HOW TO GET AHEAD WITH YOUR CHRISTMAS CONTENT

Everyone knows that the holiday season is a boomtime for brands and businesses, but are you aware how the numbers stack up? According to the Bank of England, the typical UK household spends around £2,460 in a month. In December that rises by £713 – a whole 29% more than the average month. And with the rise of online shopping and of promotional events such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the engagement windows are longer than ever, seeing the public getting ahead with their festive shopping and spending big in November. So, it makes good sense to get your Christmas content sorted in good time so you can take advantage of seasonal spending peaks.

Whether you’re planning Christmas ads, social content, email marketing, content marketing or influencer marketing, music should be at the heart of your campaign. In this blog we round up some of the best festive music choices on offer at Audio Network and give you some tips and pointers when it comes to creating a captivating Christmas campaign.

Music Matters

Brands and businesses generally start planning Christmas campaigns between early summer and September, with a view to launching from October onwards. As with any marketing campaign, music should be considered up front.

Christmas music is not just for TV either. It can add value to social content and reels including short, snappy holiday videos, to corporate videos including end-of-year recaps and Christmas messages, and to trailers and promos, such as holiday specials and event launches.

The Christmas campaign soundtrack you select will depend on several factors:

• The mood of the campaign - Is it playful and light-hearted? Nostalgic and family-focused? A real tear-jerker? You need to select music that mirrors or accentuates the tone of your content.
• Your audience - If your target demographic is young, you might want to tap into current trends. For an older audience it could be worth considering nostalgic tracks to evoke tradition and transport listeners back to their youth. Or to create universal appeal, you could look to classic Christmas songs. Research your listener’s tastes and see what works for other brands.
• Your platform - Is your campaign exclusively for TV? It could be worth reflecting that scale with something epic sounding. Or is the music going to need to work across short-form content, including on social media? If so, you’ll likely need upbeat music to engage quickly with audiences and to complement a fast-paced edit.
• Your budget - Do you have a huge amount of money to license Mariah’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You?’ for your xmas ad, or to commission a bespoke piece of music? If not, the most cost-effective, high quality option is to look to a music library like Audio Network for pre-cleared music.

Audio Network’s Holiday Music Collection

At Audio Network, we offer a large selection of high quality festive music for brands, all licensed for commercial use. To find out more about licensing, visit our glossary.

Choose from individual albums, or dive into themed playlists and curated collections, covering everything from background music to winning themes, and from traditional carols to contemporary arrangements.

Some of our playlists include:

• Beats Christmas - Hip hop updates of festive favourites. Expect sleigh bells, glockenspiel and a healthy sprinkle of 808s.
• Christmas Orchestral - Featuring arrangements by Debbie Wiseman OBE and Classical Brit-nominee Patrick Hawes, these magical Christmas orchestral pieces range from whimsical to wondrous.
• Christmas Pop - Up-tempo, romantic and swinging songs, full of sleigh bells and holiday spirit.
• Winter Warmers - Egg nog, slippers, thick sweaters: there’s nothing nicer than getting warm and snuggly when it’s cold outside, and these songs were specifically created with cosy season in mind.
• Modern Christmas - Reggaeton carols? Hard-rock Holiday hits? Genre-smashing Christmas originals? We’ve got it all. For more fresh takes on Christmas music for video, dive into our Modern Christmas playlist.
• Christmas Party - Soundtracking a festive party scene? You’ll want some mood-boosting background music.
• Traditional Christmas - From ‘Silent Night’ to ‘The Sugar Plum Fairy’, discover traditional arrangements of Christmas classics.

Alternatively, check out our curated collection, The Holidays, which highlights some of our favourite festive albums and encompasses everything from traditional carols to contemporary tracks, orchestral to big band.

More More More

Now you know all about how to find the best Christmas music for ads, why not check out more of our blogs, from Music For Ads: How to Find It Fast (And Stay On Budget), to how to license a song for video and how to find music for YouTube videos, TikTok or Instagram.