the next 50 years. Pepsi has finalized ColdPlay as the artist for the Half-time show.
Acura
Acura said its return to the Super Bowl will feature the NSX supercar, which ships in spring, and the brand’s North American roots. The NSX was the subject of Acura’s last Super Bowl ad in 2012, long before it was available for shipment. That ad, Acura’s Super Bowl debut, featured Jerry Seinfeld battling noted gearhead Jay Leno for the first NSX off the production line.
Butterfinger
Butterfinger first appeared in the 2014 game with a spot for its Butterfinger Peanut Butter Cups. It announced its return for Super Bowl 50 with a skydiving stunt streamed over Periscope.
Nestle said Butterfinger remains its only brand to advertise during the Super Bowl. Butterfinger first appeared in the 2014 game with a spot for its Butterfinger Peanut Butter Cups.
“Today’s announcement is just the first step in Butterfinger’s quest to take bold and make it even bolder in a way that is guaranteed to make you laugh,” Kristen Mandel, Butterfinger brand manager, said in a statement.
According to Butterfinger, sky diver Carson Schram of NorCal Skydiving did a 12,000-foot free fall before announcing the ad plans. The spot set to air during the Feb. 7 game will focus on the new “Bolder than Bold” brand message.
Mountain Dew
Mountain Dew will promote Kickstart. The Super Bowl spot is by Mtn Dew agency BBDO, New York. PepsiCo previously confirmed that brand Pepsi will get an in-game ad in addition to sponsoring the Super Bowl halftime show. PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay division will also run one Super Bowl ad for Doritos as part of the “Crash the Super Bowl” contest, which is in its tenth and final year.
The confirmed featured advertisers for the Game Day in addition to the ones mentioned above are: KIA, Intuit, Paypal, Wix.com, WeatherTech and SquareSpace.
Bud Light in the newest TV Ad released a throwback commercial with a montage of images portraying nostalgia for viewers watching earlier Games. The spot announces the introduction of Bud Light Super Bowl 50 Limited Edition bottle, with a voice over stating “Connecting One Amazing Super Bowl Moment To The Next” and claiming to charge the game forward.
Bud Light has earlier released, #MyTeamCan video promoting every NFL team’s signature beer can. The can for the teams are customized with slogans that fans are likely to connect with.
Bud Light’s Facebook posts play on the Cans that show a Fridge being turned into a trophy case with Team Cans.
With Limited edition customized cans, Bud Light has created a wide net of social media posts with individual teams promoting Bud light cans as a build up for the Super Bowl 50.
The individual teams social media activity releases the new design for each team with an engaging post. The conversation can be followed on #MyTeamCan for the Super Bowl Series Cans.
Content Amplification with Shares on Social media has grown by 27 percent in 2015 over 2014, making audience engagement with shareable content a priority for publishers and brands. Likes and comments make for 86 percent of the overall social media actions. Social Media posts sharing grew by 27 percent as compared to likes and comments that grew by 14 percent YOY, making shareable campaign content as a lead engagement tactic for Holiday season. Brands that are active with festive themed campaigns evoke emotions from consumers that is viewed as one of the key motivators for content sharing according to a study by Shareablee.
Brand Content that prioritizes shareability increases engagement and awareness for Brand Campaigns. Coupling the Brand content with moments that matter for the mobile millennials can boost activation for your brand resulting in greater sales and conversion. Retail Brands social media “post shares” grew by 66 percent ahead of Media publishing, however, accounted for 4 percent share of voice amplification, compared to 38 percent share of voice amplification for publishing.
Though campaigns that feature influencers and user-generated content are likely to be amplified more, brands have seen a similar amplification with use of more popular themes such as Star Wars toys and content that gets reposted as a regram with a popular holiday linked theme. The content that is most likely to be shared is seen to help audiences with Discovery, has utility or evokes an emotion.
BuzzFeed Food one of the top ten publishers, grew by 31 percent over 2014 in the first three-quarters after Fox News and BuzzFeed Video, primarily with recipes led content and engaging content formats.
Macy’s Strategy for Holidays has something for everyone on Social Media, right from an Ugly Sweater party to a Hover-board.
