Get Inspired: Our Favorite Holiday Marketing Campaigns of 2017

December 14th, 2017 | 6 min. read

The holiday shopping season kicks off long before Black Friday and Cyber Monday – to stay ahead of the game and get the most bang for their buck, shoppers are making holiday purchases as early as September. This means online retailers must make it easy for those customers to make purchases as early as possible. As always, the best way to do this is through shoppable digital experiences. From buying guides to quizzes, these content types make it easy for the frustrated and over-burdened holiday shopper to cross every name off their list. These rich experiences provide guidance when it’s most needed, and instant shoppability means the consumer can make purchases quickly. Below are some of our favorite live examples of holiday marketing campaigns, and what makes these shopping experiences stand out from the crowd:

Godiva

Godiva’s “How do you holiday?” gift guide is a content winner on all counts. It’s fun and interactive, and acknowledges that sometimes, shoppers want to get a little something for themselves. To help, this quiz guides customers through three simple but festive questions to determine their true holiday “vibe.” And with integrated quickviews, shoppers can purchase the featured chocolate items instantly, without wasting precious time scrolling through category pages.

La Vie En Rose

This digital experience is a beautiful example of gift guides done right. Bright graphics and rich photography bring the page to life, and quickviews create a fast and seamless path to purchase. And we love how easy it is to navigate to the brands’ other holiday gift guides, keeping customers exploring the website. Shoppable experiences like these make holiday purchases easy, giving shoppers one less task to worry about during this busy season.

Harvey Nichols

The holiday season is filled with special events – office parties, Yankee swaps, New Year's Eve, and more. Harvey Nichols’ animated gift guide has an outfit for every party, and makes online shopping genuinely fun. Text message-style gifs add a delightful element of surprise, while rollover animations and video allow customers to truly interact with the content. This dynamic experience is sure to stand out from the noise and keep shoppers coming back for more well beyond the holidays!

Reebok

Gift guides that take the stress out of holiday shopping, while making the experience engaging, stand out to us. Reebok’s experience does just that. It’s richly visual, with bold graphics to keep the shopper engaged with the content. And the sliding carousel format lets shoppers switch between workout personas, making the page easy to navigate. But what really takes this gift guide to the next level is its instant shoppability. Simply click an item to activate a quickview and immediately add the product to your shopping cart, then exit the lightbox to return to the experience. For a holiday shopper who is in the inevitable time crunch, instant shoppability is a must.

Turn5

Turn5’s Holiday Gift Garage experience succeeds because it presents a wide variety of options, while still remaining highly curated (and therefore easily digested). Customers can shop by price or by the personality of the car’s driver. From “The Speed Demon” to “The Show Stopper,” there’s something for everyone. And by including clickable sliding carousels and animations, the experience is both engaging and dynamic. As a final touch, Turn5 includes shopper reviews and team bios to establish that all-important brand connection.

Omnicheer

We love how fun and interactive this experience is, perfect for a brand whose audience is comprised of children and their parents. A graphical Christmas tree takes center stage in this experience, with clickable ornaments that activate quickviews for instant shoppability. And for the shopper who’s in a rush, they can simply click the bow on top of the tree to activate a lightbox with every product featured in the page. It’s a thoughtful touch for a stressed-out mom or dad. The experience is whimsical and instantly shoppable – a perfect combination for a holiday buying guide!

New York & Company

It’s easy to forget that holiday shopping goes beyond the standard gift exchanging. Customers also have opportunities to shop for themselves, and retailers that acknowledge and facilitate this are likely to get ahead. A great example of this is New York & Company’s holiday dress boutique experience. What makes this experience so successful is how it capitalizes on a universal event: the holiday party. This buying guide makes it easy for women to find the perfect dress, and discover styling inspiration in the process. With integrated quickviews, customers can quickly add to cart without ever wasting a moment scrolling through a product grid.

Ellen Hutson

Holiday experiences shouldn’t make shopping feel like a chore; to stand out from the standard online process of scrolling through product grids, experiences should be fun and engaging. With this objective in mind, Ellen Hutson’s holiday gift guide is a complete content home-run: it’s delightful, interactive, and instantly shoppable. Featuring embedded educational videos, integrated quickviews, and a personality gift-guide quiz, there is something for everyone in this experience. And because there is so much to explore, shoppers remain on the page, boosting engagement metrics.

Francesca’s

Online holiday shoppers have two main goals in mind: find the best gift for everyone on their list, and do it fast. They don’t have the time (or the patience) to scroll through page after page of product grids. They want everything they need in one place. That’s why holiday experiences that provide inspiration for a wide variety of gift recipient personas are so impactful. Francesca’s holiday gift guide delivers products for everyone; from family stocking stuffers to your hostess-with-the-mostest best friend, this long-form experience makes it fast and easy to do all your holiday shopping in one place. And with bright graphics and colors, the buying guide is fun and perfectly on brand.

Annie Selke

Holiday shopping can be overwhelming – there are so many options to choose from, it’s easy to be stricken with choice paralysis and leave a retail website altogether. Holiday content should make it seamless for a shopper to select a gift their loved one will be sure to love, and avoid the dreaded buyer’s remorse. Annie Selke’s gift guide does just that. Shoppers simply take a fun embedded personality quiz to access a curated collection of products for everyone on their list. From “The Modernist” to “The Spa Lover,” there is something for everyone, taking the guesswork out of holiday shopping. And because the experience is interactive and engaging, shoppers are sure to stay on the page. We especially love how this experience gives customers the option to do a little holiday shopping for themselves!

Bonmarché

One of the biggest differentiators your holiday content can provide is instant shoppability. Customers complete their holiday shopping online for a reason – they don’t have time to fight their way through mall crowds. They want to get their shopping done quickly and painlessly, and the best way to deliver this is through integrated quickviews. Bonmarché’s holiday lookbook is a great example of this. Shoppers can click through the experience at their own pace, and the moment inspiration strikes, they simply click to activate an eCommerce-enabled lightbox. And because they aren’t taken to a separate page, they can remain in the experience to continue shopping.

Gardener’s Supply Company

During the holiday season, shoppers are inundated with noise – from their email inbox to their Instagram feed, they are constantly hit with products and content. To stand out, retailers need to serve up digital experiences that are rich, interactive, and memorable. We love Gardener’s Supply Company’s holiday gift guide for just this reason. It’s bright and exciting, with gifs, animations, and shopping inspiration. Holiday customers will stay on the page just to continue shopping and exploring. And with integrated quickviews, shoppers can buy something for everyone on their list in just a few clicks.