But according to an analysis of the most effective holiday retail TV ads, released Tuesday by Nielsen IAG, retailers did not appear to increase the proportion of promotional ads in the mix this year. 

About half of all TV ads so far this holiday season (Nov. 17 – Dec. 14) have been brand-focused, while the other half have been devoted to sales/price-focused messages — as was the case during the 2007 holiday season.

What’s Hot
Instead of promoting sales events and low prices, the most effective TV ads from retailers this holiday season used strong narratives, nostalgia, and family-focused storylines to communicate a brand’s benefits to viewers. 

“Practical” messages for shoppers were also a successful theme.  Take this year’s most liked holiday retail ad — a Wal-Mart spot that shows lights atop all of the cash register lanes flashing on and off, in sync with a well-known holiday song.  The key message is clear: more open register lanes at Wal-Mart make shopping there more convenient.

What’s Not 
What didn’t work this year?  According to Nielsen, seven of the 10 least liked holiday TV ads were 15-seconds spots — an indication that shorter-length ads garnered less appeal, in this case. 

What’s more, the elements that helped enhance appeal levels in the best-liked ads were largely lacking in the less popular spots.  According to Nielsen, among the commercials at the bottom of the pack, promotional messaging generally accounted for a greater share of the creative, leaving proportionally less room for “entertainment value.”

10 Most-Liked Holiday Retail Ads (Nov. 17 – Dec. 14, 2008)

Likeability refers to the percentage of television viewers who report liking an ad “a lot” after viewing it, among those who are able to recall an ad’s brand.

An ad’s “likeability score” is the percentage of television viewers who report liking an ad “a lot” (among those who can recall an ad’s brand) after being exposed to it during the normal course of viewing primetime TV on the broadcast networks.

Likeability scores are indexed against the mean score for all ads during the time period to calculate a “likeability index.”  A likeability index of 100 indicates average recall. A likeability index of 171, for example, means that an ad was 71% better liked than the average new ad during the four-week time period.

Read the full report.

Year-over-year growth at hypermarkets reached 6% during the period, while the smallest convenience outlets declined by almost 2% during the 12-week period.

In comparison, year-over-year growth in the British grocery sector stood at 3.2% during the 12 weeks ending 29 November, according to Nielsen.  Grocery multiples showed stronger growth (+5.6%) during the period.

“In order to save money shoppers are making less visits to grocery stores,” Mike Watkins, senior manager retailer services, Nielsen, noted.  “Nielsen has identified that virtually every major food retailer saw the number of visits per shopper fall in November versus a year ago and the big casualties are those retailers that people visit to do top up, small basket, and indulgence shops.”

According to Nielsen, there are exceptions to this trend.  Retailers like Morrisons and Asda, and value retailers like Iceland drew plenty of shoppers — and even showed accelerating sales in the most recent 12-week period. 

View the press release.

According to Nielsen, the chain increased its market share from 14.9% a year ago to 15.6% during the last quarter — the retailer’s highest ever market share, aside from the Christmas 2007 season.

Asda’s performance (8.7% sales growth) during the most recent 12-week period ending November 1, 2008 easily bested the rest of the British grocery market, Nielsen reported Tuesday.  The chain showed especially strong growth during October, when the global financial crisis reached a boiling point.

Growth (by value) of food sales at British supermarkets continued to slow during the most recent 12-week period, dipping to 5.1%, versus the same period in 2007, according to Nielsen.

During the previous 12-week period ending October 4, food sales growth was slightly stronger in Britain (5.4%), despite especially weak September sales growth (4.5%).

“The topline growths at the Multiples are slowing, when they should, in fact, be accelerating,” Mike Watkins, senior manager, retailer services, Nielsen, noted.  “It’s looking like a tough Christmas ahead for food retailers.”

Among the top UK food retailers, Tesco remained the dominant value retailer, with a 28.1% share of grocery market spending during 12-week period ending November 1, 2008 — up 0.1% over the chain’s 28.0% share of value sales during the same period last year.

Morrisons continued to grow by more than 9% year over year for the quarter, but in the most recent four weeks, the chain’s growth dropped to under 7% year over year.

View the press release.