India – New Delhi’s shopping center, Select CITYWALK, has launched a new campaign that seeks to fulfill forgotten Christmas wishes and inspire people to keep believing in ‘miracles’. 

The campaign, which was conceptualized by digital agency RepIndia, celebrates the adage of “never stop believing in the magic of Christmas,” aims to ignite the spark of ‘magic’ and ‘hope’ for Select CITYWALK’s guests of all ages.

Titled ‘#MerryWishmas‘, the film features the Select CITYWALK team asking its guests what they wanted for Christmas as little children, and giving it to them as a surprise at the end of the video. The film aimed to capture the genuine warmth of surprised smiles, ending with a heartwarming message – “Make someone’s wish come true and their happiness will stay with you forever!”

Gitanjali Singh, Select CITY WALK’s vice president of marketing, commented, “This year, with our #MerryWishmas campaign, we decided to fulfill some cherished unfulfilled wishes of shoppers and our store staff and the reaction we got was truly heartwarming.”

Meanwhile, Nikhil Kashyap, RepIndia’s assistant vice president of strategy and client success, said, “I am glad we were able to assist Select CITYWALK to deliver the right experience through poignant, relatable storytelling.”

Singapore – The short video sharing platform TikTok continues to rise in popularity globally, with the app being the most-downloaded app across Google Play and iTunes globally on Christmas day, the latest data from mobile data and analytics company App Annie.

Social media platforms Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp–all owned by the recently rebranded tech giant Meta–ranked second to fourth. Meanwhile, social messaging platforms Snapchat and Facebook Messenger ranked fifth and sixth respectively.

Encrypted messaging platform Telegram ranked seventh, highlighting continued consumer patronage of encrypted messaging services along with strong network effects from a growing user base.

Singapore-grown Shopee ranked eighth, the highest-ranking shopping app worldwide, driven by strong uptake in India, LATAM, and Southeast Asia. Spotify ranked ninth globally for downloads. The music streaming app likely received a boost in demand from its end-of-year ‘wrapped’ campaign that has been widely shared on social media.

Lastly, video editing platform Capcut ranked tenth in the most-downloaded apps globally.

In terms of games, ‘Brain Story: Tricky Puzzle’ by Onesoft ranked first following a version released on Dec 21, 2021. ‘Poppy Rope Game’, an open-world action game by Zego Studio ranked second and ‘Rocket League Sideswipe’ by Psyonix (Epic Games) ranked third — a race car soccer game popularized on PC and console, this is the latest example of a gaming title successfully migrating to mobile.

Meanwhile, streaming platforms YouTube, Disney+, and HBO Max all ranked in the top 5 as demand for streaming exclusive content remained. In the case of YouTube, consumers preferred to subscribe to remove ads. It is also noted that digital collectibles app VeVe ranked ninth by spend — an indication of the demand for NFTs.

In terms of games, ROBLOX saw the greatest consumer spend as gamers worldwide spent Christmas day building in the metaverse and upgrading avatar skins and other in-game consumables. Free Fire ranked third for consumer spend — further evidence of online multiplayer gaming driving deep engagement and cross-device play.

India – In a very clever Christmas campaign by India-based delivery platform Swiggy Genie, we see a version of Santa that is all-ready and excited to explore other ‘job opportunities’ aside from his main holiday task of bringing gifts to everybody’s household.

Created together with digital creative agency Dentsu Webchutney, delivery platform Swiggy Genie aims to present its app benefits of being a reliable hand in delivery, most especially gift-delivery this holiday, through none other than Santa, who is shown outsource the task himself to the platform, hence, now ‘more available’ for other work. 

To add further quirkiness to the #SantaOpenToWork campaign, the main ad has been made a parody of the emerging ‘video resume’ with the campaign team even cooking Santa up his very own LinkedIn profile.

Sneha John, director for marketing at Swiggy, commented, “We wanted to remind Swiggy users and non-users alike that they can depend on Swiggy Genie to take care of gift deliveries and other chores this Christmas season. The #SantaOpenToWork campaign does just that, with some Christmas cheer and smart humor.”

To create more buzz around the campaign, Swiggy has used their Genie Instamart channels to drop unbranded flyers and business cards from Santa, with a special QR Code leading people to the video. The agency shared that tear-able posters were even put across multiple corporate offices to target ‘possible’ employers. 

Sanket Audhi, creative director at Dentsu Webchutney, shared that the campaign’s idea revolved around the question – If Swiggy Genie is taking over deliveries, what will Santa Claus do? 

