Ad of the Week: Hallmark - #KeepsakeIt

The holiday ads are upon us! Sure, Christmas may be a month and a half away, but brands have already rolled out there holiday ads for some time now. That's not all bad. Case in point, the very funny family dysfunction themed videos for Hallmark's Keepsake ornaments.

Each video takes a typical family holiday moment and gives us slightly twisted moments that are funny because, if we haven't experienced them ourselves, we know someone like this. The best one to me is "Vegan Christmas" where the family is sitting down to Christmas dinner and proudly going over what the meal consists of. Grandpa looks at the tofu and veggies and says, he'll just stick to the Christmas ham. They try and explain to him that there is no ham, they're doing vegan with much of it grown by them. He argues and then wanders off to look in the fridge for the traditional ham he's expecting, mumbling under his breath, "if you mom were alive today, she'd be rolling over in her grave."

Hallmark – #KeepsakeIt Vegan Christmas

In another video, "Perfectionist Mom," the mom is letting her kids decorate the tree this year, telling them they can put the ornaments anywhere they want. Of course, being kids, they glom them all on the same area and have no aesthetics for how the mom wants the tree to look. She tries to give them "helpful hints" and starts moving them around when they're not looking. This is funny to me, because every year I decorate the tree only to find later that my wife has moved some of the ornaments around to match her aesthetic rather than what mine was.

Hallmark – #KeepsakeIt Perfectionist Mom

Finally, there's that moment where you're trying to get your massive extended family all together in front of the tree for the annual family Christmas photo. All sorts of chaos takes place with all the different characters, including the teen daughter who has strapped her phone to dad's golf club to make a selfie stick. All the while, grandma keeps trying to rein everyone in. Finally yelling for everyone to shut up and smile at the camera. We've all had a moment like this – although perhaps not perfectly orchestrated for comedy purposes like this.

Hallmark – #KeepsakeIt Family Portrait

There's another spot in the mix with obnoxious new parents who are too into their baby. Overall, I found these spots very fun and thought they connected well with anyone who has spent the holidays with family or friends (in other words, everyone) and worked the product into the video in a way that featured them but made them a part of the overall story rather than a story about the product. Well done, Hallmark.

Thanks to our President of Yaffe Direct, Michael Morin, for sharing them with me. If you have a suggestion for ad/video of the week, drop us a note in the comments, via Facebook, twitter or email.

Mike McClure, Enjoying the family dysfunctional fun