Christmas Advertising Trends 2020 vs 2021

The Christmas season is often synonymous with abundance, enjoyment and entertainment. There is usually increased consumption of goods and services with a corresponding uptick in sales and festive advertising campaigns. However, since the start of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this has not been the same. Job losses and restrictions across various sectors have affected not only the disposable income of consumers but also the revenue of many businesses from conglomerates and multinational corporations to SMEs and budding entrepreneurs. To find out the pandemic’s impact on the advertising habits of brands in the Caribbean, Media InSite is breaking down the insights on Christmas Advertising Trends (TV, radio and press) for November 2020 and 2021 for Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Jamaica markets.

Decline in Christmas Ads for November 2021

Across the board in these territories, there has been a significant decline in Christmas themed-ads for the aforementioned period. The number of ads shifted from 1,907 to 908 in Barbados, from 6,515 to 2,442 in Jamaica and from 16,426 to 8,262 in Trinidad and Tobago. This decrease can be possibly attributed to the economic hardships faced by all businesses during the ongoing pandemic. With understandable financial constraints, many brands may have simply cut back on their advertising for the season.

Changes to the Top 10 Categories and Brands

According to data from our AdKive, most of the Top 10 Advertising Categories and Brands with Christmas-themed ads for 2020 in these three markets did not reclaim their ranks in 2021. Whether this was due to a lack of success in their 2020 campaigns or budget limitations for this year remains to be determined but there are several interesting points to note about the 2021 changes.

-With the recent establishment of ‘safe zones’ in Trinidad and Tobago for vaccinated persons and updates to public health regulations in Barbados, many brands in the entertainment industry have seized the opportunity to push their businesses this season. As such ‘Expositions, Conferences & Fairs’ in T&T and ‘Live, Theatre and Music’ and ‘Cinemas’ in Barbados are among the Top 10 categories for Christmas ads in these countries.

-In Jamaica, ‘Hardware and Home Improvement’ remained among the Top 2 categories for both years (1,183 ads in 2020; 751 ads in 2021), with Home & Tings, Bashco and Rapid True Value among the top advertising brands.

-‘Paint’ was the only Top 10 advertising category common in the three markets for both 2020 and 2021, though its rank fluctuated across the board. Considering that house-painting is a cultural norm across the region during this festive season, this was expected.

–Berger Paints in Barbados was the only brand that reclaimed its top advertising spot with 523 ads in 2020 and 404 ads in 2021.

Decline in Christmas ads at the end of November

In addition to the general decrease in advertising this year, one surprising development based on our data was the decline in the number of ads towards the end of November 2021. While early November may be considered a pre-Christmas period, advertising would be expected to increase closer to December, but this was not the case. The spike in ads during the period November 24-26 is also worth noting, with possible links to the general pay-day period.

Did any of these Christmas Advertising Trends surprise you?

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