Thanksgiving has come and gone and Christmas and New Years preparations are under way. Time to go out and look for that perfect Christmas tree and the flashiest lights to decorate it.

Yet with all of the attention given to family celebrations, travel, and gift-buying, business owners often overlook the opportunities holiday videos can bring to their brand. Here are just 4 ways to build your brand using videos during the holidays.

Product Video

According to ThinkwithGoogle, unpackaging gifts video views on YouTube have increased by 57% over the last year. Though the months of November-December receive the most views, unpackaging videos are popular year round. According to Google, “Food and drink, fashion and style, and mobile phone unboxing videos have seen 42%, 90%, and 200% growth in popularity, respectively.” Though most of these videos are user-generated, brands have taken the cue and have started to put out their own unpackaging videos.

The attraction to these videos is the sense of anticipation and excitement induced by experiencing the emotions associated with opening a new gift. A popular unpackaging product video for Samsung takes a unique “Parkour” spin.

https://youtu.be/ll0iK6fIsI8

Brand Video

The most common holiday video type is the one that portrays a brand’s values. A favorite from 2014 is John Lewis’s Monty the Penguin. The UK-based e-commerce store doesn’t fail to evoke a sense of warmth and holiday spirit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iccscUFY860

Social Media Video

Use these videos to engage your audience. In this video by Vidyard they ask employees to tell about the gift they’ve always wanted but never received. The brand then encouraged followers to tweet with the hashtag #giftInevergot. 

Celebrate Your Customers

First Round Capital saw an opportunity to celebrate its clients with a lighthearted video. The video brought many companies together and cemented the relationship.

What the Numbers Have to Say

According to a 2014 Google Consumer Survey, 25% of shoppers will look up product-related videos in-store on YouTube when considering purchasing a product. Notice the keyword is videos.

The year is 2015 and videos will only continue to grow in popularity. If you are looking to engage with your customers this holiday season, consider holiday videos as your most worthwhile option.