As the 2020 holiday season rounds the corner, one starts to think about how this season will be different from previous years. According to Jeffry Batash for MarketWatch, 22.2 million Americans lost their jobs due to Covid-19 shutdowns and as of August, only 42% of those jobs have been recovered. Masks, hand sanitizer, and standing six feet apart is now our new normal. The new normal holiday season advertisement trends may look like this:
Advertisements will be primarily digital with an increase in social media purchase options
Consumers should expect an increase in email marketing promotions in their inboxes. More people are online shopping than ever with a 20% expected growth in e-commerce according to ExtraCrunch.com. Since Instagram introduced Shops in 2019, its expanded to include their IGTV and Reels features. Due to more people being home and on their phones, advertisers will do less out-of-home ads and more digital.
Advertisements will feature bored-at-home families starving for the latest toy or tech development
Holidays equal family. A theme that may resonate with the families of 2020 is being stuck at home. What is the cure to being stuck at home? New toys and new tech gadgets to make being at home just a little more bearable. Consumers should expect to see a lot of bored, cooped up families in this holiday season’s series of ads.
Advertisements will have more diverse actors to include different cultures and religious communities
A common theme in 2020 outside of Covid-19, is diversity. With the BLM movement, advertisers will be conscious of who is cast in their ads. In order to be representative of their target audience, there will be an increase of different cultures and even different religious celebrations in 2020 ads.
Advertisements will come out earlier
Due to Amazon Prime Day and Best Buy’s early Black Friday Sale, we can expect holiday advertisements to start early this year. Amazon Prime Day and Best Buy’s sale is set for October 13-14. This will likely be the start of the holiday shopping season for the majority of US shoppers. For those who miss these sales, we can predict that other advertisers will release deals soon after.
A focus on creative ways to spend the holidays
In response to Progressive Insurance’s innovative commercial campaign featuring works titled “Mara Unmuted,” “Tech Issues,” and “Role Play,” we can expect more companies to share commercials taking place over video chat. Some predictions include holiday parties or sharing holiday meals virtually with at-risk or long-distance family members. Another route would be to feature actors wearing masks or respecting social distancing procedures. Advertisers could win points with Millennial and Gen-Z consumers by introducing the new normal to the 2020 holiday season.
Sources:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/holidays.html
https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/350799/progressive-launches-work-from-home-campaign.html
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/restaurants-and-retailers-have-regained-the-most-jobs-since-the-coronavirus-crisis-but-theres-a-catch-2020-08-07
COVID-19 pandemic accelerated shift to e-commerce by 5 years, new report says
