Dive Brief:
- Oreo is putting a playful spin on a longstanding Christmas tradition for its first new holiday ad creative in five years, according to news shared with Marketing Dive.
- A spot running in 15- and 30-second versions sees a dad sneak a bite out of Oreos left out for Santa. When his family awakes on Christmas morning, the dad’s stocking and gifts, including a set of golf clubs, have similar chomps taken out of them as retribution.
- The seasonal effort is running across Amazon, streaming and connected TV, as well as Meta, TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat, YouTube and Oreo’s owned channels. Oreo worked with No Notes, Colin Jost’s content studio, on “Santa’s Favorite Cookie.”
Dive Insight:
Oreo is refreshing its holiday marketing strategy by mixing humor with the common Christmas ritual of leaving a plate of milk and cookies out for Santa. The idea is to align Oreo’s product with a beloved tradition, Matt Foley, vice president of Oreo at parent Mondelēz International, indicated in a press statement.
The cookie brand last introduced new holiday creative in 2021 with “Ding Dong,” which shows Santa enlisting a yeti-like creature and snowman for a last-minute delivery of Oreos. The brand ran “Ding Dong” around the Q4 season through 2024 as part of its larger “Stay Playful” platform.
“Santa’s Favorite Cookie” has a more mischievous bent, seeing Saint Nick take revenge on a greedy dad by biting into his stocking, shiny new set of golf clubs, flatscreen TV and remote. The spot closes on Santa soaking his feet while dunking an Oreo into milk. The closing tagline and voice-over says, “Get your own Oreo.”
Oreo turned to Jost’s No Notes to develop the lighthearted campaign while Dentsu handled socials. Publicis Production served as consulting agency on the push while production was handled by Good Company and Merchant.
Mondelēz started the year with a review of its U.S. creative agencies amid business pressures on its biscuits segment. In May, the packaged foods giant switched Oreo and Ritz from Omnicom’s Martin to Stagwell’s 72andSunny, among other changes, Ad Age reported.
Other CPG marketers are ramping up their holiday activities at a moment when consumers are feeling sour about high grocery prices. Pepsi recently launched a campaign that also riffs on the milk-and-cookies tradition, swapping out the usual treats for pizza and a soft drink. “Holidays Deserve Pepsi” appears across broadcast, streaming TV, social, audio and out of home, and is part of Pepsi’s broader strategy to position its soda as a superior food pairing.
Mondelēz saw organic net revenues rise 2.1% in Q3 while volumes were up 1.8% over the period. Product innovations, including a zero-sugar version of Oreo, contributed to some of the momentum.
