Shakespeare: Walkers’ ad fails to flavour up Christmas amongst new customers
By the end of November most brands have released their Christmas adverts, and this year is no exception.
One brand keen to be known for their festive feature is crisps manufacturer Walkers, whose advert this year features viral YouTuber LadBaby, Gary Lineker and others.
The advert sees Christmas carols turned into “Sausage CaROLLs” as a medley of festive song’s lyrics are switched for sausage roll puns.
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Walkers are also donating 5p from each pack of sausage-roll flavoured crisps sold to food bank charity the Trussell Trust.
While it may take a few more years for Brits to be as excited about Walkers’ advert as they are the annual John Lewis offering, new YouGov BrandIndex data shows that the musical, sausage-roll themed skit has been making an impression with some consumers.
Since the advert launched on social media on 6 November, Word of Mouth Exposure scores (whether someone has talked about the brand with friends and family in the last two weeks) increased by five points to 20.8 among current customers.
Among 18 to 34 year olds, the age group most likely to be familiar with viral YouTuber LadBaby and to be exposed to a social media campaign, scores increased by 8.6 points (14.9). Scores increased by just two points among the general public.
However, Ad Awareness scores have decreased 3.6 points among the general public since the ad launched, and 7.8 points among customers. The only demographic who have reported seeing more of Walkers’ advertisements are 18 to 34 year olds, whose scores increased 2.6 points. This suggests that although the advert has impacted consumers enough for them to discuss the brand among family and friends, the advert has not had much reach or been remembered as well.
Walkers’ Christmas advert made the best impression among its current customer base, with Impression scores jumping from 73.1 to 77.5 in just four days after launching the campaign. Consideration scores (whether someone would consider purchasing from the brand in future) also improved immediately after the advert aired by 4.8 points among 18 to 34 year olds, 4 points among current customers, and 2.1 among the general public.
While Walkers have enjoyed more exposure among various groups since launching their advert, positive impression of the brand has only increased significantly among those who were already customers. LadBaby and Lineker may have made a splash online, but the advert has only improved Walkers’ brand health among those who are already a willing audience.