Dive Brief:

• Automaker Subaru is rolling out a multi-channel campaign today to kick off its 10th annual “Share the Love” promotion, according to a press release made available to Marketing Dive. The campaign includes 30-second and 60-second TV spots, as well as digital and social media elements and partnerships with national morning shows like “The Today Show” and “Good Morning America” and music platforms Pandora, YouTube, Vevo and Roku.
• The five new TV ads, created with agency Carmichael Lynch, features “real people” — not actors — to share how the four charities Subaru partnered with have influenced their lives. The spots highlight true stories of two friends brought together by Meals on Wheels, a boy getting a new playhouse by Make-A-Wish, a rescued puppy adopted from ASPCA and a woman who’s volunteered at the National Park Foundation for more than half her life.
• “Share the Love” runs from Nov. 16 to Jan. 2, during which the Japanese automaker will donate $250 to one of the charities for every new vehicle purchased.

Dive Insight:

This year, Subaru appears to be sticking with a more traditional TV-heavy approach to its annual "Share the Love" campaign ahead of the holidays. As the trend of cord-cutting continues, a linear TV push often isn't enough to engage consumers anymore, so the automaker mixed in digital and social elements. At the same time, the multi-channel efforts fit into the larger brand strategy of pivoting away from purely traditional messaging through storytelling as consumers crave more authenticity in their marketing. An October study by TV and digital video analytics firm Ace Metrix found that the top-10 Q3 ads based on attention and likeability included common themes of compassion, kindness and ingenuity in their messaging.

Subaru's partnerships with four national charities, as well as the fact that brand is sharing real-life stories of how these the charities have helped, could increase consumers' feel-good sentiment toward the brand as it focuses more on people than cars in the video spots.

A key element to the automaker's annual campaign, now in its 10th year, is the use of its signature song "Put a Little Love in Your Heart." This prominent use of the same song over the years demonstrates how marketers often gravitate toward music to strengthen a campaign's emotional engagement and memorability among consumers and help associate a brand with positive feelings.

Previously, Subaru has made a digital splash with "Share the Love." The automaker sponsored a Snapchat lens last year that triggered the signature campaign jingle based on user's facial expressions, in a fun move to engage the platform's younger consumer base.

Holiday marketing this year continues to lean toward the uplifting and heartwarming, a relatively common annual tactic but one that's generally effective following a particularly sour year of culture and politics becoming increasingly divisive.