Christmas advertising? Let me tell you a story...

It’s the most wonderful time of the year… for advertisers. The holiday season and capitalism come together in perfect alignment during these wintry months, when we’re feeling peak generosity towards our fellow human beings. 

It’s also when we’re most receptive to having our emotional buttons pushed.

[The holiday season is] when we’re most receptive to having our emotional buttons pushed.

As filmmakers, the most memorable holiday campaigns we can create will reflect a shared awareness, and even humility, between brands and the people we’re trying to reach. The idea that ads can tap into very real sentiments is a welcome antidote to our collective frustration over politics and stunted progress that’s been shrouding our lives. 

Above: Meehan's 2022 Christmas film for Norway’s postal service, Posten took a storytelling approach.

When that vision is effective, it stokes the idea of brand affection through the warm feeling that a company shares the same values as you. This requires a shift from the tried and true 'problem/solution' formula for ads, to a storytelling approach that’s as provocative as it is affecting. 

[Christmas] requires a shift from the tried and true 'problem/solution' formula, to a storytelling approach that’s as provocative as it is affecting. 

I know this well after the success of my spot for Norway’s postal service, Posten [above], which invited people to better understand this company through a moving story about the heartbreaking impact of climate change (more on which later).

That trust radiates the other way, too: it’s an advertising team telling the world that they have respect for both consumer intelligence and feelings. And there is no better time to affect that change than during the holiday season, where hope and honesty can transform sentiments. 

Above: John Lewis's festive spots have always been cinematic, often emotional and, with 2022's effort, highlighted the brand's commitment to charitable endeavours. 

These days, audiences are discriminating. If they’re older, they’ve likely learned to tune-out anything too salesy and prefer more robust messaging to win their attention. If they’re younger, they’re likely turned off by clichés and expect authenticity in return for their loyalty.

For too long, however, holiday spots have been stuck in a rut. Treated as poor cousins to brand campaigns (since they run for only a small window of time), they’re typically weighed down with deals and disclaimers, and are thrown together on a tight budget. In the end, they feel exhaustingly repetitive. Viewers not only deserve better, they want better. Phoning in a holiday ad is not just bad ROI, it’s creating brand fatigue.

Phoning in a holiday ad is not just bad ROI, it’s creating brand fatigue.

The good news is that, amid the glut of these ads, campaigns that are emotional, cinematic and even conceptual are starting to rise to the top and create conversations. They are also earning acclaim through end-of-year round-ups, which are widely discussed within the industry, not unlike their Super Bowl counterparts. 

This, in turn, has emboldened the most creative filmmakers, agencies and brands to think less like product-pushers and more like brand storytellers, creating evocative narratives. We are exiting corporate bubbles to actually read the cultural tea leaves around us to better connect with audiences. 

To stand out and be successful, brands need to embrace this change, too. 

Above: The trio of Posten holiday commercials were message-based, acknowledging differing but important issues.

The Posten film was one part of a trilogy of much-celebrated, longer-form, message-based holiday spots that Posten ran over three Christmases, from 2020 to 2022. In each, St. Nicholas assumed many incarnations: a gay Santa [above], a Santa who not-so-accidentally reminded us of a much-embattled recent American president and, in the spot I directed, a man in a love/hate relationship. 

It’s almost Scrooge-like not to acknowledge the important issues around us. 

The latter finds Santa at first in a romance with Mother Nature, then at devastating odds with her. We shot the spot — an allegory for the climate crisis — to be reminiscent of domestic turmoil in an indie film. What this trio of spots have in common, in addition to being wildly successful Christmas commercials, is that they incorporated larger societal ideas into the DNA of the holidays.

The biggest change to the holiday commercial over the last few years has been change itself — cultural change. From the types of people we see on our screens to the messages pushed out into the world, we, as filmmakers, aim to tap into the zeitgeist to make holiday advertising that much more resonant and effective. It’s almost Scrooge-like not to acknowledge the important issues around us.