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With growing supply chain fears and talk of delays, brands pushed ahead with holiday messaging earlier than ever this year. Well before Halloween, retailers urged consumers to start their holiday shopping early (as reported by CBC) to avoid stock shortages and shipping delays in December. Even online retailers increased their presence through TV and radio advertising. Looking at our ad tracking products below are some highlights of top advertisers across TV and radio this holiday season.
Radio advertising
Shack Shine was one of the first on air in Toronto promoting their Christmas light fitting service since mid-September. After Halloween, the weekly weight of Christmas radio spots more than doubled compared to the previous week. Some people may be in for a noisy holiday as Long & McQuade have been promoting their musical instrument products heavily for the past few weeks.
TV advertising
There have been some shifts in the retail category with electronics stores and clothing stores not running as heavy weights as last year. However, Walmart is back with the return of the Walmart bear who took a break last year as did Leon’s Furniture.
Overall TV activity from online advertisers in November was 12% higher than last year helped by increased activity from the online betting category (Jackpot City & Proline). Other online advertisers such as YouTube, Amazon, Shopping Channel Store & Kayak.com also have a stronger presence on TV than last year with Wayfair winning top prize for biggest tear-jerker ad.
It seems the major story of Christmas advertising this year will come again from Peloton. Following their misstep in 2019, Peloton are back with a heavy TV campaign (and radio in Toronto) featuring Scrooge “getting hella swole”. Of course, they weren’t expecting the adverse publicity from Mr Big but thanks to Ryan Reynolds, they quickly managed to turn the tables on social media.