University of Southern Denmark, Odense Delivery date: 02.01.

2017
Faculty of Business and Social Sciences Number of keystrokes: 21.953

The importance of a message in

a modern IMC campaign
Advanced Marketing Communication

Solemn Declaration

”I solemnly declare that I have individually and independently written this report. All quotations in the
text are marked as such, and the report or important parts of it have not previously been subject to
assessment.”

Author of the report: Supervisors:

Petra Floriana Paraschiv Gry Høngsmark Knudsen
010693-3480, Economics and Business René Haldborg Jørgensen
Administration, 1st semester Department of Marketing &
Management
TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................................................................1
THEORY...........................................................................................................................................................1
METHOD .........................................................................................................................................................3
ANALYSIS ........................................................................................................................................................4
DISCUSSION ....................................................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................................12
APPENDICES .................................................................................................................................................12
INTRODUCTION
Integrated marketing communication represented in the past a simple process, where the company had
to integrate all the brand messages to create a synergy (Duncan, 1993). Nowadays, it is a concept that has
evolved into a dynamic, unpredictable, and inclusive phenomenon (Kitchen & Uzunoglu, 2015). It is highly
influenced by the consumer’s orientation towards the use of online media and their need to engage in the
communication and identify with the message sent.

The focus of this paper is on how a brand creates the discourse of a campaign and how that reaches beyond
the traditional view of IMC. For this, I examine the public discourse surrounding Edeka’s Christmas
campaign on Facebook to answer the question how the campaign message is framed to engage the
consumers and create a two-way communication. The motivation is to get a deeper knowledge regarding
the importance of the theme of the campaign in a modern advertising campaign. Discourse analysis is the
best way to analyze how the language and specific symbols are used to create engaging content since
discourses construct the social world in meanings but have no fix interpretation and are perceived
differently by audiences (Kozinets, Valck, Wojnicki, & Wilner, 2010).

By doing this, I think it is important to find out how the social media channel frames ad message in a
modern IMC campaign, while the boundary between the sender and the receiver no longer exists and the
latter is actively participating in the communication and even has control of it. This is important to find out
since consumers “desire to establish connections and meaningful relationships with the brand and other
consumers who share similar tastes and mindsets” (Unsal, Yaman, Amirak, & Ipekesen, 2015).

THEORY
A new model of Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC)
Traditionally, IMC represents a “synergy”, defined as a “process where all brand messages are strategically
coordinated, the effect being greater than when all activities are planned independently, and in some
cases sending out conflicting messages” (Duncan, 1993, p. 22). It is highly debated that this traditional
perspective is no longer applicable since it is ignoring the receiver of the message. Mass communication
media channels (newspapers, television, radio, etc.) were used to deliver a message to large segments at
the same time and for a given period. Therefore, the traditional channels have been “conceptualized as a
one-way message from one source to a broad, undifferentiated and anonymous audience“(Walther et al.,
2010, p. 20).

Social media on the other hand allows creating and sharing of content, being conceptualized as a two-way
message, that facilitates a transparent and trustworthy communication. Boyd (2011) argues that there are
1
four characteristics that social networks have and are different from the traditional communication media,
as it can be observed in figure 1:

Persistence (content
availalble at any
Searchability time)
(content can be Replicability
searched at any (content can be
time) copied)

Scalability (great
visibility of the
message)

Figure 1. Characteristics of social networks (Boyd, 2010)

Since the characteristics of digital media are quite different from traditional channels, there is a need to
modify existing IMC frameworks for effective integration of social media. Therefore, one alternative IMC
model was developed by Castronovo & Huang (2012), which incorporates social media, word-of-mouth
marketing, and alternative digital marketing communications as viable components. In other words, this
new model of IMC implies the synergy of all digital marketing activities within one consistent strategy,
with social media acting as a tool to which all efforts can be synchronized.

The message
Accordingly, in an era where social media represents the most important driver in all marketing activities,
the message becomes the most useful tool for a brand to differentiate and connect with the audience.
Consumers, since they are more informed and sophisticated, they become part of the communication and
markets are being created and driven by them. For that reason, their need to connect with the message is
more important now than ever. With this, co-creation of value is emerging as the new trend in marketing
and it is quickly gaining currency like one of the most interesting, paradigm shifting, and practical ideas in
the field (Fisher & Smith, 2011). As Kozinets, Valck, Wojnicki, & Wilner (2010) demonstrated in their
analysis, communicators create types of discourses that can be interpreted as establishing specific
audiences. Each audience has certain behaviors, understandings, and emotions that are “socially
constructed and communally understood” (Kozinets et al., 2010, p. 85).

