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Holiday retail marketing gimmicks are nothing new, though Americans’ seemingly insatiable appetite for elaborate holiday experiences continues to provide ever-expanding opportunities for attention-getting stunts, brand-building experiences and out-and-out crazy ideas.
The jolly old St. Nick that we know did not come from folklore. He comes from the annual holiday advertisements of the Coca-Cola Company. He wears the famous corporate colors red and white for a reason-he is working out of Atlanta, not out of the North Pole. Santa’s trusty reindeer, Rudolph, is also a product of clever holiday advertising. The ninth reindeer with a red, shiny nose was invented in 1939 by Robert L. May, an advertising writer for the Montgomery Ward Company.
But advertising and promotion gimmicks alone don’t make or break the season. This season retailers were faced with several metatrends that affected their sales: higher fuel costs, increasing consumer debt, even the transit strike in New York City. One thing that apparently did not have much of an impact on retailers’ results this year was the furor over the prominence of the euphemistic “Holiday” promotions instead of “Christmas” promotions.
Target vs. Wal-Mart
Target—surely one of the most savvy retail marketers out there today—ensured attendance to its two day Thanksgiving sale in 2004 by providing wake up calls to shoppers the morning of the sale. The retail chain created a Web site where consumers could choose their caller from a list that included such odd characters as Darth Vader, a cheesy heartbreaker, a tween diva or supermodel Heidi Klum.
Building on its brand personality of cheeky, affordable, high-style fun for the whole family, Target’s campaign featured, among other things, a cool and funky dad filling the family’s VW van with trendy gifts for the impossibly cute munchkins while the hot mom dances around with abandon. Hoping for a little cross-platform viral marketing, Target also put its 2005 TV spots on its site (which is one of the top five retail sites in terms of visitors and revenues).
Are Target’s moves working? The trendy chain is certainly among the winners in the holiday race, trouncing competitors like Wal-Mart. Target’s 4.7% per store gain (beating analysts’ prediction of 4.6) and 11% total sales gain over 2004 made Wal-Mart’s 2.2% per store gain (below analysts’ prediction of 2.4) look particularly anemic.
Wal-Mart was also the first major retailer out of the gate with its holiday promotions, starting November 1, and it had a strong November. The world’s largest retailer failed to make an aggressive promotional pitch after Black Friday, when its rivals were heavily discounting hot items like digital cameras and music players.
Wal-Mart’s advertising instead featured a celebrity-driven, more upscale image, missing the mark with the chain’s price-sensitive customers. Commercials featuring flashy millionaires like Beyonce Knowles and Queen Latifah shop and open gifts from Wal-Mart didn’t resonate with Americans struggling to pay higher heating and gasoline bills while juggling a heavy debt load. Wal-Mart shoppers want bargains, not celebrity cachet. And Target shoppers, who might respond to the cheap chic message, want to shop at Target, not Wal-Mart.
Out-of-store experiences
Temporary stores and alternate installations became a hot ticket in 2005. Taking a cue from adventurous brands such as Prada and Virgin Airways, mainstream retailers like Sears and Kodak got in on the fun with installations of their own.
As part of this year’s holiday marketing push and an overall renewed emphasis on building its brand rather than competing on price, Sears erected a 25-foot snow globe in New York City that was filled with real people. The campaign features giant versions of gift items available at Sears, such as giant diamond rings and super sized Craftsman™ workbenches, encouraging consumers to "wish big." Three different families lived in the globe throughout the day, watching TV and baking cookies. Too bad they couldn't make them buy at Sears. Comparable store sales were down almost 12%.
Brother can you spare $25 billion?
Speaking of online, the story on the Net was upbeat this year. In a record-breaking frenzy of spending, online shoppers spend $25 billion (excluding travel) between October 29 and December 16, a 25% increase over that same period in 2004. Though consumer electronics and computer items were big sellers online, surprisingly, clothing was the number one gift purchased online.
Successful online retailers know that a good marketing mix, including branding and online and offline direct marketing, is key to driving buyers to their sites—45% of consumers get to their favorite shopping sites by typing in the URL directly or following a direct link, while the rest of traffic comes from search engines, according to the recently released “Holiday eSpending Report” by Goldman, Sachs & Co., Nielsen/NetRatings and Harris Interactive.
Christmas is dead, long live Christmas
Nordstrom, the luxury retailer whose brand image is that of high-touch service, knows its brand and is willing to take risks to protect its integrity. The company stores refused to put up Christmas decorations and promote Christmas sales until after Thanksgiving—and letting customers know it with prominently placed signs throughout its stores. “Nordstrom believes in celebrating one holiday at a time,” the signs proclaimed.
In today’s Christmas and Hanukkah-saturated world, that message seemed to play very well. Going against the grain can often help you stand out in customers’ minds and on the balance sheet. Nordstrom outperformed analyst expectations this season, with same-store sales increasing 7.7% over analysts’ predictions of a 3.8% increase.
What will next year bring? Probably a variety of conflicting tactics. Higher-end retailers will probably concentrate on personalized marketing, while mass marketers will most likely start their push even earlier with campaigns that are even more in-your-face, in an effort to stand out and cultivate customer loyalty that goes beyond price-comparison shopping.
Who knows, perhaps we’ll find an army of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt clones ringing our doorbells at 6 a.m. Friday, November 24. If they come bearing gift cards, perhaps we’ll answer.
To find out more about great promotion, please call or email Sara Breuer, sara.breuer@cartisgroup.com, at 800-479-2616. |
