Christmas commercials 2020: A behavioural perspective

From love letters to nostalgia, supermarkets in particular embraced festive advertising this year. 

After the 12 months that was 2020, finding the right balance between acknowledging the pandemic and bringing festive cheer was clearly top of mind for the creative execution in these holiday campaigns. So, who sits on top of the Christmas tree?  

Although we might think our decisions are rational and well thought out, every day our brain has to make 35,000+ decisions, meaning we need to take shortcuts.

At Total Media, we’ve looked through our behavioural lens at the Christmas adverts from three major supermarkets to analyse who stood out from a behavioural and cognitive perspective and draw a conclusion on which advert will have had the greatest impact on consumer behaviour.

And the nominees are…

John Lewis was among the first to inject heart-warming sentimentality into Christmas ads, and this year is no different. In Give a Little Love, we follow a sentimental and hopeful storyline centred on kindness, helping others and sharing love. The references to the pandemic are subtle but relevant, touching on the small acts of kindness that have helped communities, families and individuals get through the pandemic.

Tesco opted for a totally different approach, aiming for laughs instead of tears. In No Naughty List we see a series of confessions related to consequences of the pandemic and lockdown in a humorous way. For example, buying too much toilet roll, or not singing happy birthday whilst washing your hands. However, the core message of the advert is to absolve consumers of any guilt from behaviours that could have put them on the naughty list, instead encouraging them to indulge and treat themselves this Christmas.

Sainsbury’s The Gravy Song takes the most head on approach in addressing the impact of the pandemic and the uncertainty in the lead up to Christmas. We see a sentimental and nostalgic reflection of a modern family Christmas, and follow a family hoping to be able to enjoy roast potatoes and gravy together on Christmas Day. The creative really taps into family values and a sense of nostalgia, whilst acknowledging the very real thoughts and concerns many of us will be experiencing at the moment.

The behaviour behind the scenes

Emotions are extremely powerful in dictating how we behave and navigate in our everyday lives. Although we might think our decisions are rational and well thought out, every day our brain has to make 35,000+ decisions, meaning we need to take shortcuts - also known as cognitive heuristics. What's called the 'affect heuristic' allows the current emotion we are experiencing to guide the decision-making process, therefore triggering a specific emotion through creative advertising, which can influence consideration and purchase of the brand being advertised.

It is easier for us to process [Gravy Song] due to the emotional congruency between what people see in the advert and what they are feeling.

Retailers should not underestimate the role that affect heuristics play in the way we respond to ads. To demonstrate this, we tested all three adverts using predictive AI algorithm software to understand how engaging and cognitively demanding each advert is. Gravy Song shows the lowest level of cognitive demand (14%), compared to No Naughty List (17%) and Give a Little Love (18%). This suggests Gravy Song was predicted to be the least taxing on the brain to process and engage with – explained by the affect heuristic. It is easier for us to process the advert due to the emotional congruency between what people see in the advert and what they are feeling.