Emotional Branding and Seasonal Marketing in Television: Insights from Christmas advertising

This study examines the communicative and symbolic dynamics of Christmas advertising, with a focus on how festive contexts shape emotional branding strategies in comparison to ordinary advertising. Building on theories of ritualized consumption and value orientations, the research investigates whether Christmas-themed commercials differ systematically in product categories,emotions, narratives, advertising formats, and conveyed values. A total of 200 commercials were collected from Italian public and private broadcasters in December 2024. The corpus was analyzed through systematic content analysis, using a codebook developed around five key variables: product category, dominant emotion (based on the Geneva Emotion Wheel), narrative strategy, advertising format and conveyed values (Schwartz’s model). Chi-square tests of independence were applied to verify the significance of observed associations. Findings indicate that Christmas commercials predominantly employ emotional storytelling, emphasize positively valanced, low-control emotions,and favor the storytelling format over functional alternatives such as product-in-action. From a value perspective, they highlight conservation-oriented themes (e.g., tradition, stability, benevolence), while ordinary commercials lean more toward openness to change. Although differences in self- transcendence vs. self-enhancement did not reach the strict statistical threshold, residuals suggest a tendency toward prosocial orientations in Christmas advertising and individualistic ones in ordinary contexts. Finally, the results demonstrate that Christmas advertising operates as a ritualized communication system, where symbolic codes, emotions, and narratives converge to reinforce brand–consumer relationships. Beyond mere product promotion, festive advertising acts as a cultural performance that embeds brands within collective imaginaries and identity narratives. Implications for both theory and practice highlight the strategic potential of emotional branding in culturally saturated periods. Keywords: Christmas advertising – Emotional branding – Seasonal marketing – Television commercials – Content analysis – Storytelling – Consumer values – Ritualized consumption