Carved pumpkins were still peering out of the nation’s kitchens and Wales was enjoying a 22 degree heatwave, but ASDA and Lidl went early for Christmas this year. Stealing a march on the traditional heavy weights of Christmas ads (John Lewis, Sainsbury’s, Tesco et al) they‘ve of course used social media to support their TV adverts.
Since last Christmas the use of video on social media (by big brands) has grown in popularity. So, before loveable penguins and epic films overwhelm us in a couple of weeks time, I was interested in how ASDA and Lidl have used video on social media at the launch of their campaigns…
Overall: both brands appear very much in the “TV ad amplification stage” – across Facebook, YouTube and a little Twitter. It’s obviously very early days, but it will be interesting to see if a video barrage follows up these opening salvos. Instagram and Pinterest await…
Quick caveats: we obviously can’t see how much media spend has been allocated, and Facebook views will usually be higher than YouTube (based on what constitutes a view). So we’re more interested in the where and what, not how many. Numbers as at 11am, 2nd November.
ASDA
The one with funny Christmas moments and a pug dressed as Santa.
- Facebook: started by posting a 5 second teaser, followed up with the full 60-second film (which includes a supporting competition to win £250 for sharing favourite Christmas moments). Views: 647k
- YouTube: just the full ad, so no behind the scenes or alternative edits etc. Views: 16k
- Twitter: no videos on their timeline, just a link out to YouTube. Promoted trend #BecauseItsChristmas used on 1st Nov.
- Instagram: just one photo of the aforementioned pug, encouraging followers to keep an eye on Facebook for the film launch.
- Pinterest: no activity yet.
Thoughts (about video only)
- At this stage the social networks are being used almost exclusively to amplify the main TV ad, with (it appears) the most media investment on Facebook. Given that a promoted trend was used on Twitter, it’s interesting that there’s no video on the @ASDA timeline (of course video may have been used extensively across paid-only “dark” tweets).
Lidl
The one with the school teaching people how to make Christmas go perfectly.
- Facebook: the full TV ad is posted, giving a little bit of insight into what they’ll be doing with the School of Christmas in the coming weeks (which they’ve also pinned). Views: 8k
- YouTube: the full ad is used, but with extended versions of the many different scenes in the ad. There’s nice use of links at the end of the main film to show these off. Views: 0.5k
- Twitter: the full ad is posted, again with a little hint at what’s to follow in the coming weeks (which they’ve also pinned). Promoted trend #SchoolofChristmas used 2nd Nov.
- Instagram: an edit of the film appeared to be on the account, but we couldn’t get it to play 🙁
- Pinterest: no activity yet.
Thoughts (about video only)
- Like ASDA, at this stage it’s very much an amplification exercise, but the extended edits on YouTube suggest lots more to come.