150 Years of the Best Holiday Campaigns

No matter who you are, or where you’re from, the holiday spirit is alive and well.

For many holiday shoppers, that means finding that perfect gift for your loved ones. For many retailers, however, that means gearing up for a wild ride.

To ecommerce business owners and marketers alike, it’s more than just a festive season.

It’s about creating holiday gift guides and giveaways. It’s about using SEO skills to optimize your landing pages. It’s about getting new subscribers to your email campaigns and bringing back loyal customers. It’s about building that perfect messaging. It’s about bringing those unique holiday marketing ideas to life.

Whether it’s Amazon, Walmart, a new online store or anything in between, the holiday shopping season is a great opportunity to drive business. It’s a lot of work and pressure, of course, but the potential reward can be a game changer.

A good marketing strategy can boost holiday sales and beat last year’s numbers. A great one can last a lifetime. 

BigCommerce, along with our partner PayPal, researched the most iconic holiday marketing campaigns in history. Here’s a snapshot of the last 150 years of these memorable holiday retail marketing campaigns from some of the world’s most well-known brands:

Best Holiday Marketing Campaigns in History

Before the days of email marketing and social media hashtags, many brands used influencers and even their own mascots to create holiday ads that ran throughout the Christmas season. Those marketing efforts were impactful and laid the foundation for what we see and use today.

Did Coca-Cola create the modern day Santa Claus? Did a department store really invent Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer? Is Mr. Potato Head responsible for reshaping holiday TV advertising? How did a single advertising campaign raise over $40 million to fund children’s vaccines?

It’s time to find out:

1. Macy’s Holiday Window Campaign
2. Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
3. Coca-Cola Invents the Father of Christmas
4. Budweiser Celebrates the End to Prohibition
5. Montgomery Ward Employee Invents Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
6. Campbell’s Soup Speaks to the ’50s Housewife
7. Mr. Potato Head Becomes First Toy Ever Televised
8. NORAD Tracks Santa’s Journey Around the World
9. Norelco Popularizes Stop-Motion Animation
10. Kentucky for Christmas! Why You’ll Eat KFC in Japan
11. Folgers Advertises the Intangible
12. Hershey’s Holiday Bells Defy Ad Agency of Record
13. Coca-Cola’s Sledding Polar Bears Humanize Global Warming
14. Coca-Cola’s Christmas Fleet Brings Truckloads of Cheer
15. M&M’s Stumble Upon Santa –– No One is Left Standing
16. Starbucks Red Cups Spark Consumer Salivating (and Controversy)
17. Target’s Black Friday Catalog Focuses on Price
18. Pampers’ “Silent Night” Raises $40 Million
19. Give a Garmin Hits on Travel, Humor and Holiday Stress
20. John Lewis Focuses on Storytelling Over Brand
21. Macy’s Believe Campaign Raises $10 Million, Involves Schools
22. American Express Small Business Saturday Supports Local
23. Apple Makes Technology and Family a Priority
24. REI’s #OptOutside Campaign Bucks Tradition
25. Amazon’s “Give a Little Bit” Campaign Gives a Lot
26. Spotify’s “#2018Goals” Campaign Speaks Loudly
27. Google Home’s Alone Again with Google Assistant Campaign is the Ultimate Nostalgia

No matter which channels you use, for many brands (and likely even you), the holiday season — from after Halloween to Thanksgiving to Black Friday and Cyber Monday — is a make or break time, especially during the pandemic.

Perhaps these memorable campaigns can provide some inspiration for your content marketing team this year.