As sure as TBS will air “A Christmas Story” and ESPN will air a bowl game featuring two not very good college football teams, there’s a good chance you’ll see Corona’s Christmas spot this holiday season.
If you’re thinking you’ve seen this spot for years, you’re right. They have used this same commercial for 32 years in fact, according to the Internet which is, as we know, always accurate. The longevity alone is admirable but equally impressive is the flexibility, i.e. no matter what campaign Corona is running for the rest of the year (Snoop Dogg is a major piece as of the time of this writing), this spot still works nicely at holiday time. Few brands are able to stay true to a brand ethos for anywhere near this amount of time.
There is no dialogue. The spot is just a dusk shot of the exterior a small beach house with a palm tree outside it. Then, as if someone has plugged in the cord, the palm tree comes magically alight with Christmas lights while an off-camera voice happily whistles the tune of, “Oh Christmas Tree.” The super “Feliz Navidad” appears on screen and that’s it. Almost any book you read about the creative side of the business implores us to strive for simple ways to convey a brand’s virtues and values. And this does it, quite poetically in fact.
I’ve never been a huge fan of the beer itself (give me a Tecate or Negra Modelo any day if we’re talking Mexican brews) but I am a fan of this commercial. You have to hand it not only to the agency that came up with this gem many moons ago, but also to the client who has resisted the urge to replace it with something shiny and new. That takes a rare level of clarity.
If you see it this Christmas, enjoy this small gift of image-crafting.
