Christmas Already

November 6, 2024

Twas the day after Halloween, and all through the shop,

The pumpkins were no longer, wop wop wop wop wop.

Mince pies, Christmas puddings, decorations and that,

Shelf upon shelf of barely-November Christmas tat.

It's Golden Quarter, that time of year when retailers and brands run from tentpole event to tentpole event barely stopping for breath. And in the shops, barely a day after Halloween, the pumpkins, witches hats, spiderwebs and bats have all gone and been immediately replaced with mixed nuts, stollen, advent calendars and crackers.

System 1 are already on high alerts, assessing the Christmas ads to see what will win Christmas this year. And actually that is quite exciting. After forever of there being the Super Bowl, a game I will never understand being peppered with hugely ambitious and expensive adverts for brands I've never heard of, being the advertising and marketing olympics, we have our own here courtesy of John Lewis and Adam&EveDDB.

It is an annual event, and it is something to celebrate. The big guns come out with their best. John Lewis are going into year two with Saatchi & Saatchi, Aldi - who have won Christmas the last couple of years - will be bringing back Kevin the Carrot in some guise or other and M&S are likely to have Dawn French back bringing her own very British charm. But what else, and who will win?

Of course, with all the rush to hit the ground running for Christmas you do have to spare a thought for Halloween. Not really a thing when I was a kid, it is no doubt now a big cultural event over here in the UK. But it doesn't seem to have got the same degree of thought and love as Chrimbo. Not if the multitude of "all treats, no tricks" messaging is anything to go by.

It feels lazy. Even worse, it feels bland. It lacks distinctiveness and I honestly couldn't tell you anything about any of the campaigns I've seen out in the wild for Halloween this year.

But that's Golden Quarter, and we all have to make choices especially when you add in other events such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday and cultural events such as Divali.

Anyhoo, enjoy our Super Bowl and be kind in your criticism of the work you see. It'll be the result of people working their arses off and putting their necks on the line, but they've got work out there and that's not easy.