What's Up at The Holiday Campaign Factory?
What's Up at The Holiday Campaign Factory?
And what does it say about where we are at culture-wise?
There is something magical about capitalism this time of the year. Everything you buy for yourself is a well-deserved indulgence and everything you buy for others shows just how caring and loving you are. Jolly downtown storefronts double as free entertainment and holiday sales feel like a treat for staying responsible all year. People from all walks of life - magazine editors, Substack writers, and TikTok girlies all over the country, come together to help you figure out what to get for people you love but don’t have the deepest connection with.
Many of the “perfect gifts” get repeated across several gift guides - big headphones, vintage cameras, and glossy lip balms, which isn’t much of a holiday surprise. Each of them can be traced back to some sort of a social media trend that happened in the last couple of years - the hot girl walk, the clean girl look, and the newest edition of what a cool IG looks like. It’s like watching a sizzle reel of how the online culture has impacted the mainstream taste and shopping habits over the past couple of years, as if the only identities available to us anymore are the ones curated by the algorithm.
An even more bizarre reflection of where the culture is at today are the holiday marketing campaigns. This time of the year is when every creative team in the country is taking their best shot at capturing today’s culture to prove that they are still relevant enough to secure a spot under your Christmas tree and make their shareholders’ revenue wishes come true. Two years ago, Glossier shot a sexy holiday campaign featuring a couple of stars from the Gossip Girl reboot. The pandemic restrictions were just lifting off and we were desperate to put on lipstick, party, and kiss hot strangers. Last year, the same company shot this adorable mother-daughter winter campaign for the Swiss Miss Balm Dot Com. That was the beginning of us realizing that influence on TikTok translated into influence in real life and this microinfluencer family duo was someone we loved rooting for. This year, things have gone quite low-fi and meta. The teaser and the main video for Glossier’s holiday kits show FaceTime calls, text messages, IG-story-like front camera shots, and a “get ready with me” scenario. Dedcool, a young beauty and personal care brand most known for their detergent, launched this meta holiday gift shop that plays a welcome message from their founder Carina Chaz at the top, and even though I know it’s a real video, I can’t shake the feeling that it’s AI-generated (does it not look like this Meta AI intro from Kendal Jenner’s Billie?). Kendall’s own 818 Tequila did a social-native ASMR video for the holiday-themed Golden Espresso Glitter Bombs drop in contrast with last year’s professionally shot campaign for 818 Reserve.
Obviously, social got so saturated with sponsored and shopping content, that brands were forced to learn how to better blend in with user-generated content to get people to pay attention rather than scrolling right through - hence the videos produced by a five-people creative team that look like something you could have shot and edited on your own. The lines between virtual and real got blurred for far more people this year as more people figured out how to monetize their lives online and developed even closer parasocial relationships with strangers online which shines through the online store experiences and meta visuals. And lastly, but maybe most importantly, the For You Page put brands on a tight production schedule as discovery grew and audiences became less loyal. I saw this video from Oren John talking about “brand velocity” in which he analyzed the pace of the latest drops from Skims. Just this past month, Skims launched Skims Men, the nipple bra, a Swarovski collab, an NBA partnership, a Holiday shop, and Mens Lounge. Each of six (!!!) launches involved at least one professional photoshoot, an influencer gifting campaign, and Kim’s behind the scenes content. That’s an impossible pace for most businesses to keep up with but nevertheless, it’s the pace they are expected to compete with. If you’ve already launched your holiday campaign this month, you’ve got to have another two months worth of content to produce to keep your brand top of mind for people to shop it.
It’s also the pace at which people shop which is likely why mini holiday packages are the ones getting the most love this year. Out of all Glossier holiday items, their mini blush duo is the one people are most excited about. Their competitors, Merit and Rhode went the opposite direction and launched full sets of essential products. It makes sense to me that young girls all over the country would love to find a full Rhode set under the Christmas tree this year. But Merit’s customer base is more mature and conscious about their consumption. The brand’s kit includes two holiday-only products but in order to get them, you need to purchase the full bundle that includes three other products that Merit’s loyal customers already have in their makeup bags. I can see a smaller bundle of the limited-time products being a bigger hit, especially because their Solo Shadow launch that happened a few months ago was so record-breaking for them.
Besides minis, people are also loving the holiday drops that turn staple brand products into an excuse for a party or a dinner host gift. We’ve already covered 818 Tequila’s genius Glitter Bombs. Fishwife, the company that successfully rode (or maybe even created?) the tinned fish board trend on social, dropped a nice holiday set that comes with a couple of fish tins, a Fredericks and Mae cutting board (maybe my favorite kitchen purchase I’ve ever made) and a set of Fredericks and Mae utensils. I loved their play on a holiday staple too - a soy candle poured into a branded tin, because it’s such a great host gift that makes people stop in their tracks to process the fact that it doesn’t smell like fish.
If a brand does have the time and money to shoot full-on holiday campaigns, the people staring in them are recognizable in at least a couple of different demos, have something going on besides content creation and an audience loyal enough to pull anywhere they go with them. Aritzia went with their Gen Z ambassador Emma Chamberlain, model and chef Gabbriette Bechtel, race car driver Toni Breidinger, and singer Maria Zardoya. It’s safe to say that after a couple of years of watching washed up Soho influencers, seeing any of these girls sell or do anything feels like a breath of fresh air. Djerf Avenue broke their fans’ world by working with Sofia Richie. This one is a bit of a stretch in terms of having something else besides content creation going on (fine - she is still the NUDE Beauty Director at Nudestix) but nevertheless a very fitting pairing for Matilda and her brand that’s got a PR machine and a massive audience built around her. Versace worked with Hyunjin from a Korean boy band Stray Kids and the most fascinating part of this partnership for me isn’t that he more than 10x’ed the brands engagement on social but also got them an ad placement on Spotify’s home page which gives off the vibes of a billboard in his fans’ metaverse (very smart but also spooky!). Another luxury brand Jacquemus went with Kendal Jenner for their holiday campaign which is disappointing for many people in the fashion world but makes sense for a brand that keeps every supermodel on call all year.
The one thing that stays constant throughout the years is our longing for a little nostalgia around the holidays. Skims’ quite literal take on a 70s magazine cover is effective simply because it’s a rare sighting of the sophisticated editorial Kim done by the same photographer who broke the internet with this shoot in September (Her GQ Men of the Year shoot that came out since has topped anything she’s ever done in my opinion though). Diesel did also a quite literal but nevertheless provocative and effective take on holiday nostalgia by referencing VHS adult films. And maybe my favorite, modern take on the classic holiday colors, light and attributes is Julia Fox’s shoot for a holiday gift guide by SSENSE.
Finally, this year’s holiday season wouldn’t be complete without a couple of oddball observations to set the tone for the year ahead. First - why is every millennial home goods brands really into non-edible items shaped like something that belongs on a plate? Grape soap, baguette candle, and the olive pillow just to name a few. And why is Gen Z really into collecting cute little guys, like Sony Angels, Miffy, Smiskis, and random charms? Are both of these something we are exposed to on social? Are we due for a one-eighty turn from minimalism? I guess no holiday is truly magical without keeping some things a little mystery.