We’re moving from sweets to soups in our top holiday ads series. The Campbell’s Soup Snowman commercial has warmed hearts as much as the soup has warmed stomachs during the Christmas season.

Since it started running in 1995, the Campbell’s Snowman commercial has portrayed how soup helps to fight off the cold and warm everyone through the frigid holiday season. It focuses more on the comfort and feeling created by a warm bowl of soup rather than the product of Campbell’s soup itself.The special effects are also pretty spectacular for a commercial of the mid 90s, as the snowman melts into a little boy. The transformation is also a cute surprise for those watching, and it suddenly makes sense why the snowman is drinking very hot, very salty soup. This irony adds humor to the commercial on top of the cuteness, giving everyone a reason to smile.

You can watch the adorably creative commercial below, as well as find the links to the previous posts of this series.

Coca-Cola & Santa Claus – Top Holiday Ads

M&Ms “Faint” – Top Holiday Ads

Hershey Kiss Bells – Top Holiday Ads

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.