“But we knew we had a winner when we thought of crafting the entire campaign around the #OpenToWork feature, which has become an instantly recognizable mnemonic. I hope people have as much fun watching the campaign as we had creating it,” said Audhi. 

Digital ads have been launched across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Wynk, and Inshorts, leading people to the video resume.

Auckland, New Zealand – In a bid to remind all of us to always keep safe come the Christmas festivities, New Zealand-based agency Motion Sickness has launched its newest campaign for their clients that plays on the notion of protocols we use to keep safe from COVID-19.

Titled ‘Scan In Santa’, the campaign features an artisan biscuit containing a directive for Saint Nick to follow the COVID protocol, all contained in a QR code. By scanning it, not only ensures that people can meet Santa safely this year, but each box also represents an NZ$40 donation to the Auckland Foundation COVID-19 Community Response Fund.

Will Macdonald, creative at Motion Sickness, said, “Given the events of the past year, it’s understandable that people might feel apprehensive about welcoming strangers back into their homes, let alone a paunch-bellied old man down their chimneys. With this in mind, we wanted to ensure Santa’s sack contains nil but joy.”

The campaign is a Christmas-themed target to the ‘new normal’ of relentless sanitizing, mask wearing and generalized droplet anxiety that has left this Christmas tradition in peril. In addition, with the long tail of COVID-19 wrapping itself around everything in its path, the preservation of a wholesome 2021 Christmas was paramount.

Meanwhile, Sam Stuchbury, founder and executive creative director at Motion Sickness, commented, “Let us be your Bloomfield as you sleep peacefully through the night, before Santa fills your stocking with everything you ever wished for.”

Manila, Philippines – If there is one thing that Filipinos also anticipate come the Yuletide season, it would be the roll-out of annual film festivals. These year-end film festivals usually create loud buzz as a fixture that celebrates the diversity of Filipino cinematography, and in the spirit of this along Christmas festivities, soft drink brand Pepsi in the Philippines has teamed up with creative agency BBDO Guerrero to release its newest campaign, ‘Pepsi Hit Sa Sarap Christmas Blockbusters’, an ode to the genres that define Philippine cinema. 

The campaign comprises three short digital films, which all use the same dialogue but each with a different theme, which all ends on how a pairing of Pepsi makes the Filipino ‘noche buena’ tastier. 

The first film ‘Familia Noche Buena’ (The Family Dinner) is a short creative take on a dramatic holiday get together. Meanwhile, ‘May Kumagat sa Dilim’ (Something Bites in the Dark) puts a supernatural Pinoy spin on the table, and lastly ‘Eats Sarap 2B With U Again’ (Eats Good 2B with U Again) takes on a slapstick comedy for a cheeky session with friends.

Speaking about the campaign execution, Mikey Rosales, marketing director at PepsiCo Philippines, said, “Pepsi wanted to create something different this year. While most of us are celebrating another Christmas at home, we also know that get-togethers might not always be cheerful – it can be dramatic at times – but together with Pepsi, there’s always some fun to be found in the sharing, the bonding, and of course, a tall glass of Pepsi.”

All of the films feature local Pepsi endorsers and influencers: YouTube content creator Pam Swing, Filipino basketball player Ricci Rivero and Internet sensation Mimiyuhh, alongside longtime endorsers and seasoned actors, Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla.

Meanwhile, David Guerrero, chairman at BBDO Guerrero, commented, “What’s great about this is that we brought the spirit of Filipino film festivals into the audience’s homes. A light-hearted reminder of what we used to enjoy outside, and put a spin on it to spread good vibes and cheer to families and friends celebrating the yuletide seasons in their homes.”

Philippines – Grab has extended GrabGifts, its in-app gifting capability to now allow users to send gifts to loved ones on-demand outside their home country. Users will now be able to send vouchers and gifts to family and friends in Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. 

The enhanced gifting experience is powered by two new features, which is Grab’s revamped GrabGifts interface, and a new 100+ Cities Delivery feature, in BETA version, which enables users to order and send food and physical gifts from GrabFood and GrabMart merchant-partners that are available in the recipient’s city within an hour 

Grab said that the enhanced feature is in response to the current travel restrictions that continue to be unstable amid new Covid variants. The platform said its survey among Grab users in Southeast Asia revealed that more than half intend to send gifts on-demand to loved ones in other cities. 