According to a Shareablee Study, analyzing Social Media posts for 2015, Media and Entertainment and Media Publishing dominated social media in the US with 1.7 billion and 1.2 billion total shares from January to November 2015, respectively. The media and entertainment category is led by Fox News with more than 37.8 million shares, while BuzzFeed Food tops the media publishing category with 44.5 million shares.
Brand Content makes for 11 percent of all Social media actions. According to the study, “Year to date in the U.S., brands have published 14.1 million posts on Facebook, resulting in 32 billion actions (likes, comments, shares) with consumers, of which 11 percent involved sharing of a brand’s content”.
As per Shareablee CEO Tania Yuki, “Shares of brands’ content on Facebook have grown by 30 percent year to date compared to 2014, and this has driven increased impressions, affecting brand awareness. Understanding what content consumers share on social media can help marketers reach more audiences while also being more efficient with their social spend.”
Macy’s Social Media campaign engage the holiday shopper with campaigns that are targeted at different segments right from teens to beauty and fragrances shoppers, with a chance to be featured on Macy’s site. Macy’s social media engagement for November was one of the highest among Retail Brands with over 580,000 actions on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr and YouTube from 15.4 million fans and followers.
Still searching for the perfect present? Don't worry, with these beauties you're golden! pic.twitter.com/SrSGWwkDAy
As per Shareablee, one of the key drivers for social media engagement is emotions. The emotions that inspire shares for genders may vary with happiness for women and excitement for men. According to Shareablee the key drivers for Social Media engagement, are:
Social proof, Emotions, Utility and Storytelling
Macy’s Social Media engagement across segments with an emotive theme, engages audiences with inspiring gifting ideas. In a campaign featured by Shareablee, where social media engagement, was based on personal stories with User Generated Content drove 61 percent of social media actions.
Segmenting your audience and engagement based on inspiring gift ideas makes for a more engaging campaign. For engaging audiences through the Holiday season Macy’s has combined social media engagement with brand activation idea such as ‘Ugly Holiday Sweater Party” in different venues for which the tickets can be obtained with Shopping at Macy’s.
Starbucks
✨ The limited edition Deep Blue Starbucks Card embellished with Swarovski crystals is now available. ✨ pic.twitter.com/WwdGq2LClC
Retail Brand Content Shares have grown by 66 percent ahead of Publishing and TV on Facebook and Twitter. Campaign Content that has been seen as shareable has led to actions that make for more than 50 percent of all social media actions for the brand.
Starbucks Social media engagement relies on making audiences look good with their peers by being in the know, which is one of the motivators for sharing content. Starbucks strategy of being someone for everyone makes for content that resonates on every occasion.
Digital Video and popular theme such as Star Wars can bring greater engagement, with content that is most likely to be shared. Kohl’s used storytelling approach making for the right holiday season engagement.
Kohl’s Activation Strategy on social media combined Call-to-Action on Social Media Posts for engagement and conversion.
Kohl’s has effectively used Brand Marketing approach, while engaging audiences with the popular “Star Wars” theme.
Little Debbie partnered with The Peanuts movie to create exclusive offers with Peanuts and gang, creating one of a kind emotional engagement, that is likely to make content that strikes a chord with the target audience.
Little Debbie’s engagement with products that are right for Christmas such as Christmas Santa Brownies with a site that features product locator, which helps audiences find the product that they are looking for and share the same on social media.
Unwrapping Little Debbie’s Brand Content Box
Little Debbie engages audiences with content with customized brand content complete with products that are just right to make your holidays special.
Walmart
Walmart’s retailtainment strategy targeted at Gift shoppers with content centered around content usefulness make for an engaging Brand Content experience. From Holiday Stocking stuffers shoppable with Walmart gift guides to DIY ideas for entertaining, Walmart has the entire Brand content platter with engaging tunes belted out by Craig Robinson.
Walmart’s segmentation strategy that focuses on audiences who gift shop and entertain together with influencer posts, make for a cohesive content offering, that engages audiences with diverse interests.
For a List of Hundred ideas to inspire your Brand content, Click here.
