The holiday season is the time for really memorable campaigns, and this year was no different! December presents brands with the perfect opportunity to advertise, make a statement, or both – and we love to see the creativity! Here are our favorite social media campaigns of December:
#TheWindowProject
In big cities all over the world, stores go all out with holiday window displays. The Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses (OAITH) partnered up with the Yellow Brick House to present #TheWindowProject. These organizations took that opportunity to create a display in the window of Toronto’s Untitled & Co. store, featuring a family of mannequins sitting around a holiday dinner table. Pay close attention to the display and you’ll see the husband’s hand flip upward towards the wife’s upper body, causing her to flinch backward and the children to cover their faces. This can be shocking to passersby, but it brings attention to an important cause that tends to get ignored. The holidays can be a confusing time for women in abusive relationships where they feel they need to put on a happy face for the season. Those who see this window display have the ability to make a $5 donation to OAITH by texting a number displayed on the window. Each time a text goes through, the display is paused for 60 seconds at a time. This shows shoppers a physical representation of what their donation can do! Proceeds will fund support for women and families impacted by domestic violence in Canada.
#ChallengeMeBrad
PepsiCo brand manager, Brad Jakeman, made a controversial speech back in October at the ANA Masters of Marketing conference, where he expressed his dislike for small advertising agencies, warning that the agency model is going to break. HERO Group, a small boutique agency in New York, says that Jakeman is looking in the wrong places. Using the hashtag #ChallengeMeBrad, HERO Group suggests that big brands like PepsiCo should take another look at the work coming out of small agencies and hire them. This campaign shines a light on boutique marketing, showcasing the lesser-known agencies that are bursting with talent. Check out Liqui-Site’s showcase of recent project, Killing Season Chicago.
#GenderFreeChristmas
Gender norms can be stifling to children, especially when they just want to play! Système U, France’s fourth largest food retail group, wants to break down these barriers with #GenderFreeChristmas. The ad starts with young children discussing stereotypes associated with different toys – boys play football and girls play with tea sets. Yet when the kids are let loose on an amazing playground filled with toys, their playing habits exhibit something completely opposite to what they expressed in their interviews. Girls play with plastic tools and cars on tracks, the boys care for baby dolls and make dinner in a kitchen set, demonstrating that their opinions are more reflective of what they have been taught than what they actually believe. While the kids played, photographers took photos for Système U’s Christmas catalog, taking a stand against the usual holiday gender-specific hard sell. If more toy retailers take this route in their marketing, kids will grow up in a world where they can feel free to be who they want to be without the pressure of gender roles. As the ad states, “There are no toys for girls or boys. Just toys.”
What was your favorite campaign this month? Let us know in the comments below and make sure you check out our campaign roundups for November and October!