Grab’s CMO Cheryl Goh said that while Grab was primarily marketed to answer to personal needs, the platform has eventually grown to be “a powerful vehicle” for building and maintaining connections between loved ones. 

“But with many countries yet to fully open their borders, we wanted to do more. We are so excited to now be able to bridge even longer distances between loved ones. We hope this will bring a festive cheer to all our users in Southeast Asia,” said Goh. 

The voucher categories under GrabGifts span Grab’s food, mart, express, and transport services. As part of the new interface, users will be able to send their recipients up to three voucher options to choose from. In addition, users will also be able to select from a range of designs and add in a personalized message.

Australia – As the Christmas countdown begins, beauty brand The Body Shop launches an integrated Christmas campaign to inspire customers to spread joy with purposeful gifts that give back through.

Developed together with Havas Group agencies, the new campaign aims to expand The Body Shop’s global self-love campaign that encourages customers to be ‘kind’ to themselves and to inspire ‘selfless love’ to others. 

Titled ‘Spread the Love, Share the Joy This Christmas’, the positive activism campaign includes strategic media planning and buying through Havas Media Melbourne, earned and influencer via One Green Bean (OGB) with creative by Marilyn & Sons.

The media features high-impact formats on CTV and BVOD across YouTube and Spotify, and sponsorship of brand-aligned podcasts, as well as content partnerships with publishers. A full-funnel social strategy has been put in place to ensure the ‘Spread the Love. The ‘ Share the Joy’ message dominated Instagram and Facebook, while a competition, which invites customers to nominate someone who brought them joy in 2021, was designed to drive audiences to The Body Shop’s Joy Hub platform.

Shannon Chrisp, The Body Shop’s brand and activism director for APAC, shared that since its global ‘Self Love Movement’, the brand has encouraged many people to embark on a journey toward self-love. 

“As an activist brand, we advocate the idea that you must first love and honor yourself in order to give back to the world and create true change. And now, we are asking our joyful collective to channel their self-love into selfless acts of love and kindness – to flip their internal focus outward in order to spark a joy movement this holiday season,” said Chrisp.

The campaign’s creative leads feature a colorful 30-second video that puts a lively spin on the illustrated global creative, using animation over live-action to spotlight acts of kindness and giving from friends, teammates, and strangers.

The multi-faceted earned and influencer approach also saw The Body Shop join forces with ‘Joy Squad’ ambassadors and charity partner Little Dreamers to shine a light on the estimated one in 10 selfless children and young adults in Australia who provide unpaid care to a family member.

Caitlin Huskins, Havas Media’s digital integration director for Melbourne, shared that in creating the work, they needed to ensure that the brand is able to stimulate real connections through the activation plan.

“A collaborative effort through Havas Media, OGB and Marilyn & Sons to build a meaningful plan through joyful creative, influencer content and media partnerships has built a true connection with our target audience, encouraging viewers to share joy to more than one through The Body Shop,” said Huskins.

Meanwhile, Hannah Stalder, One Green Bean’s head of creative services, said, “We set up a diverse and creative Joy Squad of ambassadors including media personality Abbie Chatfield, comedian and singer Em Rusciano, LGBTQIA+ activist Deni Todorovic, and Indigenous Healer Allira Potter. Through the content, they share their missions to spark a joy revolution via in-person surprise and delight and online activity, and encourage others to do the same by joining the movement on the online Joy Hub.”

Auckland, New Zealand – When you think of a Christmas-themed campaign, data utilization is the least you would expect to be at the core of it. However, New Zealand-based telco Spark begs to differ. The telco has just released its newest ‘Santa’ for its campaign: a tech assistant called ‘Spark’s New Tech Assistant’ or ‘S.N.T.A’ which allows online users to come up with the ideal Christmas gift for the ones they love. 

Created alongside creative agency Colenso BBDO, ‘S.N.T.A’ is built from thousands and thousands of data points designed to find out what every type of New Zealander wants this year.

The experience can be accessed online and in Spark stores around the country, allowing shoppers to discover what their cousin, family member, or co-worker wants. The data collected by Spark and Colenso is purposefully granular, segmenting giftees by much more than age and relationship, but unique interests and attributes, which add charm to what could have been cold facts and figures.

