Dive Brief:

• Duracell debuted a nostalgia-laden holiday campaign that features an ad stitching together real home movies, per details shared with Marketing Dive. Wieden + Kennedy New York assisted with the effort.
• The 30-second spot starts with grainy footage of children waking up on Christmas morning to open presents before showing similar scenes captured on modern cameras. In the commercial, kids play with toys that are powered by Duracell batteries.  
• To extend the concept, Duracell is running a three-round Twitter bracket that pits old-school toys against each other, with a winner to be crowned Dec. 19. The marketer is also leaning on a recently launched Duracell Labs creator program on TikTok to have followers pitch their dream battery-powered toy. 

Dive Insight:

Duracell is latching onto the recent upswell in nostalgia-focused marketing to put consumers in a cozy mindset for the holiday season. The brand is emphasizing a theme of child-parent bonding, depicting shared moments that are enabled by its batteries and eventually enshrined as tradition. 

“There’s nothing better than being a kid on Christmas morning — until you become a parent,” a voiceover says as the commercial shifts from retro home movie footage to more modern video, including shots in the vertical format that’s been popularized by smartphones. The material was sourced from actual families, according to the release. 

Duracell’s strategy shows how non-endemic marketers can capture some of the excitement around the holidays even as the occasion grapples with inflationary challenges this year. Batteries might not be a typical stocking stuffer, but Duracell’s messaging serves as a reminder that they are needed for other gift ideas. 

The campaign is spreading the retro flavor to social media with “Duracell’s Awe-some Toy Bracket,” a March Madness-style showdown between old-school toys that rely on batteries to work like the original Game Boy, Bop-It and Furby. The contest asks users to vote on their favorite toys to have them advance, demonstrating how some brands continue to use Twitter for engagement even as the platform remains volatile under new owner Elon Musk. 

To reach a younger crowd, Duracell is turning to its latest creator initiative on TikTok. Duracell Labs, based out of New York City, launched earlier in the fall with a hiring call for tech enthusiasts who could assist in the creation of life-hack and gadget-related content. The team is asking its TikTok audience to ideate a new battery-powered toy for Christmas this year, which it will try to make a reality in time for gift-giving season.