Coca-Cola Christmas

Coca-Cola revives popular 'holidays are coming' ad
by Nikki Sandison Brand Republic 16-Nov-07, 13:05

LONDON - Coca-Cola is bringing back its 'holidays are coming' ad, following scores of calls to its customer information centre from people who said it marked the beginning of Christmas.

Coca-Cola has decided to use two of its best-loved ads during the Christmas period, kick-starting with "holidays are coming" from November 18.

This will be followed by its latest Christmas ad "the greatest gift", created by Mother last year.

The "holidays are coming" ad features a train of red Coca-Cola lorries bedecked in fairy lights driving through a snowy landscape. Everything they pass lights up as people turn to stare at the lorries driving through.

"The greatest gift" brings back the traditional image of Santa with the aim of capturing the magic of Christmas and celebrating the gift of giving.

Coca-Cola will also be running two on-pack promotions created by BD-NTWK during the festive period, including "win a white Christmas" on 500ml bottles of Coca-Cola, Diet Coke and Coke Zero.

A gift-giving advent calendar is also featured on Coca-Cola and Diet Coke 24x330ml multipacks.

http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/767575/Coca-Cola-revives-popular-holidays-coming-ad/

Advertisment Analysis

Advert One



After analysing the Christmas Coca-Cola advert it is clear to see that specific sterotypical themes run throughout the majority of christmas adverts. In almost every clip a reference to Santa Claus or snow to give strong reference to childhood themes and traditions. The character represented is often shown as friendly and kind, shown as a large jolly figure. In this specific clip a polar bear is used as it resembles purity and snow. The constant theme of christmas is ran throughout with traditional black and red coca-cola colours alongside specifically selected music to relate to views and ideas all encouraging viewers to be misled into believing that bears and penquins do actually drink coca-cola and that it is a traditonal christmas beverage.

Advert Two



In this specific advert based on the combination of christmas and thanksgiving a turkey is shown purchasing a box of chocolates from Thornton's and using them as 'a perfect gift' to win back appreciation of the farmers, and to prevent him being killed. Although it is not the theme of christmas the anti-climax of the short story reflects 'the meaning of christmas'. With the entire cast coming together in harmony to enjoy christmas with thorntons.

Advert Three



Advert Four



This advert features numeous old styles of sale psychology with use of bright colours and happy festive music.

Evaluation so far.....

After reviewing critical research gathered from both consumer surveys, questionnaires and internet based resources. I have came to a partial conclusion of the advertising agencies messages broadcast over the christmas period, and the affects it has on peoples budgets and limitations.

In recent years christmas has gradually became a 'Hallmark Holiday' powered by the advertising industries, as they subliminally encourage children to ask for the latest forms of fun and entertainment at any cost. Gifts ranging from the illustrious Playstation 3 with its excessive price tag to pets and toys. Overall the market is being over-ran by celebrity endorsements which cause audiences to feel social desirability to be more like the celebrities by purchasing the products that they supposedly use themselves. Budgets are constantly increasing from year to year with companys paying millions to have endorsements, these companies span across Nike, M&S, Tesco, Asda and Morrisons. Certain companies to keep to traditonal ideas using father Christmas to portray their products. Coca-Cola is the main culprit using the saints image to appeal and sell soft drinks to children. An example of celebrity encouragment can be seen in the 2007 christmas advertisment broadcast by the Tesco company, which shows the Spice Girls shopping after gifts supposedly for one another in a Tesco store. The video discussion below shows the opinion of Jonothan Gabay on endoresments.



Watching TV right now is a bit like being the most attractive person in a pub at the end of Saturday night. All the high-street retailers are bounding around desperately trying to impress, flashing their cash and showing off their cool mates as they bid to get you in bed, in a strictly financial sense.
M&S has hired Antonio Banderas to smoulder, Bogart-style, alongside the usual crowd of Twiggy, Erin O'Connor and Lizzie Jagger. Tesco has recruited the Spice Girls, while Boots has opted for unknowns but seems to have recruited thousands of them in a Cecil B DeMille version of the office party. Indeed, it's pretty much like the golden age of Hollywood every time there's a commercial break, with Sainsbury, Woolworths, Next, Argos and Asda joining the unseemly jostle for space.


