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Christmas Commercials 2018

(October 2018)

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FA
fanoftv
They do seemed to have pushed back a bit in the last couple of years. Halloween seems to have got more ridiculous than ever though - almost as much stuff in shops for it as Christmas now.


I like it. You can embrace the spirit of Halloween, attend the many festivals and events that are happening before moving onto bonfire night and then thinking about Christmas.

As for Geoffrey, it’s a good thing that we have YouTube.
WO
Worzel
Usually, the earliest are on Halloween or the day after. The likes of Argos, Currys PC World and Vodafone tend to launch theirs around that time.


B&Q's typically launch when their Christmas stock goes out in stores second week in November, however they're often filmed in August.

Bizarre fact, I featured in one of their Christmas adverts in 2007 (and ended up directing the thing too).
ET
ethanh05
I'm going to give some context to this.

So, before 2011, Christmas ads weren't this eagerly anticipated. There wouldn't be an individual, lavish advert but more several adverts with the same theme. The likes of John Lewis did do them, but they didn't really catch the public imagination.

Then the JL ad for 2011 came out and, coupled with M&S' X-Factor ad for that year, the battle was on. At first it was just JL and M&S, then Boots joined soon after, before Sainsbury's started making big adverts too in 2013 or so. Before long, everyone wanted to be number one, and 2014 was the year that ads truly became a contest. Nowadays, there's a big deal made out of Very or Co-Op ads, which is a bit trivial.
FA
fanoftv
B&Q's typically launch when their Christmas stock goes out in stores second week in November, however they're often filmed in August.

Bizarre fact, I featured in one of their Christmas adverts in 2007 (and ended up directing the thing too).


I saw Christmas decorations and displays in B&Q this morning.

Which advert was that, do you have a link?
MM
MiniMort
I'm going to give some context to this.

So, before 2011, Christmas ads weren't this eagerly anticipated. There wouldn't be an individual, lavish advert but more several adverts with the same theme. The likes of John Lewis did do them, but they didn't really catch the public imagination.

Then the JL ad for 2011 came out and, coupled with M&S' X-Factor ad for that year, the battle was on. At first it was just JL and M&S, then Boots joined soon after, before Sainsbury's started making big adverts too in 2013 or so. Before long, everyone wanted to be number one, and 2014 was the year that ads truly became a contest. Nowadays, there's a big deal made out of Very or Co-Op ads, which is a bit trivial.

Good history. If you want to go really far back you could say that the first truely anticipated Christmas adverts were for Woolworths in the late 70s and early 80s. Woolworths would get in tonnes of celebrities to star in it and book out entire commercial breaks to show it! No real plot, of course, just some celebs in the store showing off ideal presents like Buzby watches and Binatone TV Tennis Games.
TROGGLES and Night Thoughts gave kudos
BR
Brekkie
Does just about work if you replace it with "Amazon".
NJ
Neil Jones Founding member
Of course back in the day you knew Christmas was coming when Toys R Us used to wheel their ads out Smile


I think they did have a bash or two at actual Christmas commercials but always fell back to the classic one above that first appeared in the 1980s.
VM
VMPhil
I particularly like this catchy 1981 ad for Woolworths starring Benny and Björn out of ABBA:

TROGGLES, fanoftv and DJ Dave gave kudos
FA
fanoftv
It’s a wonderful catchy song too. Brilliant and simple advert promoting the prices. Woolworths was the high street amazon, you seemed to be able to get anything and everything, ultimately that was their downfall.
TROGGLES and DJ Dave gave kudos
ET
ethanh05
First Christmas advert I have seen Worldwide:
FA
fanoftv
How do most Christmas advert campaigns work in the US, will they start to be pushed from the start of November? Is there much of a push for thanksgiving or is that mainly from supermarkets?
AN
Andrew Founding member
I particularly like this catchy 1981 ad for Woolworths starring Benny and Björn out of ABBA:



The main thing to take away from that advert is the massive size of the Quality Street tin.

At £6.89 a time it really was a Christmas treat you had to save up for though.

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