WestJet’s viral video a great example of Christmas marketing, analysts say.
Capturing the magic of the holiday season in an ad can create a Christmas miracle for companies, but hitting all the elements that create that warm, fuzzy feeling can be harder than it looks.
WestJet managed to harness holiday cheer in its latest promotional video. Last month, the airline surprised 250 lucky passengers when they landed with the gifts they asked for just before departure, from socks and underwear to a big-screen TV. The company turned the results into a heartwarming video.
Uploaded overnight Sunday, “WestJet Christmas Miracle: real-time giving” had more than 1,600,000 views by Tuesday afternoon.
“We never imagined that it would be as popular as it is,” said Robert Palmer, WestJet’s manager of public relations. “Obviously we’re thrilled because it’s a way to share the Christmas spirit in the way only WestJet can.”
The video’s success comes from the strong emotional connection it creates with the viewer, said Tandy Thomas, a marketing and branding expert at Queen’s University.
“People walk away with a lovely warm feeling, which is always good when you’re trying to build up their brand.”
During the holiday season, there’s an innate desire to see the goodness in others, said Mike Volpe, chief marketing officer for HubSpot, a Massachusetts-based marketing software company. Part of what makes WestJet’s video special is that the kindness is unprompted and the reactions on the faces of the surprised customers are completely real.
Lots of companies try to cash in on holiday spirit, from beer brands that break out festive boxes to electronics stores that advertise dozens of deals. What sets a good holiday marketing campaign apart is creativity, Thomas said.
That element of creativity is what makes the WestJet ad shine, said Volpe. Viewers won’t walk away knowing anything about how much leg room they’ll get on a WestJet flight, but they feel like the airline cares, he explained.
“I think that today, consumers are sick of being advertised to. And they just want someone who’s going to engage them in either a helpful or a useful or an entertaining way.”
Another marketing campaign that has people talking this holiday season is The Bear and the Hare, a story book-esque ad about the friendship between two animals at the holidays. Set to a Lily Allen song, the simple cartoon doesn’t mention U.K. department store John Lewis until the final moments.
Uploaded to YouTube in mid-November, the video currently has about 10.5 million views.
The ad works because it gets away from the commercialization that tends to surround the holidays, Volpe said.
Marketing cheer isn’t a new concept. For years, companies have competed to create memorable Christmas ads.
For Thomas, Starbucks stands out as a company that’s done a good job of creating a holiday brand, because people look forward to their special red cups and seasonal drinks.
Coke was another company that capitalized on the warm, fuzzy feeling of the holidays with their polar bear campaign, Volpe said. But he cautions that TV ads featuring cute bears won’t be enough to capture an audience’s attention today.
“To reinvigorate that campaign today, they shouldn’t just do a bunch of advertising that people are just going to fast forward through,” he said. “They should rethink that. What should the polar bears be doing online or in a video or in social? There’s gotta be something there that reinvigorates that campaign for today’s world.”
Canadian Tire is another company that’s trying to get into the holiday spirit this year. The retailer recently sent Candice Bruton, a young communications adviser, on a cross-Canada road trip, where she delivered donations of Christmas decorations, lights and trees to families that could use some extra cheer this holiday season.
“Getting to see the faces when I was donating the product was really rewarding,” said Bruton.
A video documenting her adventures will be released in the next two weeks, when viewers can see for themselves whether the company has captured the magic of the holiday season.
