Ad reruns and the art of Christmas nostalgia

According to data from Kantar, half of the top ten most effective festive TV ads are recycled from previous years, which got us thinking.

The countdown to John Lewis’ new ad each Yule Tide season is certainly good for clicks, but the proven success of simply rerunning an old ad has got us thinking about a simpler, undeniably powerful strategy.

If the holy grail of marketing, especially at Christmas, is emotional conditioning and cultural significance, then tactics used by Irn-Bru and Coca-Cola are worth considering.

The first thing to note, of course, is that the rerun ad actually has to be good.

Irn-Bru’s 'The Snowman' outings (which began in 2006) were indeed just that. The brand took Raymond Briggs’ fiercely protected, 1982 film ‘The Snowman’ and injected it with a hint of irreverent Scottish wit. It was an impressive coup for the brand, given how fond people are of the animated classic.

The ad cuts straight to the original film's magical flight sequence. But instead of flying to the North Pole, a little boy and the Snowman soar over beautifully rendered Scottish landmarks like Edinburgh Castle and the Forth Bridge, fuelled by a can of the orange soda.

When the boy repeatedly refuses to share a sip, the irritated Snowman lets go of his hand, sending him plunging into a snowbank in Glasgow's George Square so he can keep the can for himself.

Director Robin Shaw, a dedicated disciple of Briggs’ original style, used traditional hand-drawn pencil-on-paper techniques. Rather than relying on modern CGI, five assistant animators meticulously drew every frame to replicate the texture of the original masterpiece.

The timeless track ‘Walking in the Air’ was even rewritten with cheeky lyrics and recorded by a young choirboy from St. Mary’s Music School.

System1 consumer testing revealed that when evaluated for long-term emotional effectiveness, the ad scored a solid 3.7 stars. Fast forward to recent festive runs, and that effectiveness score rocketed to an extraordinary 4.8 stars. The ad, it seems, had ‘worn in’ to the public psyche.

In 2018, The Leith Agency brought back Robin Shaw and Lupus Films to create a long-awaited sequel. The narrative picked up exactly where the original left off, featuring the "ginger boy" chasing the thieving Snowman in a seaplane across Scotland.

Festivity, on-loop

Perhaps though, the one we all remember the most is Coca-Cola’s ‘Holidays Are Coming’, which first ran in (blimey), 1995.

Coca-Cola changed the Christmas playbook with this one by introducing a fleet of illuminated freight trucks winding through a snowy landscape.

Like with Irn-Bru, it took some serious work to make an ad this memorable. 

George Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic designed the special effects, cementing its cinematic quality. Meanwhile, the simple refrain of "Holidays are coming..." was a masterstroke, serving as a psychological trigger on par with Brigg’s aforementioned pathos-inducing snow gent.

Consumer data shows audiences experience an immediate spike in warmth and nostalgia within the first three seconds of an ad airing, long before the brand logo appears. 

Perhaps then, their AI effort last year wasn't necessary afterall?

Recurring magic

Cadbury’s Secret Santa (2018) is another campaign that benefitted from repetition.

The basic premise is inviting people to anonymously send a chocolate bar to a loved one. Its visual cues and soundtrack were maintained over subsequent years, meaning Cadbury achieved massive cost efficiencies while steadily building a cultural ritual.

As mixed reactions come in for John Lewis’ annual outing, we can’t help but wonder: was it all worth it?