• by Ashley Deibert , Columnist, July 29, 2015

A jar of spaghetti sauce or a bag of chips might not be the ideal Christmas gift, but CPG brands have a major opportunity to shine during the holidays. It’s basically in their DNA to simplify consumers’ lives and give them easy access to what they need, which is exactly what they’ll be looking for as they begin planning holiday meals and preparing for a windfall of out-of-town guests. 

Whether it’s finding ingredients for a holiday meal recipe or replenishing household necessities, CPG brands have the potential to make consumers’ holiday experiences much more organized. The challenge, of course, is encouraging customers to take action the moment that they become aware of your ability to help out, rather than losing their attention and risking that they forget to purchase later. One way to solve this is by transforming video ads into interactive, one-stop shops where customers can buy what they need before the ad even ends. 

From personalized holiday recipes, to additional video content that shows CPG products in action, and lets customers view product reviews. Advanced video offers another layer of connection and helps CPG brands convert simple interest into tangible outcomes such as sales, downloads, additional time interacting with their customers, and much more.

Here are a four ways that CPG brands can update their basic video ads into one-stop shops for holiday needs:

1. Inspire with innovative holiday ideas
The holidays are so special that they call for people to explore new and different approaches to how they would typically cook meals and decorate their houses. The same approach should go for brands so people know about the various ways they can use your products to make the holiday season special.

For example, food brands can showcase new holiday recipes or hors d’oeuvres ideas using their products within their videos and provide audiences with instructions and the ability to share them on Pinterest right from the video. Social media is a gold mine of holiday inspirations, so giving audiences cool ideas, providing them with all of the instructions, and encouraging them to share will help leverage your brand as a holiday thought leader. Building engagement and brand loyalty with one video ad? Not too shabby.

2. Help buy now, not later

It’s great when audiences realize that they need to buy your products after they see your ad, but having them actually follow through and buy your products can be a struggle. That’s why streamlining the purchase process by enabling ecommerce in your video ads can lead to increased sales. Eliminating this in-between time between exposure to your ad and completing checkout lets people get what they need from you in the moment that they remember that they need it! No lag. No hesitation. Just you giving them the opportunity to cross something off of their holiday to-do list.

3. Make it personal

Make a real impact by using personalization to provide the most relevant messaging to target audiences. For instance, if audiences are in a cold, snowy part of the country, they’re going to need winter supplies, so serve them ads with targeted product recommendations based on their location data, such as household items like hot cocoa, soups and winter-proofing items for their homes. In contrast, these types of suggestions wouldn’t resonate with people in warmer climates, showing that not all holiday product messaging is created equal.

4. Drive traffic to the nearest stocked shelves

Here’s where you can get your brick-and-mortar retailers in on the fun. Give users a clear picture of where your products are available, in their neighborhoods, by using video ads to provide local maps of stores. All they need is their zip code and a shopping list.This helps drive traffic to local businesses that carry your products and gets washes away any stress from needing something last minute — and let’s face it, that will happen with all of the craziness of the holidays.

Your brand can be a beacon of hope for a more organized holiday prep experience by streamlining the purchase processes and saving customers precious time, so they can be with their families. Helping customers get the job done easier will not only raise brand and product awareness, it will also create warm and fuzzy feelings towards your brand — and that’s the gift that keeps on giving.