Christmas comes early... but only on the Internet.

Christmas is a major season for many retailers, but none more so than Hallmark. The greeting card and keepsake giant is so aggressive about Christmas, it owns a cable channel notorious for airing Christmas movies non-stop between the end of Thanksgiving and the end of Christmas. So when its advertising for Christmas ornaments shifts, it's attention-getting ... especially when they step away from television altogether.

A Hallmark Of The Season

Oh, Hallmark won't stop airing movies like A Christmas Detour or Just In Time For Christmas. That's not changing. What is changing, though, is how they market their ornaments and other Christmas keepsakes. First of all, the tone of their advertising is doing a full 180. If you associate Hallmark with sugar, well, here's one of their new ads from their #KeepsakeIt campaign.

Yep, that's Hallmark, mocking selfie-obsessed parents. They've others making fun of foodies and parents who can't quite let their kids just do things on their own. Quite a switch for a brand traditionally associated with grandma and hugs. But even more of a switch is where you'll see these ads: Online, and online only.

But why the switch? The short answer is that Hallmark is following their audience, and they see that TV advertising is becoming less effective.

Changing Audiences, Changing Tastes

Hallmark is all about Christmas, but now online.

It's not a secret that television viewership is fracturing and spiraling into dozens of different places on dozens of different platforms. Go ahead, count how many platforms and services you've watched video on just today. But unspoken in this is the fact that it's shown a key weakness in TV advertising for companies like Hallmark: The broad-based approach just doesn't work anymore, and it needs to change.

Hallmark, in particular, has become keenly aware of this, as they have a relatively small section of the market they are appealing to. Most Hallmark ornaments are aimed at specific slices of pop culture and more generally at mothers and grandmothers thinking about what to do over the holidays. Any TV ad is going to reach that audience, sure ... but it'll also reach millions of other people who aren't going to buy ornaments any time soon.

So, in both content and buying strategy, Hallmark is changing. They're buying digital ads across dozens of platforms looking closely at the viewership of each. Among the examples they cite is a mom in bed watching Scandal off a streaming service or a video popping up in between games of Words With Friends. Hallmark wants to get the word out wherever they can, so they're looking for moms everywhere moms plan on being.

The Future Of Digital?

By itself, Hallmark's switch is more of an interesting side issue than a referendum on digital advertising vs. TV ads. But it is telling that a company that has millions invested in their own cable channel views television as just one part, at best, of their overall advertising strategy. As digital ad targeting continually improves, and as television audiences continually shift away from "appointment viewing" to watching TV on their phones, tablet, and over streaming, Hallmark may seem more prescient than anything.

Want to get into the Christmas spirit? Contact us to find out how video advertising, explainer videos, or whiteboard animation can be your ticket to a happy holiday and new year.