Hence, since the focus has shifted from the company to the consumer, the theme of the message is the
most useful tool to respond to the customers’ needs. Unsal, Yaman, Amirak, & Ipekesen (2015, p. 250-
260) emphasize the power of the theme of the campaign and explain the mindset of this concept, which
can be seen in figure 2.

2
 Figure 2. The idea solar system (Unsal, Yaman, Amirak, & Ipekesen, 2015)

As they state in their paper, the component of control got weakened in an IMC strategy as the theme
originates from the campaign, but it is more independent in circulation during the process of consumer
reception. In an outside-in approach, marketers are aware that they need to evoke emotions and to create
value for the consumer. This leads to raising the campaign influence beyond other media via the effect of
social media, by getting the audience engaged. Moreover, the idea serves as a balance between the
strategy and tactics of an IMC campaign. The most important aspect of a modern IMC campaign is to
initiate a theme that is human-related and that the public may internalize and even pursue in a more
“passionate manner”(Unsal et al., 2015, p. 259). Therefore, the messages that the company delivers
through different channels should be consistent and coordinated, but there should also be left place for
flexibility and adaptation to the audience’s feedback. For this to be assured the role of the theme of the
message cannot be underestimated. Jenkins, Ford and Green (2013) argue that there are a few types of
content that are especially spreadable due to their themes: the use of shared fantasies, nostalgia, humor,
parody, references, unfinished content, mystery, controversy, and timeliness or rumors. Nowadays,
communication channels frame ad messages in particular ways depending on the type of channel.

METHOD
The aim of this research paper is not to prove the existence of a new IMC model but to see how the social
media channel frames ad message in a modern IMC campaign. In this case, the Facebook communication
channel is chosen because it is one of the most used channels by consumers and it provides the tools for
interaction between the company and the customer. The research is based on a qualitative analysis of one
case, a Christmas online campaign called “#heimkommen”. By using discourse analysis, I make
observations regarding the themes that the company uses to create a connection with the audience. As
emphasized by Daymon & Holloway (2010), discourse analysis has become increasingly popular in the last
years like means of providing insights into the role of marketing communications as influencers of social
3
action by using discursive strategies. Furthermore, I use discourse analysis to better understand how the
consumer relates to the framed ad message and how they construct their argument. This method is suited
because it is a way to interpret the particular ways of talking about the social world as it “critically evaluates
how the interpretive practices reshape societal ideologies and themes in advertisements” (Høngsmark
Knudsen, 2012, p. 4).

Dataset
The dataset is made up of textual and visual data like the video commercial post on Facebook and its
comments and reactions, collected over a period of 12 months, starting with 25th of November 2015, until
mid-December 2016. The Nvivo qualitative research software was used to manage this amount of data
efficiently, and the Phyton programming language to gather the data. The comments were scraped to an
Excel spreadsheet (Simplified Webscraping, n.d.). Specific functions of the Nvivo tool were used to see
patterns in the data, identify common themes or find instances of a particular word.

Scientific paradigm
The approach is based on a post-structuralist method that allows me to have an interpretative perspective
regarding the commercial analyzed. As the theory says, the “interpretive research methods are sensitive
to consumer subjectivity, privilege the dialectical and dialogical nature of thinking and behavior, and
emphasize social and cultural contexts” (Fisher & Smith, 2011, p. 345). This perspective is needed to
interpret the influences of the message and the meaning behind people’s opinions.

ANALYSIS
The case of Edeka’s IMC strategy: #heimkommen (#homecoming)
The commercial was posted on the company’s Facebook page, and it is part of a campaign called
“#heimkommen” (Edeka Facebook page, 2015), with the objective to motivate people to share photos of
the time spent together with family members at home. Furthermore. It was advertised the website page
and on Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag “#heimkommen“, where people shared photos, and even
on TV. The company regularly interacted with the audience, by being active on social media and replying
to their comments. Moreover, part of the IMC strategy was the distribution of a campaign song called
“Dad” (Edeka Company 2015) on different online platforms (Spotify, iTunes, etc.). The table from the
appendix 1 shows the key descriptors of the campaign and it can be noticed that it created a movement
among the audience, on a global scale. It has now more than 21 million views on Facebook, more than 54
million views on YouTube and even businesses started using this commercial as an endorsement to
promote their products and services or to mock its message.

