John Lewis has had the most effective social video strategy in the run up to Christmas, according to new research from branded video distribution network, goviral.
The department store’s highly-anticipated Snowman advertising campaign has helped it land the number one spot in the study which looks at how video content has been used by the UK’s top ten supermarkets and retailers as part of their Christmas marketing programmes.
Brands were audited based on volume, subscribers, total views and engagement for content uploaded to YouTube and Facebook over the last 30 days. goviral then used its social video analysis tools to evaluate the quality, purpose, innovation and audience relevance before calculating each brand’s social video equity score.
Despite not running a TV campaign, Topshop’s first-ever Christmas campaign, Who’s That Girl, has generated high levels of engagement thanks to a successful teaser campaign on social media sites for its film, Winter Wonderland, shot by acclaimed director Michael Polish and starring Hollywood actress Kate Bosworth.
In the battle of the supermarkets, Waitrose comes out on top as a result of having the highest number of subscribers and a strategy to revert from the norm. Its “unglamorous” ad campaign has generated significant online buzz and regular uploads featuring popular ambassadors Delia Smith and Heston Blumenthal have seen the upmarket grocer take sixth place.
The goviral top ten UK retailers in branded content, Christmas 2012:
1. John Lewis
2. Topshop
3. M&S
4. Debenhams
5. Boots
6. Waitrose
7. Sainsbury’s
8. Morrisons
9. Tesco
10. Asda
“Christmas is a key time of year for retailers in the marketing calendar. It’s no surprise that John Lewis has come out on top with its adverts now as much a fixture of the festive season as turkey and mince pies” says Mads Holmen, Planning Director, goviral. “Whereas many of the UK’s major retailers have simply repurposed their TV adverts for online, Topshop’s intrinsic understanding of its audience means it has delivered a genuinely exciting campaign that proves creating original, online-only content can be a real success.”
This study follows the release of goviral’s global Social Video Equity Report 2012 which listed the top 100 most powerful brands in branded content this year. For the full results, visit goviral.com/sve100