So enthusiastic are these campaigns that you can almost smell the desperation. The bottom line is, well, the bottom line. And it's not looking good. The summer was as dismal for the high street as it was for us - rain kept the pavements empty and the credit crunch made shoppers cautious. Accountancy firm Ernst & Young predicts that retailers will dominate the list of companies issuing profit warnings come yuletide.
This final month and a half of the year is the big chains' last chance - the period when they usually make up to 20% of their cash. Why else would John Lewis take to the small screen for only the second time in its entire history? The result - shadows and piles of gifts set to Morning Serenade from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet - is exactly the kind of awkward, arty attempt to join the fray that you'd expect from the patron saint of middle-class consumerism. We may have to advertise this year, the campaign is muttering, but we're certainly not going to go with all that nasty, noisy Woolworths stuff.

All of which means, according to Marketing magazine, a cool half a billion pounds spent on advertising before you add in Antonio's fee. So now it's over to us. Just remember that everything comes down in price on December 26

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,2211106,00.html

Spice Girls Join Tesco

It seems Victoria Beckham is not too posh to shop at Tesco.
The supermarket chain has recruited the LA-based style queen and her Spice Girls band mates to front a series of Christmas advertisements this festive season. In the one-minute commercial, featured on Telegraph TV, YouTube and due to hit television screens soon, Posh Spice prances into Tesco in search of the perfect gift for her fellow band members but is shocked to discover Baby, Scary, Ginger and Sporty also in the supermarket aisles in search of a cut-price Christmas.
The girls spend their time trying to hide from each other - behind books, Christmas trees and toys - while picking up bargains along the way. With their money-spinning reunion tour about to kick off, it seems Christmas has come early for the Spice Girls. They each reportedly earned a cool £1 million from Tesco for the commercial. Unfortunately for Tesco, however, Victoria Beckham is on the record as saying her favourite shop is Marks & Spencer. Just before the Beckhams moved to LA, she said: "You can get most things out there but what I will miss is M&S. I missed it when I first moved to Madrid and it is the first shop I go to when I'm back."
Tesco is the latest store chain to cash in on reformed 1990s pop groups. In September, Marks & Spencer unveiled boy band Take That as the new faces of its menswear ranges.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30400-1290218,00.html

M&S BAG BANDERAS

Big high-street retailers will signal a big push for Christmas sales next week with the launch of TV advertising campaigns.

Leading the way will be Marks & Spencer, which has signed up A-list movie star Antonio Banderas to front adverts that recreate memorable moments from classic Hollywood films.

But competing for screen space will be retailers who traditionally do not use TV advertising such as John Lewis and Next.

Many retail chiefs have forecast trade is going to be tough this Christmas and they are pouring cash into advertising to persuade shoppers to part with their cash.

Last year's M&S Christmas campaign had a James Bond theme and starred Dame Shirley Bassey. Banderas - who starred in the Mask of Zorro - will appear with M&S's usual roster of models: Twiggy, Erin O'Connor, Laura Bailey, Lizzie Jagger and Noemie Lenoir.

The adverts, which will be unveiled next week, are understood to re-enact famous scenes from movies like To Have and Have Not, where Banderas takes the Humphrey Bogart role, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

M&S's advertising, masterminded by marketing director Steve Sharp, has been credited with helping to rebuild the reputation of the retailer, which unveils half-year results next week.

Next week also sees the launch of a John Lewis advertising campaign. It is spending more than £6m to promote the 27-strong chain of department stores - three times last' year's advertising spend - and will be using TV adverts for only the second time in its history. The adverts, which use shadows and piles of gifts, are set to Morning Serenade from Prokofiev's ballet Romeo and Juliet. The image will also be used for billboards and press and in cinema and online advertising.

Next recently unveiled its first national television advertising campaign for more than a decade. It is pouring £20m into advertising this year - double last year's marketing budget.

Chief executive Simon Wolfson said recently that he was "acutely aware that the full effect of recent interest rates has not yet filtered through to our customers" and despite the advertising push forecasts a dip in sales of up to 3.5%, compared to last year, over the current six months.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=491409&in_page_id=1773

Question Revised

How far, and to what extent do advertisments around the christmas period of the year affect peoples boundaries of spending?

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