4
Findings
At a first look through the Facebook post, it can be noticed an active discussion between the audience and
the company, even one year after the campaign has ended. The central discourse identified is related to
the emotional side of the campaign and its controversy.
1. The message sent (Company → Consumer)
The discourse of the campaign is strategically structured as storytelling and revolves around the theme of
a “Lonely Christmas”, a situation that is increasingly common nowadays. Even though the dialogue
between the characters is a short one, there are connections to specific themes and symbols that send a
powerful message.
Sadness and death
The video starts on a sad and melancholic tone, with a message left on the answering machine from a
daughter to her old father:
“Woman: I just wanted to call and let you know that we can’t make it for Christmas this year. We'll try again
next year. It'll work out, I promise. Merry Christmas, Daddy.” 1 (Edeka Youtube Channel, 2015)
The daughter’s sadness is reflected in her discourse and the repetitiveness of this call, year after year, is
creating a sorrow atmosphere and a feeling of compassion for the old man, who sits alone on a big festive
table, each Christmas. The most controversial moment is when the children receive a letter about the
death of their father, and the theme of death is introduced in the commercial, inducing a mournful state
of mind.
Christmas dinner, miracles and happy ending
The end is the most emotional part since it is presented as a happy ending, proper for a Christmas
atmosphere when people are happy. The sudden appearance of the old man in the living room can be
perceived as a Christmas miracle and his words have a significant impact on the viewer:
“Grandfather: How else could I have brought you all together? Mmh?” (Edeka Youtube Channel, 2015)
The old men’s efforts to bring the children together are highly debatable but a joyful tone, typical for
Christmas, is dominating the atmosphere as the family gathers around the Christmas table and enjoys their
time together. The commercial ends with a call for action, motivating people to go home and spend time
with their families.

1
Taken from the commercial’s transcript and translated from German. Original version of the transcript can be
found in Appendix 2
5
2. The reactions of the audience (Consumers → Company)
With the help of Nvivo tool, a query of the most frequent words was run, with the purpose to observe
what are the most used words in people‘s comments. It resulted in a list of the most 1000 frequent words
and a scrap of it can be found in appendix 3. The list was processed, and the word cloud presented in figure
3 resulted:

Figure 3. Word cloud of the most frequent words ( translated to English)

When analyzing the word list and the comment, three main themed discourses were noticed. The relevant
comments discussed in the analysis are translated to English and their original German versions can be
found in Appendix 4.

Controversy: Association of themes like death and Christmas joy

The commercial was perceived controversial and even separated the audience on two sides. On one hand,
there are those who identified with the commercial even though it is controversial by appealing to death.
However, they consider it has a positive message, reflecting the society nowadays:
“Very macabre, but unfortunately so is, life! This video hits the point.”(Doreen Schulz - 326 likes)
The message was also considered a success due to its emotional impact, touching the viewers with its sad,
but beautiful theme:
“Wow this is until now the best Christmas advertising, I`ve cried, an advertisement that has a real meaning,
well done edeka” (28.11.15 - Astrid Schmidt – 5869 likes)
On the other hand, there are those who didn’t like the commercial and found it to be just a controversial
method to create a buzz. Due to the association between death and Christmas, people found it even
disgusting, being a negative example of a storytelling commercial:
“Sorry, EDEKA, but this spot is pious, disgusting, and an excellent negative example of how to engage in
creative storytelling. The fact that among the comments hardly any critical reflection of the obvious tasteless
advertisement takes up, it is once again the evidence for the decline of the German cultural society that is

