Target and Lexus' Holiday Campaigns – Hit or Miss?

Becca // November 29, 2010 // Advertising // 4 Comments

Thanksgiving is officially over and the the holiday commercials have already begun to run. As expected, some are impressive, others, not so much. It didn’t shock me that most of the car commercials were dull and unoriginal. As I wrote in my post last year about holiday car commercials, the giant red bow is way overdone. This year is no different.

One auto maker kept this age old symbol of holiday car giving, but did it in a creative way.  Even though Lexus still incorporated the big red bow into their commercial, they did away with many of the other standard car commercial visuals (Think a single car zipping along an empty road).

In fact, the car itself got very little screen time at all. At first, I wasn’t too sure what the commercial was for. It looked a lot like the Macy’s commercial. I was interested from the beginning and wondering what the end product was (Where are they going with that giant roll of wrapping paper?). When they finally revealed the car, I was impressed. As a marketer, I understand the power of creating a commercial that both surprises viewers and intrigues them. This spot managed to do both.

The script was also clever. The opening line, “let’s be honest, no one ever wished for a smaller holiday gift,” was both memorable and true. Almost any consumer can relate to wanting a big ol’ giant present to unwrap. This line taps into the underlying American belief that bigger is better, and challenges people to abandon the typical mall gift for something much greater.

While the commercial was very creative and got my attention, there are some who have objections. Suzanne Kane of Family Car Guide shared her thoughts on the big red bow and the thought of people actually buying cars for the holidays. “Yes, it’s an attention-getter – the first time. But after a while, you tend to get a little annoyed. Who can afford to give a car away at Christmas these days?” Well put Suzanne.

You can judge for yourself, here:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTfAHoZhnFI]

My other favorite holiday commercial is the continuation of Target’s Black Friday and 2-day sale “tip” campaign. This is only the start of their holiday advertising, but this campaign alone consists of  eight different commercials. That’s a ton (The rest of their holiday commercials are being rolled out the week after Thanksgiving, which was a decision based off of consumer surveys)!

Some of these commercials might be considered a little bit “out there” but they still are entertaining and get your attention. Each spot features a crazed housewife, Maria Bamford, who is absolutely obsessed with Christmas. You can check out Maria’s craziness below:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKiLOY9LaS0]

Say what you will about the campaign, but it has certainly garnered a lot of chatter. Rebecca Cullen from AdFreak says these ads frighten her and describes Maria as, “She hasn’t slept in days, she’s convinced she’ll ‘win Christmas,’ and I hope to God she doesn’t knife me if I get to the doorbusters before her.”

On the other hand, some people appreciate these and I have to agree with Mike Bindrup’s thoughts, “What is great about the creative in this campaign is the fact that we all know someone like her, and we all secretly want to like her in some way: devoted to our cause of choice.”

I feel in whole there is no middle ground on these Target commercials. People either really like them or absolutely hate them. But either way, they are certainly talking about them, making for great PR exposure for the company.

What are your thoughts on these two different company’s holiday commercials? Do you think Lexus broke through the typical holiday car commercial even though they still had the big red bow? And what about Target – do you think they deserve a well done or a what were they thinking?