It’s the Christmas Season (already…), because New Zealand's promotional and advertising push actually began at least a month ago, when I saw the first Christmas ad on TV. I held off sharing any ads then, not only because I felt early/mid October was far too early for Christmas, but also because, at the time, I’d only seen one ad on TV.
In the weeks since I saw that first ad, more have joined the pack, so I started creating this year’s YouTube playlist (above). I began this new playlist tradition last year when I noticed how many posts now have missing videos (ads in particular), which kind of makes those posts pointless. It’s only been one year, but so far this has proven to be a good idea: All of last year’s ads are still available.
I have a set of criteria I use for the ads I include in the playlists. First, they must be airing on New Zealand television, not merely online or on social media or whatever. Second, they have to be New Zealand companies, or companies that are connected to New Zealand. This is because international ads might be seen in many countries, though our ads aren’t necessarily seen elsewhere (the word “necessarily” is actually relevant to this list).
At any rate, on to this year’s list. The annotations below include spoilers, so you may want to watch the videos first. All that out of the way, here’s a bit more about the videos, all of which are included in the order I first saw them:
1. “Make Someone Happy” – Michael Hill Jeweller. This is what I was actually thinking of when I said ads “have to be New Zealand companies, or companies that are connected to New Zealand”, because Michael Hill Jeweller, although founded in New Zealand in 1979, is an international company headquartered in Brisbane, Australia. They operate in New Zealand, Australia, and Canada, and their Christmas ads run in all three countries, however, they “aren’t necessarily seen elsewhere” (which is why this ad is “relevant to this list”). If they have a Christmas TV ad next year, I can just link to this rather than explain it again, right?
Anyway, this ad focuses on a small part of last year’s ad, “Make Their Christmas”—literally. The little boy in that ad passes a present to a girl through a stone wall, and that scene is repeated in this ad—and updated with the now-adult characters. In last year's ad, the boy also hands a Christmas present to his mother with the tag, “to the love of my life”, one assumes from his father, and that line is also repeated in this year's ad. Finally, the backing song is, once again, "Only You" by Yazoo, a song I blogged about in 2020 because it had become strongly personal for me. In fact, it still is, which is probably why I like the ad so much—even if New Zealand doesn’t have snow at Christmas. It's also kind of refreshing to see ads revisit characters from previous ads and show them in an entirely new context. That's not done enough, in my opinion.
The rest of the ads on this year's playlist are from New Zealand companies.
2. “Let's make Christmas magic (30 seconds)" – New World. New World is one of two supermarket chains in New Zealand, and the only one that is New Zealand-owned (each store is individually owned). I think this ad is fun—especially the guy’s rapid-fire explanation for why they’re doing the “impromptu Christmas song”. One of the people sings about “glasses for free”, and glassware is in a lot of shots. This year, New World is offering a glassware promotion, but the song is the only place it’s even hinted at, unlike last year’s “Something’s cooking at New World” ad, which prominently featured the cookware promotion they had on at the time. Personally, I much prefer this year’s approach. [Full disclosure: I shop at both New World and Australian-owned Countdown.]
3. “Get Christmas magic delivered (15 Seconds)” – New World. This ad is related to the ad Number Two, but promotes Christmas delivery of groceries. I thought this ad was a clever add-on to their main Christmas ad. [Full disclosure: I've never used New World's delivery service, but I do use the one from Countdown.]
4. “Nigel's Christmas Wish” – The Warehouse. This ad is—well, kind of odd. It reminds me of some UK stores' Christmas ads from years past, and it’s nice and all, but I kind of don’t get the message? I mean, apart from the obvious, the “Whatever your Christmas wish. The Warehouse.” tagline. I any case, I didn’t know it was called “Nigel's Christmas Wish” until I went to create this year’s Christmas ad playlist, and it made me smile. I think my Nigel would’ve smiled, too. [Full disclosure: I shop at The Warehouse.] Update – December 1: The Warehouse has been partnering with a radio station brand on “12 Days of Wishmas” to give people around the country a prize package and $3,000 cash, and part of that involves taking “Nigel” on tour around the country for the presentations. The short videos of each stop are broadcast each evening during the news broadcast (and can be seen at the link).
5. “The Home of Christmas” – Farmers. This ad is for Farmers, a 113-year-old New Zealand department store. They’re also running some specific product ads, but this is their sort of general Christmas ad. The ad is fine, but their ads are generally not particularly special or creative—not that it matters to me: I shop at Farmers (especially for clothes), both in person and online, and it’s probably my favourite department-type store in New Zealand.
6. “Mitre 10 With You All The Way This Christmas” – Mitre 10 New Zealand. This ad is from Mitre 10, a New Zealand-owned chain of home improvement stores. Unlike it’s largest competitor, Australian-owned Bunnings, Mitre 10 is a co-operative. This year’s ad is built on a series of TV ads they’ve run promoting DIY [for example, watch one such ad, “Mitre 10 With you all the way 45 sec”]. I think the ad works by itself, and also as part of the series. [Full disclosure: I often shop at Mitre 10, as well as Austrian-owned Bunnings Warehouse.]
Update – December 1, 2022: Additional ads either started airing or the videos only became available after the original post. They are:
7.
8. “Air New Zealand presents ‘Not quite Silent Night’” – Air New Zealand. Air New Zealand started their Christmas TV advertising a little later this year than last year (this ad just started airing on December 1), and this year’s ad is less focused on the airline than previous years’ ads have been. Maybe it’s intended for multiple markets? It’s a simple, sweet ad, but I bet that “certain people” will be upset about the use of Christian Christmas Carol as the backing music in an ad centred on Santa Claus, but I know for sure that “certain people” definitely will be upset by the fact the song is sung in Te Reo Māori. Bah! Humbug! Personally, I don’t have a problem with either, but I did think that “Silent Night” was an odd kind of song choice, though the ad takes its title from the song.
9. The Countdown to Christmas is now underway" – Countdown. This is an ad for Australian-owned supermarket chain Countdown, and I almost missed it—mainly because it's so similar to their ordinary weekly promotional ads. On the other hand, it's actually not all that different from other supermarket ads promoting Christmas supermarket shopping that I've shared in the past, including ads from overseas, so it makes sense to include this ad, too. The last notable Christmas ad they've had (in my opinion…) was back in 2018.
Those are all the Christmas ads—so far, at least. It's possible I missed some by not watching at the right time (or maybe just not paying attention during the ad breaks…), but I don't think so. Actually, it seems to me that there’s been less variety in Christmas ads the past couple years than there used to be, especially not as many international ads (like, for example, Christmas ads for soft drinks). There's another ad running, one for NZ Post, but I featured that one in my first Christmas Ad post in 2019, and it hasn't changed.
If any more NZ ads start airing—and it's still possible since, as of today, it's still more than five weeks until Christmas. If there are more, I’ll add the videos to the Playlist and the annotations to this post. However, you can also follow the direct link the YouTube Playlist if you’d rather skip my comments. In any event. Merry watching-mas!
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