6
 completely lost in the swarm intelligence, by not questioning the idea and any form of the Commercialized
entertainment simply for the sake of the nice picture language...”. (Nina Rink – 231 likes)
This woman’s comment is moving away from the commercial, by commenting about the German society
and making observations on their culture and their supposed lack of critical thinking.
Shared fantasies: time with family, Christmas dinner
One discourse that has been perceived positively by the audience is related to the need to spend time
together with the close ones. The commercial is actively highlighting this fundamental human need and
the audience is identifying with it even though they do or do not agree with the commercial:
“Someone has posted that one does not joke about the death. Yes, you do not make jokes about it. In this
video, it is also not about joking, it is unfortunately the sad truth of our time. The old man is desperate, lonely
and helpless. It is out of the need .... Nowadays people are only taking the time for the people who are always
there for you when it is too late. TOP Edeka, I hope it makes people give a thought.” (Gesa Waldeck, 7700
likes)
In the common culture, Christmas represents a symbolic period, when people gather around and forget
about all the problems. This period has a great significance, and people are touched by this commercial in
a special way:
“By far one of the saddest and touching commercials, there are.. Even though many say it's a day like any
other.. No.. The 24.12 is a day for family.. Family is the most precious thing there is...”( Fernando José Blank
– 5 likes)
Nostalgia and introspection
The commercial has an introspective effect on the audience, persuading them to think about their lives
and their families. People even started writing about their personal experiences like a need to inspire
others to get closer to their families:
“Had to be 46 years old to see an advertisement by Edeka, that impressed me so deeply and deeply.
Unfortunately, I have no longer the possibility to experience similar, my mom, my dad, both grandma and
grandpa are already long dead and I am the last Mohican of the family. My family is my big love, Christiane
Steinforth. No matter how silly or embarrassing you are at 15 or 16 or later, if you consider the job to be more
important, take time for your family and enjoy the time together, because sometimes time passes too fast.
Actually, I never wanted to post anything like this at Facebook or similar, but take it as a wake-up call ... I miss
you, Mom and Dad, but I know she looks happy together at us. (Michael Steinforth – 28..11 - 627 likes)
This kind of comments are in a big number because people started replying and discussing their problems
and by doing so, a small community with the same values or life experiences was created:
“Thank you Michael Steinforth you speak to me from the soul... Why do we always try to find the needle in
the hay? I've been trying to get my mother to my side !!!!!” (Gabriele Valente – 5 likes)

7
The video was circulated and discussed through a variety of networks online. Its spreadability worldwide
was assured by the millions of people who got engaged in passing along the video through social media,
as it can be noticed in figure 4. They wanted to share an emotional video with their friends and family, and
for some, it even became a “Christmas present” for the closed one, a symbol of their love for the family
and a reminder to keep connected with them.

Figure 4.Snip from the Facebook's post (Edeka Facebook page, 2015)

Since it reached more and more people, a problem appeared and an attempt to boycott the commercial
can be observed, by analyzing the comments. Individuals started posting in comments incentives towards
the company to stop throwing away food and donate all the products not sold to those in need.
“Not everyone has a place to call #home. Many people can't afford a Christmas dinner. Edeka, donate food,
rather than throw it away. Put a sign for Christmas! sumofus.org/edeka” (Martin Rohe)
The commercial created a real movement as people started signing a petition and posting comments on
different networks where the campaign was present.

DISCUSSION
The commercial has a storytelling structure with no apparent connection to the company and it
incorporates just a short conversation between the characters. Kitchen & Uzunoglu (2015) state that
instead of traditional messages which simply “tell” or “sell”, the understanding is left with the audience
who are not only connected to media but are also interacting with all the new technologies. Besides,
Jenkins et al. (2013) notice that modern successful campaign creators understand the aspects they need
to master in order to create spreadable content. It can be observed that in case of Edeka, the strategic

8
choice to create a complex campaign advertisement with a thematic discourse had a direct influence on
the evolution of the campaign. That is because consumers are no longer looking for goods just for their
usefulness, they are also looking for meaningful interactions, and the symbolic value of a brand is more
important now. (Fisher & Smith, 2011).

Therefore, I argue that the theme of a campaign is a way to respond to the needs of today’s consumers.
The mindset developed by Unsal et al. (2015) that views the idea of the message like a solar system is used
in Edeka’s case to emphasize the importance of a theme.
1. Control-free: The campaign was created by a local German retail food, and was meant to be a social
media contest, accompanied by a visual identity. However, the campaign got viral around the world,
and the control of the communication moved from the company to the audience.
2. Strategic and tactical: Edeka strategically adapted and maintained a constant contact with the public
to make its impact bigger, but “without prioritizing message control or obsessing over ‘one voice` or
‘one message`” (Unsal et al. 2015).
3. Outside-in: this approach is evident since the campaign focuses on the user and their engagement.
The commercial disseminates a human-related issue, and it is an incentive for the audience to move
forward the barrier typically established between a brand and the consumer and motivates them to
talk about their lives and to create small communities.
4. Socially-sensible: The emotion of the individual is the most important in the commercial’s efficiency
because “people feel an immediate emotional connection with a larger shared cultural theme and
have an impulse to share” (Jenkins et al., 2013, p. 222).
5. Earning media and engagement: the audience can quickly identify with this need of belonging and
this sad state, and they easily engage in the spreadability of the message for various reasons: to
debate its controversial message, to send it as a symbol or to express emotion.

