Why Brand Building Should Be a Priority, Even During Major Sales Moments
The holiday season brings an abundance of festive-themed ads, many of which fall into two distinct categories: rational sales-activation (salesmanship) and fame/brand-building (showmanship). Salesmanship ads appeal to buyers currently in the market, featuring deals and product demos to drive immediate returns. Showmanship campaigns are less direct in their selling, featuring engaging narratives to create lasting emotional connections, in turn building equity that pays off well beyond the season.
The stark differences point to a key challenge many marketing departments face. They are often structured with separate performance and brand teams developing different creative that will aid them in achieving their respective objectives. While some successfully collaborate to deliver creative that is well-aligned and performs across short- and long-term metrics, many others are siloed, resulting in numerous executions without a common thread that also result in gaps in effectiveness.
How can brands multiply the effect of their marketing and go beyond single-objective campaigns, not just during the holidays but beyond the season?
Black Friday Driving Greater Media Investment
Every year Black Friday puts pressure on brands to convert customers.
Adobe Analytics reports that Black Friday spending for 2024 hit record levels, with shoppers buying $10.8 billion worth of goods online, and Cyber Monday saw an additional $13.3 billion.
Advertising plays an important role in nudging consumers’ digital and in-store visits and purchases. With many brands relying on holiday season spending to drive strong EOY sales figures, consumers are inundated with promotional messages throughout November and December as advertisers attempt to break through the noise. Data from Kenshoo Skai reveals that retail media spending to support Black Friday nearly doubled year over year (92%).
With more spend being directed to advertising during the festive period, is ‘more’ also the best course of action for creative? Research shows that emotionally resonant brand-building ads can effectively drive short-term sales uplift, proving that you can achieve both the short and the long with one well-executed campaign. Not every brand will want to limit itself to a singular festive ad, so how can it multiply the impact of a creative platform that has multiple executions? Media buys are incredibly complex, requiring a wide range of ad units, so brands need to ensure they have a feasible red thread to connect the ads (both brand and sales-focused) when they release more than one.
Let’s look at a few of this year’s holiday season ads to understand how salesmanship and showmanship coexist and how to get the most impact from creative.
Brand-building Bullseyes
This year, Target’s lead ad “Happier Holidays from Target” positioned the brand as a trusted holiday destination, offering a uniquely joyful experience. The ad framed a visit to Target as more than just shopping; it’s a Target run. It captured the magic of the season with aisles decorated with twinkling lights and holiday garlands, and whimsical elements like an in-store ice rink with animated penguins and a slumbering polar bear. Scoring 4.1 Stars, the ad bolstered its brand-building efforts by including the beloved Bullseye mascot and Target’s distinctive red, reinforcing the brand’s identity.
Meanwhile, in another series of ads, Target introduced audiences to Kris, a holiday hero dressed in red, inspired by Santa’s ‘Kris Kringle’ moniker. One of the spots led with storytelling and song, showing Kris getting ready for a day of work at the retailer. It scored above-average on both long-term brand-building and short-term sales potential in System1’s testing.
The second, a strict deals-focused ad titled “He’s Hot, But These Target Turkey Deals Are Hotter,” features the same character but scored lower on both metrics. Ads that lean further towards salesmanship can be effective for quick wins, but they often lack the emotional depth needed for long-term impact. Target’s turkey deal ad humorously showcases a shopper marveling at discounted prices, but it prioritizes product over narrative. With the grocery market being fiercely competitive, the chain needs to find ways to win grocery share through the showmanship lens for long-term growth. A storyline with Kris and holiday turkey that steers away from the price and focuses on a stronger narrative will speak to consumers.
Kris has the potential to be a beloved fluent device (a recurring brand character) should Target continue to invest in him year on year. Fluent devices take time to build familiarity and maximum engagement. But they have the exceptional ability to deliver brand-building benefits and sales uplift. They can be used across multiple executions quite easily, quickly signaling the brand and eliciting strong emotional resonance among audiences. Perhaps Bullseye has some competition!
