Very's Flamingos Fly Again this Christmas

With the festive season fast approaching, online retailer Very is using the power of creative consistency to maximise impact via its marketing. At the heart of this strategy is bringing back its much-loved and highly effective flamingo-filled Christmas creative. 

The insight-driven campaign, developed in partnership with The Gate in 2023, launched the brand’s fun and flamboyant brand characters and proved to be a hit with customers. Not only did the campaign drive year on year improvements in ROI across gross demand, and customer lifetime value, but exposure to last year’s Christmas launch drove a 22% increase in target customer consideration. Plus, across the campaign period Very’s sales outperformed the market and grew 3.4% when compared to the previous year.

System1 Group’s research revealed that Very’s ‘Let’s make it sparkle’ campaign – including the Christmas creative - delivered above industry benchmarks, resonated powerfully and created a strong emotional connection with Very’s family-focused target audience, delivering strong brand recognition. And, since successfully launching the fluent devices last Christmas, Very has used Kerry, Cherry and Terry in subsequent campaigns, which has helped to drive a significant uplift in consideration and affinity with the brand.

Further backing the strategic approach to spotlight the 2023 Christmas creative once again this year, a new report from System1 and the IPA exploring the importance of creative consistency reveals brands that showcase consistency are more likely to generate awareness and attitude change. 

As well as optimising the Christmas gifting campaign which will be on screens nationwide from Friday 1st November, Very has created a suite of additional campaign strands to support its multicategory proposition. From launching a new Toys campaign to kickstart early festive shopping, to unveiling its best partywear under the new Haus of Flamingo platform, Very is proving the adaptability of its consistent creative approach. Plus, to add extra sparkle to this year’s campaign, Very will be teaming up with ITV in an exclusive celebrity-studded partnership to help customers solve their Christmas conundrums. 

Jessica Myers, chief customer officer at The Very Group, said, “Continuing to build out our brand is central to our business strategy and the research is clear – consistency is key when it comes to achieving this! For this reason, we’ve been doubling down on the use of our fl-amazing brand assets over the last 12 months, and the early signs say that our consistent approach is paying off. In fact, following the roll-out of our ‘Let's make it sparkle’ platform, we've seen a 23% increase in brand attribution of our advertising, further exposure is driving a 12% increase in target customer consideration - the numbers really do speak for themselves. 

“By using insights and data to help inform our approach, while adding a sparkle of creativity and collaborating with our incredible partners The Gate and Zenith, we’ve created a Christmas campaign which we’re confident our customers will love.” 

Frances Gibbs, strategy partner at The Gate, commented, “Great Christmas ads are powerful brand builders, driving consideration and creating emotional affinity with a brand to support sales throughout the year. However, each year brands collectively spend billions of pounds on new festive ads with the aim of winning over new customers during the festive season, but we believe in wear-in, not wear-out. The strategic decision by Very to set themselves apart from the crowd by reusing their distinctive Christmas creative from 2023 is inspiring and follows in the footsteps of some of the biggest brands – including Coca Cola. The business data, and the fact the ad was ranked Kantar’s second most persuasive Christmas ad of 2023, shows the creative works, so why reinvent the wheel?” 

Jon Evans, chief customer officer at System1 Group added, “Last year’s Christmas ad from Very was a smash hit, nailing the magical combination of fame, feeling and flamingos! This year rather than creating a whole new advertisement, the team has made the strategic, data-backed decision to do what very few retailers are brave enough to do: stay consistent and use a Christmas ad they know their customers love. The good news is our recent study with the IPA, 'Compound Creativity', demonstrated the brand, business and bottom-line benefits from creative consistency. Sometimes the best ad you can put out is a pre-loved one, particularly when it’s as good as Very’s!”