Retailers have seen the growing power of social media in promoting their Christmas ads this year, as millions of viewers go online to view ahead of TV debuts.
John Lewis’ Monty’s Christmas ad, which tells the festive story of Sam and his penguin Monty, launched on social media on November 6, a day ahead of its first TV airing. Today the department store group said the ad had been viewed seven million times in the first 24 hours, seven times as many as at the same point last year. To date, the ad has received 16m views. ‘Monty’ has also become the most searched for term on the John Lewis website.
John Lewis is also taking the Monty theme into the store. Visitors to the in-store Monty’s Den can use technology including Google Cardboard to enter a 360 degree virtual world, interacting with Sam and Monty, the boy and penguin from the ad.
Craig Inglis, marketing director, John Lewis, said: “We hope our customers will love Monty and Mabel and they will have more chances than ever to interact with them through some genuinely exciting technology firsts.” John Lewis’ Christmas Barometer, published today, showed that online sales lifted by 17% in the week to November 8, while total sales reached £95.7m, 5.1% up on the same time last year, and 3.9% up on last week.
John Lewis has not been alone in sharing its Christmas ad on social media. Argos previewed its TV advert to its million Facebook followers in the hours before the first showing of its Advent calendar themed ad, which launched on Friday.
Carl Nield, head of brand marketing at Argos , said: “This advert will deliver energy and excitement into millions of living rooms to provide a modern twist on Christmas, while also demonstrating all of the top brands now available at Argos – ranging from Bose to KitchenAid.”
Meanwhile, Waitrose has taken customer engagement to a new level, asking its shoppers to donate their voices to its Christmas ad. Members of the public uploaded recordings of their voices singing Dolly Parton’s Try, which were then remixed to create the soundtrack.
