Very launches pre-Halloween Christmas ad as consumers shop early

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Oct 1, 2021

Reports that supply chain issues mean consumers will shop early for Christmas this year are spurring retailers to action and very.co.uk on Friday unveiled its Christmas TV ad.

Its data shows that Christmas-related search terms — both on-site and via external search engines — started earlier this year, “with numbers starting to pick up from early August as families look to supercharge our ‘comeback’ Christmas and rekindle the magic”, it said.

The 30-second ad kicks off a multi-media Christmas campaign running throughout the festive period that covers key consumer touch-points across above-the-line and out-of-home “and invites us all to unashamedly embrace the excuses that are unique to the season and make Christmas so special”.

The multi-category online retailer added that it’s “targeting those who like to plan ahead for the festive period”.

The film debuts on ITV on October 1 at 9pm ahead of popular detective series Grantchester and “depicts the confused reaction of Halloween trick-or-treaters, when they arrive at a house fully decked out for Christmas. The inhabitants, who are wearing Christmas jumpers and trimming the tree while dressing their dog in antler accessories, hand the perplexed young witches and vampires a mince pie each as their ‘treat’.”

The ad launch comes 85 days before Christmas with the film also featuring a choir of carol singers performing a version of Holly Jolly Christmas, with updated lyrics “that tell how Christmas is the best excuse of the year to get away with so many things we wouldn’t ordinarily do”.

That includes kids doing chores to get into Santa’s good books and we see twin boys “enthusiastically washing dishes as they glance at a picture of a new console they’ve stuck to the fridge, while a third child stands next to the sofa with a tea towel over his arm, waiting on his parents who have put their feet up”.

As well as the surveys that show many consumers will shop early for Christmas, the new ad also reflects the fact that 2021 will be the first ‘proper’ Christmas since 2019 after 2020 was scaled back at the last minute due to the pandemic. 

Very Group marketing chief Carly O’Brien said: “After Christmas was pared back for many last year by last-minute lockdowns, we wanted to get into the spirit early and unashamedly embrace the season as soon as the leaves start to fall. As the ultimate Christmas enthusiasts and champions of now, we have focused on empowering and enabling our customers to say yes to all the excuses that make their Christmas so wonderful.”