How do you know when you’ve made it to expert-level marketing genius? Surely it’s when your creativity, your passion and your skills finally get to meet with the emotional heartbeat of the year – the Christmas adverts!
As time has gone by, it feels as though these festivals of feeling all wrapped up in a casual, near two-to-three-minute time span, have quite possibly become more important than the items they are actually attempting to sell.
Is it even about the profit margins anymore or who can tell the soppiest story that places us all into a hypnotic trance in front of our television screens?!
And yet, at the very time of year when we’re all supposed to feel closer than ever, for a long time these adverts made me feel I had been forgotten and left out in the cold.
Being blind, so much of it went completely over my head. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I appreciated the swelling Christmassy musical chords and the sound effects of sleigh bells and shovelling snow, etc.
Still, the stories were lost on me entirely and this not only meant that I couldn’t access the adverts themselves, but I was also, by default, then excluded from the hum, buzz and chatter that surrounded them, as everyone compares notes as to which was their favourite this time.
If you’re going to create a cultural moment, everyone needs to be invited, both to the main event AND to the after-party of glorious seasonal gossip!
This can be so easily remedied with a huge, Christmassy dose of audio description.
Let me tell you, there is nothing quite like hearing a usually very serious narrator, trying to keep his composure while announcing “a giant festive parsnip somersaults across the living room” as if this is just another standard Tuesday evening.
Social media has created a whole new wave of magic when it comes to these gut-wrenching snow-covered masterpieces. The stories can go deeper, the ads can last longer.
We can follow the festive tales online on YouTube to enjoy the full, cinematic masterpiece. And, best of all, this opens up even more ways to invite people to engage with your prestigious promotions.
And, believe me, if it’s emotion you’re hoping to evoke, you are guaranteed to succeed when you take the time to produce a full-length audio-described version and make sure to let me know it’s there waiting for me.
With so many of these mince pie-filled masterpieces revolving around connection and belonging, I will absolutely sit there blubbing my heart out as a blind woman who now can not only enjoy the story, but also feels so seen, understood and included.
In fact, this happened to me this year when I watched the new Waitrose advert with audio description.
It illuminated the food-fuelled love story like a lit-up Christmas tree and made me feel just like Phil (the main character), an ordinary guy who finally got the recognition he longed for and deserved from someone no one ever believed possible.
As marketing professionals, you are the Keira Knightley’s of the advertising world and I am the Phil of those you are looking to sell to. As a blind person, I might not be top of your list in terms of an opportunity to show off your visual special effects but give me a little love and I might just turn out to be your most loyal customer yet!
Here’s the thing, underneath the jingles, the baubles and the occasional flying vegetable, audio description in Christmas ads genuinely matters. It’s the difference between being part of the national festive conversation… and just guessing why everyone’s suddenly emotional about a raccoon wearing a tiny, knitted hat!
I want to know the truth behind the tinsel. If your advert relies on heart-warming glances, meaningful snow-falling moments or a small child bonding with an animated biscuit, we blind viewers deserve to know what on earth is happening.
Otherwise, the ‘chocolate chip off the old block’ joke that you were so smug about isn’t going to hit the spot when it comes to the crunch! In fact, we won’t even know why there WAS a crunch!
The other day I heard “a large creature approaches”. That could be anything. A bear? A Yeti? Your uncle Dave? If your brand has an impressive CGI creature that you’ve been working on all year, the least you can do is to gift it the description it deserves! Give us the juicy details. Let us picture the festive monstrosity in all its glory.
When the story is described well, it means that everyone can join in the shared beautiful moment: the magic, the silliness, the tear-jerkers, the ‘why is there a penguin in this kitchen?’ bits.
So here’s my Christmas wish:
More ads with brilliant audio description. Fewer mysterious creatures. And narrators who sound like they’ve fully accepted that, yes, the snowman is alive and yes, it’s emotionally complex!
‘Tis the season for inclusive storytelling. Now, pass the somersaulting parsnips please!