Consistently Strong on the Long
Walmart is no stranger to strong brand-branding performance.
In 2023, the retailer’s “Holidays, Find Your Thing” ad hit high marks across the board, with 5.1-Stars, exceptional short-term sales potential and a rare 100% brand recognition score. The spot, which shows special moments of togetherness during the season, also put Walmart in the top 10 holiday ads of the year.
This year, Walmart once again follows its successful formula. “Give the Gifts That Show You Get Them” taps into the universal experience of finding the perfect gift, featuring relatable moments and beloved TV and film characters to foster an emotional connection that resonates with viewers. The ad scored a strong 4.2-Stars and an exceptional Spike Rating, predicting a short-term boost while also cementing Walmart as a good choice well beyond the holidays.
Walmart also unveiled a 10-part, star-studded “Deals of Desire” series to promote Black Friday savings. Heavy reliance on celebrity appeal and niche cultural references can sometimes limit emotional resonance for a broader audience. A few of Walmart’s “Deals of Desire” spots score slightly above average on long-term effectiveness, but they mainly shine on short-term sales potential.
Some might argue that Walmart would have been better off investing the costly talent fees from the deals series into additional media spend for its main ad. That being said, the retailer does a great job of reinforcing its brand in its performance work, with bright blue Walmart boxes serving as distinctive assets and the “give the gifts that show you get them” slogan tying all the creative together.
Singing from the Same Song Sheet
It’s no surprise that the world’s largest online retailer goes big for Black Friday and the holidays. Amazon’s “Midnight Opus” is a standout example of showmanship’s impact. Featuring a theater janitor whose hidden vocal talent is discovered by his colleagues, the ad weaves Amazon’s service into the story without stealing focus from the star. The campaign scored incredibly well on both Star and Spike Ratings in the US and UK.
The retailer also aired a set of promotional ads, “Amazon 5-Star Theater,” featuring monologues from actor Adam Driver inspired by humorous product reviews but delivered in his familiar serious tone. They performed well on Spike Rating, including an ‘Exceptional’ result for the 90s edit, which many ads struggle to achieve. Without a link to the emotionally driven “Midnight Opus,” these ads traded sales over storytelling. In the best-case scenarios, brand campaigns don’t run in isolation from performance or salesmanship advertising – the creative sings the same song no matter the goal.
Multiplying Creative Impact
Research from Les Binet and Peter Field underscores the effectiveness of emotional messaging in advertising. Their work, The Long and the Short of It, reveals that ads driven by pure emotion have a longer lasting impact than rational, sales-focused messages. Emotional campaigns create long-term brand equity while naturally driving short-term sales.
System1’s analysis of over 40,000 U.S. ads that aired from 2018 to 2024 supports Binet and Field’s work: 92.1% of ads achieving high Star Ratings (long-term growth) – those that emotionally resonate not only with buyers currently in the market – also delivered above-average Spike Ratings (short-term sales potential). In contrast, high-performing salesmanship ads – those prioritizing rational, feature-led messaging – rarely entertain for long-term commercial gain. The long often takes care of the short, but the inverse – the short achieving the long – is rarely true.
With brand-led thinking at the heart of advertising, marketers can better execute brand and performance advertising. By using distinctive assets, similar style and tone of voice, and consistent themes, advertisers can link numerous executions to one central creative platform that prioritizes an emotional connection to the brand – even if, or perhaps especially if, a different team is responsible for the more performance-led work.
Kroger executed this approach with their holiday ad “Share your food, share you heart” which scored exceptionally well on both long and short metrics. The spot focused on showmanship by using its brand assets (animated “Krojis”) to tell a heartwarming story of sharing and togetherness. The supermarket chain also put its Krojis at the center of its promotional holiday spots, and other spots during the year, and these connected well with consumers.
In January 2025, WARC, System1, Analytic Partners, BERA.ai and Prophet will release The Multiplier Effect, a joint report showcasing brand advertising as the main driver of sales and exploring the combined force that brand and performance advertising have when they are not treated as siloed activities. Register to be among the first to get the research.
