Washington, December 14, 2007 – TV ads are catching shoppers’ attention in creative ways this year, from an Advent calendar filled with top toys to a bevy of celebrities decorating a department store for Christmas. According to a survey conducted for the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association (RAMA) by BIGresearch, the top three holiday television advertisements this year come from Target, Wal-Mart and Macy’s. Retailers rounding out consumers’ top ten favorite holiday TV ads include Best Buy, Sears, Kohl’s, Kmart, JCPenney, Publix and Meijer.

Though the results were consistent among most demographics, Best Buy overtook Target for the number one spot in the sought-after 18-24 year-old category. Additionally, Staples made the top ten list for men, Big Lots made the top ten list for women, and Zales’ ads were in the top ten for young adults (18-24).

“Though television advertisements are not the only way that retailers are advertising this year, it is interesting to see how quickly shoppers can point to their favorite commercials,” said Mike Gatti, Executive Director of RAMA. “With the retail industry becoming increasingly competitive, great advertising can quickly set one company apart from another in the eyes of consumers.”

In addition to adding a bit of holiday cheer to TV programming, some consumers admit that holiday ads send them to certain stores and websites. According to the survey, 17.1 percent of consumers said that their favorite holiday advertisement persuaded them to shop with a specific retailer. An additional 31.5 percent of consumers said they already planned to shop there.

Overwhelmingly, young adults were much more likely than other shoppers to say that holiday television ads sent them to specific stores (27.3% vs. 17.1%).

“Many of this season’s television ads were created with young adults in mind,” said Phil Rist, Vice President of Strategy at BIGresearch. “By injecting a bit of humor or a contemporary look to holiday ads, retailers will bring more young adults into their stores this season.”

Though shoppers remember their favorite television commercials, they admit that other advertising can be more effective in helping them determine where they will shop for holiday gifts. More than one-third of shoppers said that coupons (35.2%) influenced their decision about where to shop. Consumers also said they are persuaded by newspaper inserts (30.4%) and word of mouth (22.7%).

The survey, conducted for RAMA by BIGresearch, polled 8,135 consumers from December 4-11, 2007 by asking consumers to write in their favorite holiday television advertisement. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.0 percent.

BIGresearch is a consumer market intelligence firm that provides unique consumer insights that are gathered online utilizing very large sample sizes. BIGresearch’s syndicated Consumer Intentions and Actions survey monitors the pulse of more than 7,000 consumers each month to empower its clients with unique insights for identifying opportunities in a fragmented and changing marketplace. www.bigresearch.com

The Retail Advertising & Marketing Association, a division of the National Retail Federation, is a trade association of over 1500 retail marketing and advertising executives, plus their supporting partners from the advertising agency, media and service-provider areas. RAMA sponsors the annual Retail Advertising Conference, the largest single gathering of retail marketing and advertising professionals in the industry today. RAMA also produces the RACie Awards Competition, the most prestigious creative contest in retail. www.rama-nrf.org 

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