November's best branded video content: 7 of the best

November: the month that marks the onslaught of holiday season ads. Some are humorous, some are examples of great brand storytelling, and others simply throw in a celebrity or two. Here are our favourite ads of the month – holiday-themed and beyond.

Old Navy Presents: Snoopin’ Around, the Full Length Feature

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRjyjMg11VU

To promote a Thanksgiving giveaway of $1m, Old Navy convinced Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Kumail Nanjiani, and Snoop Dogg to film the latter being kidnapped in his own house. This wins the best ad of the holiday season because it’s a bit like Home Alone – but the protagonist is a rapper instead of Kevin.

Louis X111 Cognac: 100 Years Movie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=110&v=SjdA_rocHms

Louis X111 Cognac takes 100 years to make, so the brand asked John Malkovich and Robert Rodriguez to make a film that would be put in a vault and wouldn’t be seen for 100 years. It’s dubbed “the movie you’ll never see”. This is really bizarre, but gets points for both originality and featuring John Malkovich.

Saucony: Mathew Inman’s Seeker Story

Although this is trying to be too kooky for its own good at times, I enjoyed this “seeker story”(one of many put out this year by sportswear brand Saucony) because Matthew Inman’s dry sense of humour works really well with the stop-start animation and the visuals generally. Inman runs the Oatmeal, a cult comic site, and profiling him (and winning over his dedicated followers) is a clever content strategy.

Stove Top: The Artisanal Hipster Pilgrim

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gz2Tthjgvg

Stove Top is a US stuffing brand I had never heard of before, until I saw these ads that parody a typical hipster. The brand is trying to encourage people to buy Stove Top all the time rather than just at Thanksgiving, and does so (sort of) in a comical way. Anyone who lives in Peckham or Hackney will relate.

Diageo: Nick Offerman’s ‘Yule Log’

My Tales of Whisky is a content series in partnership with actor and scotch enthusiast Nick Offerman. The storylines range from an epic transcontinental journey in which Offerman proves his love and knowledge of scotch, to a mockumentary on how Oban scotch gets made by the most gorgeous people on earth. In the ad above, enjoy 45 minutes of uninterrupted Lagavulin Single Malt Scotch Whisky-drinking bliss with Nick Offerman by the Yule Log Fireplace. Bliss.

Old Navy Presents: Kids Table 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvUOzIdXwVM&feature=youtu.be

I know we already featured Old Navy, but their holiday content is so good it deserves to be praised more than once. The ad is basically a branded Portlandia sketch.

John Lewis: Man on the Moon 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuz2ILq4UeA

I didn’t like this ad until Christopher interviewed his mother about it. Now I do.