The Music Of The Commercial Season

I’m a big fan of music, but I’m also a big fan of advertising, so naturally when the two are effectively combined I tend to get a little excited. This happens a lot at Christmas. Christmas commercials that use that perfect Christmas song are memorable, can pull at the heart strings and bring a tear to your eye or can simply be nostalgic and remind us of great Christmas memories. In some cases, the song used in the commercial has gotten more attention from being in the ad, than the product being promoted. There have even been a handful of commercials that have given some forgotten Christmas classics a second life. Here’s a list of some of the commercials I think have had an impact on rejuvenating the popularity of a Christmas carol. 

Telus's I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas

Telus had a whole series of commercials pairing cute animals with nostalgic (mainly from the 80s) songs with a white background. The one commercial from this campaign that has always stood out for me featured a Hippopotamus and Gayla Peevey’s version of John Rox’s “I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas” Since airing, the song has found its way back into regular rotation on many Christmas playlists and is a song many have admitted looking forward to hearing during the holiday season.

The Gap's Sleigh Bells


The Gap had a similar campaign to Telus’s animal series of commercials, only theirs paired young hip dancers, wearing their clothes, dancing to a classic hit. When Christmas rolled around, a version of this premise could be seen on almost every TV featuring “The Gap Dancers” and an instrumental version of the classic “Sleigh Bells”. This song has been sung by everyone from Bing Crosby and Andy Williams to Hilary Duff and more recently the band fun, but thanks I believe in part to the popularity of The Gap commercial, the instrumental version regained a lot of popularity, being one of the only instrumental Christmas songs you will hear on commercial radio playlists during the holiday season. According to ASCAP “Sleigh Bells” was the most popular piece of Christmas music consecutively for 2009 through 2012, with composer Leroy Anderson’s version being the most popular instrumental version. As a side note the song “Sleigh Bells” is believed to be more of a Thanksgiving song rather than a Christmas song, due to no mention of Christmas in the song, but the mention of pumkin pie in the last verse.

Hallmark's O Holy Night


Hallmark is known for releasing ‘tear jerker’ commercials every Christmas season. In 1990 they released one that was particularly memorable. It featured a young boy missing his brother, who he traditionally sings with on Christmas Eve, who is surprised by his brother coming home and joining him in song mid-song. Re-watching this commercial now I am surprised it was impactful as it was. The kid’s version of O Holy Night is what you would expect from a child singing the song. The brother’s version is obviously sung by someone with a classically trained voice. The two versions together don’t blend well. But the commercial wasn’t about the song or the two brother’s performance. It was about the Christmas reunion. For me, even though the rendition of O Holy Night wasn’t the greatest, this commercial did have an impact on this classic song. For me, this was a song that was traditional performed at Church and I rarely heard it on the radio, either because it was too slow or possibly a little too religious. But after this commercial aired in 1990 I saw a wave of versions of O Holy Night being released. Looking at the history of the song on Wikipedia, the track really started to see some momentum and a popularity surge, leading to some Billboard charting success in the mid-90’s.

Coke A Cola Christmas Commercials


Similar to Hallmark, Coke A Cola is known for releasing some of its best commercials during the holiday season, which is understandable considering Coke’s history with Christmas. Coke has played an integral part informing out modern view, beliefs and imagery of the holiday season. They are credited for creating the modern version of Santa Claus and if it wasn’t for Coke being a major sponsor, A Charlie Brown Christmas may have never been aired. It’s a lot of pressure ensuring your product continually plays a role as part of the Christmas season. This year’s commercial is playing a role in turning the non-Christmas song “Make Someone Happy” into a Christmas song (See my blog about that here) and everyone remembers the popular series of Polar Bear commercials throughout the 90’s and early 2000’s, but for me the Coke commercial which will always stand out is the classic “Holidays Are Coming” commercial. The company stopped using the commercial in 2001, but then brought it back in 2007 due to popular demand from consumers who shared that the campaign/commercial played a big role in helping them kick off the season. Coke continues to use aspects of the original commercial in today’s advertising, including the light up Coke delivery trucks, which also tour various areas of the US during the holiday season. The song from the commercial was re-recorded and released by singer Melanie Thornton in 2001 and then charted in Germany in 2005, peaking at No. 9.

Did I miss any? Let me know what Christmas commercials have effectively used Christmas music.