Year-end deadlines and a daily drone of awful headlines reflecting natural and manmade disasters often make this December emotionally challenging. Curiously, I’ve found some respite from an unlikely source: a slew of holiday-themed, cause-related videos from the US and abroad.
To my eye, these commercials do not smack of “causewashing” but reflect long-term efforts by the sponsoring companies to show they are dedicated to giving back and encourage the public to join them.
This is the season for cause-related television advertising
In the UK, retailer John Lewis’ Christmas ad is the most anticipated commercial of the year. Always heartwarming, this year the company departed from tradition and made a cause-related story central to its funny and touching creative. To avoid accusations of being a spoiler, I’m not revealing the twist — you’ll be glad you invested a minute in watching by clicking here to watch “The Beginner” — and to read their backgrounder on why they took this tack.
Crossing the pond to Canada, WestJet continues its tradition of issuing what they call their annual Christmas Miracle video. It’s tough not to get teary-eyed hearing the stories of surprised passengers given the opportunity midflight to donate nearly $700 each of the airlines money to their choice of charities.
The airline has demonstrated such talent at creating meaningful holiday video moments over the years that it is has won Engage for Good Halo Awards five times since 2015. Overall WestJet will be donating about $150,000 to charities through this effort which is only one piece of their multi-faceted community investment program.
Here in the US, two automotive campaigns hit my radar screen this month.
The creative centerpiece of Kia’s “Season Of Giving Back” is “Holiday Joyride,” a commercial shot at St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis that enabled young patients and their parents to take a virtual trip to the North Pole without ever having to leave the St. Jude campus. The company has pledged to make a donation to St. Jude based on each vehicle it sells and delivers between November 11 and December 31, 2023 with a guaranteed minimum of at least $1 million to St. Jude.
That’s an impressive number, but kudos for re-upping the biggest and longest-running year-end automotive charity program once again goes to Subaru for its incredible Share The Love program.
Now entering its 15th year of linking donations to vehicle sales, Subaru expects that Share The Love will break the cumulative $250 million donation mark this year. The program nationally supports The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals® (ASPCA®), Make-A-Wish®, Meals on Wheels America® and the National Park FoundationTM
"The Subaru Share the Love Event is one of the most important times of the year for our retailers and by giving back in such a significant way, we demonstrate that Subaru is More Than a Car Company and our retailers are More Than a Car Dealer," said Alan Bethke, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Subaru of America, Inc. "It means so much to our retailers, and us at Subaru of America, to hear stories about the impact these funds have on so many different causes, people and pets across the country."
In these challenging economic times, it will be fascinating to see how many marketers employ cause-related creative in February at what is arguably the biggest television-centric event of the year: The Super Bowl. Stay tuned!