James Henson, chapter lead at Spark, said, “In the past, our focus has been on Spark’s great range of gifts. But we don’t shop for products at Christmas. We shop for the people we love, which isn’t always easy. Knowing that is what inspired S.N.T.A,”

Meanwhile, Lucy Grigg, who was recently promoted to the role of general manager at Colenso BBDO, commented, “Spark is New Zealand’s leading technology provider – which now extends to Christmas. It’s a pleasure to work with them to sprinkle a bit of holiday magic on their tech and build a product that is both charming and truly helpful to Kiwi shoppers.”

Auckland, New Zealand – Christmas is just around the corner, and it’s time for another variety of heart-warming campaigns across the region. Such is the case with the latest ad from airline Air New Zealand alongside creative agency Bastion Shine, which is centered around the theme of aiding others to bring cheer this Yuletide season.

The ad features an assistant elf breaking the ‘news’ to Santa Claus that they might not be able to enter New Zealand this Christmas. While listing down potential personas that Santa thinks can be helpful, he ‘rings up’ flight stewards and asks them for assistance in delivering Christmas gifts across New Zealand. The campaign ends with the phrase ‘magical deliveries might be heading your way’, signalling upcoming campaigns from the airline this season.

As part of their Christmas campaign, the airline offers Kiwis the chance to win daily prizes for the 12 days of Christmas, including Airpoints Dollars™, a rewards program of the airline, and two return tickets to New York.

Air New Zealand Chief Customer and Sales Officer Leanne Geraghty says it has been another tough year for many New Zealanders but things are looking up with international travel on the horizon in 2022, including the launch of the airline’s long-awaited New York route.

“We’re excited to be able to provide some cheer and happiness this holiday season and to be reconnecting friends and whānau when international travel restrictions ease in early 2022,” Geraghty said.

She added, “The daily prize draw along with some surprises around the country are our way of saying thanks to our valued customers for standing by us through another challenging year.”

Speaking about the campaign execution, Simon Curran, CEO at Bastion Shine, said, “There’s no doubt that the whole country has been looking forward to Christmas more than ever this year, so we’re glad to work with our amazing partners Air New Zealand to add a little extra cheer to this festive season. And thankful that we can look forward to 2022 with some optimism, both for Air New Zealand and for the entire country.”

Meanwhile, Josh Frizzell, director at Bastion Shine, commented, “What a great gig to get at the end of a very trying few months in lockdown, love the Air New Zealand crew and the team at Bastion Shine, full support from Reel Factory and a great cast and crew. The dream job to take us all into to Christmas. Thanks Santa!”

Philippines – With the celebration of the Christmas season, people are now gearing up their financial allocations to make the most out of the ‘giving’ season. For Filipino moms, this specific budget has been identified to be an average of ₱10,029 or almost US$200, all for gifts, according to a survey by parenting content platform theAsianparent (TAP) in the Philippines. 

Despite the intended average budget, the survey found that at least six out of 10 moms plan to buy more than 10 gifts, which will amount to an estimated 10% of their monthly income, while only 13% say that they’re unable to loosen their budget.

Overall, 83% of Filipino moms say that their monthly expenditure goes up during this festive period in response to the holiday rush such as sending money, gifts, and treats, and shopping in malls, and shopping online. 

Moms buy gifts for their kids the most (95%) followed by immediate family (92%) and spouse (84%). Meanwhile, the number one item Filipinos purchase as gifts is clothes, followed by toys then educational games for the kids, while household items and food are most likely the items gifted to other loved ones. 

Besides gifts, Filipino moms also spend on high-value items. Half intend to purchase home appliances over the festive season, with 41% looking at furniture, and 37% planning to go into 2022 brandishing new devices and accessories such as smartphones, laptops, and headphones.

Malena Gong, theAsianparent’s regional head of insights, said that with these insights, Filipino moms are crucial segment marketers need to be looking at.

“Combine this with the cultural phenomenon of a long holiday season, and you’ve got an extended period of traditionally higher spending, concentrated on one key demographic: moms,” said Gong.

Aside from items, the report also revealed moms’ consumption practices this holiday season. About 72% of Filipinos will buy on both offline and online instead of just using one; moreover, 16% of respondents intend to shop two to three months prior to the holidays, while 15% plan to shop within a week or less. 

Meanwhile, on the factors for purchasing items, promos and sales offered online is a top factor followed by those offered offline. Recommendations from other moms and parenting apps take the third spot, trailed by recommendations from friends and family. Meanwhile, social media influencers and ads on e-commerce are also top factors that influence Filipino moms’ purchase decisions. For social media and parenting apps, the majority or over 70% are active on these platforms past 7 pm.