Our holiday ad series continues with another simple, sweet chocolate commercial. The Hershey’s Kiss Bells commercial is a long running Christmas ad icon.

This famous commercial features red and green wrapped candies delivering their rendition of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” It is the longest running commercial in Hershey history, having aired every year since 1989. A 27 year run is pretty impressive. The combination of brevity and character make this Hershey commercial memorable and lighthearted. The little “whew” from the one red Kiss at the end is just the cute cherry on top. Surprisingly, the commercial wasn’t even meant to be created. The brand manager at the time was ahead of schedule on a project and decided to use the extra time to create this little gem.

This timeless advertisement has almost become a Christmas tradition in its own right, and you can experience the nostalgia with the rest of us by watching it below. Don’t forget to check out our previous posts on Coca-Cola and M&Ms!

Coca-Cola & Santa Claus – Top Holiday Ads

M&Ms “Faint” – Top Holiday Ads

As we continue our series on famous holiday ads, we take Santa and add animated candy characters. In the popular Christmas commercial “Faint” by the Mars company, these candy-coated  known as “Red” and “Yellow” meet Santa and the results are pretty hilarious.

The M&Ms characters were first introduced by the Mars company in 1954, and came to life in animated commercials beginning in 1995. Mars named each character after their color, and gave each of the M&Ms a distinct personality. Since then they have become beloved advertising icons.

In “Faint”, Red and Yellow put a twist on the tradition of setting out Christmas cookies for Santa by setting out red and green holiday M&Ms. When the M&Ms walk in on Santa delivering presents, Red and Santa both faint (hence the name of the commercial) due to their shock.

Even in this short ad, you can get a hint of the personalities of Red and Yellow. Red is the snarky skeptical one, and Yellow seems to still be a child at heart, worrying about if Santa will like their M&Ms. Additionally, by putting twists on Christmas traditions and adding a solid punch of humor in a very short ad, Mars successfully holds the attention of their audience and makes their commercial memorable. The commercial also uses the depiction of Santa Claus that we mentioned in our previous post; the universally accepted fat man with a white beard in a red suit.

Watch the commercial below, and check out our previous post about Coca-Cola and Santa Claus.

Coca-Cola & Santa Claus – Top Holiday Ads

The holidays have always inspired memorable ads, drawing in customers as well as warming their hearts. For the month of December, we’ll be running a series of some of the best holiday advertisements.

Few people know that Coca-Cola actually created the modern depiction of Santa Claus. He wasn’t always the rotund, rosy, jolly man in the red suit. He was portrayed a multitude of ways, depending on the artist. It wasn’t until Coca-Cola hired artist Haddon Sundblom in 1931 that the Santa everyone knows and loves was brought to life. Previous Coca-Cola ads had depicted Santa as somewhat scary and strict-looking. The advertising executives asked Sundblom to create a Santa that was “wholesome, realistic, and symbolic”. Basing his first illustrations off of his neighbor, Sundblom designed the white-bearded, rosy-cheeked icon. Sundblom’s last Santa illustration was painted in 1964, but Coca-Cola has continued to use his depiction in their advertising, and the whole world has adopted this portrayal of Santa Claus.

Coca-Cola produced its first animated commercial in 2001, using the artwork from one of Sundblom’s 1963 illustrations. You can watch this iconic advertisement in the video below.

Be on the lookout for more of our favorite holiday advertisements as the season continues!

November 22 is national Go For a Ride Day. This unique holiday encourages everyone to go on an adventure to anywhere using any transportation their heart desires. November 22nd has seen its fair share of transportation developments throughout history (such as the patenting of the snowmobile), so this day was developed to help people get on the go.

DOmedia has a special tool for advertisers looking to “go for a ride.” Many of our agency partners use DOmedia’s advanced mapping technologies to take “virtual market rides.” The technology leverages the Google Street View features you know and love. Drag and drop the little “street view person”  onto your campaign map and “drive” yourself around any metro area to visualize a campaign you’re planning through DOmedia.

Of course, we still recommend going for a nice relaxing ride after work. But, this is a nice way to get a head start on Go For A Ride Day, without stepping out into the cold.

As consumers spend more time on the go, out-of-home media is becoming an increasingly necessary method to reach them. Rather than being a distraction, we like to see the media becoming part of the community surrounding it. Contextualization allows advertisers to reach consumers with the right message at the right moment, and DOmedia’s advanced OOH technology is making it possible.

Our country celebrated Veteran’s Day last Friday, and came together to thank former and active military members for their service. The DOmedia team olds the military and their families in the highest regard, and we also think they are a particularly interesting audience for advertisers. Many brands want to reach military households, but marketing to them presents some challenges. Here are some tips for “military marketing”:

1- Know Your Audience

The military community is comprised of active duty members, veterans, retirees, and military families. Most active duty service members are young, married men. So familial relationships are highly valued. These families tend to relocate fairly often. Their mobility presents challenges, and local businesses need to be particularly aware that their audience may be constantly in flux.

2- Know Where to Advertise

Military members and their families spend most of their time on or around the base where they’re stationed. DOmedia can be used to find inventory on or near military bases across the country to help target this audience.

3-  Be Short, Sweet, and to the Point

The word “military” often brings images of uniformity and effectiveness, and to some extent military members reflect these attributes. Fluff posts and artsy statements will most likely prove inefficient to a target audience of straightforward military personnel. Make the creative clear and concise.

4- Consider Military Loyalty Programs

Like any other consumer, military members and their families appreciate discounts and rewards programs. Military discounts are extremely popular across several industries. They draw in customers like any other discount, but they also convey a message of thanks to those who serve our country.

Company Highlight: Military Marketing LLC

Military Marketing is a vendor on the DOmedia platform which specializes in reaching service members and their families. Their in-depth knowledge of military advertising and number of display locations makes them an excellent resource for marketing to military members across the country. We asked Military Marketing to share some of their expertise with our readers. Here is a bit of what they had to say:

“In so many ways, active duty personnel represent the crème de la crème of America. Think about this: to gain entry to a branch of service, new recruits must pass a physical fitness test, score high enough on their IQ test, come up clean on a criminal background check and survive the mental and physical rigors of boot camp. It doesn’t occur to most people that everyone who enters the military could probably get into college, but not everyone who goes to college could gain entry into our military.”

To read more from Military Marketing, check out this guest post.