Source: Amazon Holiday 2019 ad
The retail industry appears headed for a solid, if not spectacular, holiday season. A wide range of forecasts from the National Retail Federation and others point to an up year following a positive, if slightly below expectations, performance in 2018. Digital sales are once again expected to take a higher percentage of overall retail sales during the last two months of the year, with NRF, Deloitte and others forecasting dollar gains from around 11 percent on the low end to 18 percent at the top.
With the above as our backdrop, we’re ready to kick off week one of year seven of the RetailWire Christmas Commercial Challenge. This year’s competition, as in the past, will feature commercials from two retailers every week. The RetailWire community will choose which one has done the most effective job of communicating their company’s holiday value proposition to consumers.
With one week to go before Black Friday, we offer one 1:30 spot from e-tail giant Amazon.com and two 30-second ads from its smaller, artisan-driven rival, Etsy. May the best commercial win.
Amazon goes upbeat with its “Everybody” singing box spot that features human connections and the company’s capacity to deliver what consumers want and need for Christmas.
Etsy takes the “it’s better to give than receive” adage to heart with its two spots that hail the joy in giving to those we love during the holiday season and the special nature of gifts created by the site’s artisan sellers.