Experts reminisce on Christmas marketing, say digital advertising taking root
By Felicia Nwosu
As the Yuletide approaches, and with the ease on lockdown, marketing experts and brand custodians have argued that the effect of COVID-19 pandemic has not altered the patterns of the usual hustle and bustle associated with festive marketing, but observed that Christmas marketing’s excitement remains intact.
Femi Adelusi, President, Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MIPAN), while lending his voice on the issue, observed that festive marketing has not actually evolved, but pointed out that most buyers are moving on to digital and the number keeps increasing with new sets joining the online train daily. He noted that, with the onset of the festive season, blended with the proliferation of enhanced growth in digital consumption and financial inclusion accelerated by digital payments, there would emerge a new set of buyers on the digital space.
“I wouldn’t say marketing during Christmas has actually evolved, but I think it could be much exciting. With my early days in the industry, there used to be well wowed Christmas campaigns, unique across brands, even marketing campaigns on its own can be a category for an award and the investment in the yuletide is always unique more than any time in the year. I had the privilege of working on brand like Coca-Cola, when I was on the client side, and remember the tree lighting of ‘Coke and Christmas’, very unique, building the tallest Christmas trees in Africa and all of those unique campaigns around Santa activation, so I think it is a bit wild from that perspective as we decide what happens at Christmas, not too sure this year will be different but we are looking forward to see what the brands have in stock for the consumers at Christmas,” he explained.
Mr. Adelusi revealed that ecommerce is experiencing a strong trajectory in growth, noting that, “More than ever before, we need to understand the consumer and develop marketing that speaks to them to connect with them. There is a lot of growth in online or digital marketing because of the nature of consumer today. The lifestyle of consumers are evolving as they want to know what is happening in real-time, so investment in digital advertising is growing, but whether it is overtaking other spectrum is not really the issue . When you look at it in terms of total spends, other channels like TV and OOH even still commands much bigger spend.”
The media buying professional stressed that on an increasing level of digital advertising is the fastest growing platform, as he hopes that a lot of brands would in the years to come invest more and explore digital as an option, because of its unique advantages around evaluation performance, flexibility and cost as well, which do help to drive growth in that space.
Mrs. Joan Ihekwaba, Founder/ Chief Consultant, BJ37 Resources, in similar vein, agreed that digital is winning the marketing battle from traditional marketing, as consumers are looking for platforms where they can shop from the comfort of their zones.
She stated that digital platforms have leveled out the playing field and prepared brands for frequent peaks throughout the year, while she observed that there are buyers who still appreciate the festive rush associated with conventional marketing.
“Unfortunately, the conventional marketing activities have been badly hit. A lot of things have gone online, a lot of the traditional things that we used to do in marketing are suffering but, be it as it may, as Peter Ducker says, ‘When the going gets tough, the tough gets going’. We have to device more options of getting to do what we know best, that’s why we are marketers.”
She recalled how exciting Christmas marketing was in the past, its significance to both the consumers and the brands that employed such periods to generate sales, increase ranking, and deploy channel-wise planning.
The marketing expert advised brand not to focus only on the festive aspect of it, but also to strategise on its positive effects on the society at large during the festive season to help endear loyalty to the brands. She urged them to leverage festive seasons to put a little extra sparkle in the lives of their customers and campaigns in order to be in tune with the season.
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