Dive Brief:

• E-commerce retailer Zulily launches its holiday campaign today (Oct. 26), highlighting women who work to bring their families a happy holiday, according to a press release emailed to Marketing Dive. The effort turns the attention from Santa Claus to the true Mrs. Claus: everyday women.
• Zulily teamed with Butler, Shine, Stern and Partners to create the campaign, which will air on Roku, Hulu, Tremor TV and KERV. The company also developed a radio spot, Dear Mrs. Claus T-shirts and other digital elements to be distributed across influencer and social media channels.
• Holiday marketing efforts are beginning earlier this year as retailers prepare for the season's pandemic-related challenges. Given COVID-19 safety concerns and short timeframes to produce new creative, Zulily created the ad during a one-day remote shoot with the agency, clients and production firm via Zoom, per the announcement.

Dive Insight:

Zulily is running its holiday marketing effort around the idea of the "Mrs. Claus in all of us" — namely the women who do 85% of holiday shopping, per data cited by the company. While the campaign integrated some of the toy brands available on the platform, the ad focuses on the positive spirit women continue to cultivate during the holidays, Megan Marshall, Zulily's director of marketing, said in a statement.

The campaign comes as retailers and other marketers prepare for the holiday season, which is expected to be upended by the pandemic. Gap debuted its holiday campaign earlier than ever and delivered an upbeat tone amid a difficult year, while sister brand Banana Republic brings its ads back to national TV for the first time since 2005 with this year's holiday effort.

With COVID-19 imposing many challenges on families, Zulily's latest campaign seeks to spotlight the responsibility that many women bear, especially moms, and particularly during the holidays, Nicole Michels McDonagh, group creative director at BSSP, said in a statement. Given the growing threat of the virus, Zulily wasn't the only brand to take safety into consideration while shooting its ad. In June, Chrysler shot a remote campaign featuring actress Kathryn Hahn to promote its new Pacifica model.