Creative Holiday Advertisements of 2013

Every year, businesses spend countless hours (and dollars) on holiday advertising to make sure they appeal to everyone possible during the buying season. This means in order to increase their sales every year, their ad creativity has to trump last year’s.

This year, our digital marketing agency found a few commercials and print advertisements that we thought were pretty creative for the 2013 holiday season:

Apple

Probably the most talked-about commercial recently, Apple’s story plays with the fact that everyone is on their phone these days. The ad features a “misunderstood” teenager who seems disconnected from his family during the holidays and ends on a surprise, “heartwarming” moment:

Hellman’s

Turning a mayo-covered spoon into Santa Claus’ face is pretty clever:

Busch Gardens

In this Busch Gardens commercial, a young boy tries to make sense of the idea of Santa by questioning the realness of it all – like how he gets down and up the chimney. The ad targets parents, showing them that the theme park can bring the magic of Christmas back into any kid’s life:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpxqSMi02yM

Mercedes

It definitely takes a creative person to look at the grill of a car and see a Christmas tree:

Harvey Nichols

This London-based luxury department store went in a different direction when it comes to the idea of giving: Instead of spending your money on others, spend it on yourself. We wouldn’t exactly call that good holiday spirit, but it sure is creative:

McDonalds

One of the few ads that features both Christmas and Hanukkah (made of fries, of course):

Best Buy

Using popular comedians like Will Arnett and Maya Rudolph, Best Buy created a series of commercials that advertised its products and services. All of the words are read by celebrities as if they were reading “Twas the Night Before Christmas”:

Heineken

We thought using Santa was a great way to remind people that drinking and driving is a bad decision:

Foot Locker

Like Harvey Nichols, Foot Locker approached the holidays with a different (and uncommon) concept: How to get out of spending time with your family. Their slogan “Get out; Rule the holidays” is aimed toward those who would rather be doing something active instead:

Publicis

How do you advertise an advertising company? By turning a pencil and sharpener into a Christmas tree:

Google Nexus

The holidays means spending time with your loved ones, so to advertise the Nexus 7 tablet, Google’s U.K. division created a commercial that shows how the tablet can help connect those who can’t be with each other.