The Perfect Christmas Ad? These Are the Brain Laws of 5 Years of Neuromarketing Research
Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2024 8:54 am
For our neuromarketing research agency, this has been a reason to award the award for the best Christmas commercial since 2019. This is not a jury prize or traditional audience award. Instead, each commercial is tested in the brain with EEG. Based on the emotional and attentional response in the brain , it can be predicted whether the commercial succeeds in generating purchase intention and brand preference.
What exactly makes a good Christmas commercial ? Which advertising techniques appeal to our brain? Based on more than 100 tested Christmas commercials, Unravel has plenty of insights into which ingredients work well and which don't. In this blog, we list the 5 core principles of effective Christmas commercials.
1. The brain loves stories
Christmas is a reason for many brands to go all out. Commercials are sms gateway hungary often narrative and may also last a bit longer than the usual commercial length (to what extent that is effective you can read later in this blog). Many supermarkets and lotteries end the year with a story.
In terms of creative approach, narrative commercials indeed prove to be an effective strategy. Both for commercials in general and for Christmas commercials in particular, it is true that they evoke significantly more engagement in the brain. Advertisers also feel this intuitively: storylines are the carriers of attention and emotion.

Firstly, this is strongly related to memory formation, and thus increases the chance that one will remember the commercial later. An interesting side effect is that commercials with a lot of engagement in the brain encourage engagement in real life: they are talked about more, both online and offline. Beneficial for brands that want to leave an indelible impression.
2. Being unique is difficult, but essential
However, a story-driven commercial alone is not enough. Because although expressions with a storyline generally have an advantage over their more informative counterparts, the effectiveness can vary considerably. If we look at the top 20 every year, the three winners are always story-driven, but there are also regularly narrative commercials dangling at the bottom of the list.
What exactly makes a good Christmas commercial ? Which advertising techniques appeal to our brain? Based on more than 100 tested Christmas commercials, Unravel has plenty of insights into which ingredients work well and which don't. In this blog, we list the 5 core principles of effective Christmas commercials.
1. The brain loves stories
Christmas is a reason for many brands to go all out. Commercials are sms gateway hungary often narrative and may also last a bit longer than the usual commercial length (to what extent that is effective you can read later in this blog). Many supermarkets and lotteries end the year with a story.
In terms of creative approach, narrative commercials indeed prove to be an effective strategy. Both for commercials in general and for Christmas commercials in particular, it is true that they evoke significantly more engagement in the brain. Advertisers also feel this intuitively: storylines are the carriers of attention and emotion.

Firstly, this is strongly related to memory formation, and thus increases the chance that one will remember the commercial later. An interesting side effect is that commercials with a lot of engagement in the brain encourage engagement in real life: they are talked about more, both online and offline. Beneficial for brands that want to leave an indelible impression.
2. Being unique is difficult, but essential
However, a story-driven commercial alone is not enough. Because although expressions with a storyline generally have an advantage over their more informative counterparts, the effectiveness can vary considerably. If we look at the top 20 every year, the three winners are always story-driven, but there are also regularly narrative commercials dangling at the bottom of the list.