The year 2015 has been busy and hectic. Many of us had been surrounded by stress at work, while others with responsibilities at home. But there is one festival, which brings everyone together; Christmas, the time to share joy and happiness with people around you.
Like families, the relation of a brand with its customers is somewhat similar. Every year, brands connect with their customers during Christmas. Applications, videos, gifts, discount offers, or games, they use various means to show their customers that they are a family. Such initiatives require time to plan, develop, and execute; which makes it the right time to share some ideas so you could plan ahead.
Christmas brings with itself a strong emotional connection, which is what agencies focus on benefiting from. Ecommerce websites see a massive boom in sales, it’s the perfect time to make purchases as products are priced very low. With all this, the question arises, what is your plan?
If you belong to the automobile industry, you can create videos to share with your customers how much you value them, and how your product conveys it too. These videos can focus their theme on safety, joy, and happiness of the family. You may also consider Facebook applications to share gifts with your customers, similar to something we have done in the past.
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People tend to make many purchases right before Christmas. They want themselves and their surroundings to look and feel good. To show your customers you really appreciate their loyalty, you can offer appealing discounts or give away free gifts.
Were you able to see the JC Penney’s campaign last year? They asked their customers whether it felt better in ‘receiving or giving’. The focus of their video was to spread happiness and joy with everyone around you; family, friends, and even strangers. The reactions of people caught on camera were priceless, and touched the hearts of every viewer; probably the reason why this video received more than 2 million video views.
The airline industry is one that interacts a lot with customers. Daily, they interact with thousands of travelers who carry feelings to their destinations. For Christmas, they too can connect with their flyers in many ways. You can develop an app for children to interact before boarding or during the flight, and have Santa distribute gifts to them by calling out their names. Having Santa Claus distribute gifts on a flight will definitely be loved by all the children on board. Hashtags will allow your flyers to share with the world their feelings of such an initiative. Moreover, airline companies can also generate ideas for their Christmas campaign by seeing how Air Canada touched the hearts of it’s people.
Air Canada’s #ACGiftofHome stunned everyone last year by giving Canadians living abroad one of the best gifts imaginable. In London, where all Canadians gather at a pub named “Maple Leaf” to feel like home, two pilots of Air Canada announced free round-trip tickets to Canada for everyone present to spend the holidays with their family. Reaction? Tears of joy. The emotions moved everyone, and those who have experienced how it feels to be away from family at such a festival can totally relate what would the feelings have been.
Wrap up
There are many ideas we can suggest with the prime focus remaining the same; creating an emotional bond with customers. For brands, it’s important to have a very targeted campaign. Recently, PayPal’s Christmas ad in the UK resulted in a mixed reaction. They received around 200 complaints from people claiming their ad portrayed Santa wasn’t real, which upset their children. To this, Paypal apologized for upsetting some families, put up front it’s good intentions, and now is trying to get the ad running at a schedule when young children are least expected to watch television. Hence, targeting the right audience at the right time is key in successful campaigns.
If you are offering discount vouchers, make sure it’s not limited to a particular age or social group. You can add a game or contest which offers a higher percentage of discounts to winners. You can apply same for liking and sharing your Christmas post.
If you would like to share any ideas with us, tweet us @cygnismedia