The company creates the discourse of the campaign as a call to action, inviting the audience to share
instances of their personal lives and to help co-create the content for the campaign. This confirms the
theory saying that in a modern advertising campaign, the users are considered “equal partners engaging
in communication process who are not just responsive to communication but are also its active co-
creators” (Kitchen & Uzunoglu, 2015, p. 8). One surprising response perceived among the audience is the
petition created for Edeka to stop throwing away food and it can be noticed that the power to create value
is now in people’s hands. The brand used social media to ensure the persistence of the message for a long
time, and its reusability at the audience’s needs since it can be easily accessed and shared at any stage
with a simple search. It was a strategic choice as social media offers a great visibility to the message and

9
to its disputed theme which guaranteed the creation of an audience. According to Boyd (2011) these
characteristics are forming the networked publics and stimulating the users to be participative and
differentiating social media channels from others. Furthermore, these particular characteristics increase
the chances for the content to be shared (Jenkins et al., 2013). Although the theme of a "Lonely Christmas"
is a raising concern in the society, it is not often discussed in an advertising and therefore the commercial
was considered a controversial one. People expressed different opinions, which sparked disagreement
among them and, like Jenkins et al. (2013, p. 215) observe, “media spreads particularly far when it depicts
a controversy a community cares about or an issue of intense interest”. This strategic combination of
themes like death, Christmas and happy-end ensured the spreadability of the message. People expressed
their opinions and shared the video with the peers like a symbol or just simply to discuss it because “the
postmodern consumer prefers to create and maintain relations with other consumers, not necessarily with
a brand” (Thøger Christensen, Torp, & Firat, 2005, p. 159).

This is an important aspect in a new IMC model where “the word-of-mouth strategy forms the foundation,
and the entire model is predicated on the goal of creating and sustaining positive buzz for a firm”
(Castronovo & Huang, 2012, p. 126). Therefore, I argue that companies should focus less on the control of
the communication channel and more on the ways to interact with the public and engage them in the
communication. Thøger Christensen et al. (2005, p. 158) motivate that this will “give them the possibility
to maintain livelihood in the complex, fluid, and highly dynamic postmodern markets”. From this
perspective, a social media platform serves as the “vehicle” through which all marketing communication
efforts are connected into one easily accessible, integrated consumer venue. (Castronovo & Huang, 2012)

CONCLUSION
This paper contributes to current research by applying the findings of Unsal et al. (2015) and other scholars
regarding the importance of the message in a modern IMC campaign. The analysis shows that the audience
needs to identify with the theme of the message to get engaged on social media and be an active part in
the integrated communications. Social media is an effective way to ensure a two-way communication and
to communicate directly with the audience and assure the brand awareness and recognition. Mixing
themes to create a controversial and emotional commercial represents a proven way to ensure content
spreadability and consumers engagement, but a dangerous one as the audience opinions and values differ
and a conflict might arise. Therefore, IMC is a complex strategy to create and manage, and it is important
to recognize the importance of the message of a commercial.

10
Limitations and suggestions

One challenge in the analysis is that it was not possible to sort the comments by language and another is
that Facebook posts attract a broad spectrum of opinions, some of which can be offensive and not related
to the commercial. But these were not an impediment for the analysis since the purpose was to find
specific themes and to sort the appropriate comments by their relevance. The most important limitation
is the fact that the campaign was created by a German retailer and almost all the communication was
made in the German language, and there is the possibility of losing words meanings while translating to
another language.

In this paper, I analyze how the social media channel frames the message in a modern IMC campaign and
emphasize the importance of the message in a marketing communication. Edeka succeeded in drawing
attention to the message and raise awareness for the brand but whether the campaign succeeded in
converting views to sales is questionable, and for this, I suggest, as a future research to analyze the
campaign and its effects on the performance recorded by the company.

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REFERENCES

Boyd, D. (2011). Social Network Sites as Networked Publics. In Z. Papacharissi, A Networked Self: Identity,
Community, and Culture on Social Network Sites (pp. 39-58). Routledge.

Castronovo, C., & Huang, L. (2012). Social Media in an Alternative Marketing Communication Model.
Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness, 6(1).

Daymon, C., & Holloway, I. (2010). Qualitative research methods in public relations and marketing
communications. Routledge.

Duncan, T. (1993, March 8). Integrated marketing? It’s synergy. Advertising Age, p. 22.

Edeka Facebook page. (2015, November 28). Campaign Post. Retrieved November 15, 2016, from
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/EDEKA/videos/904052776337224/?autoplay_reason=all_page_orga
nic_allowed&video_container_type=0&video_creator_product_type=2&app_id=2392950137&li
ve_video_guests=0

Edeka Youtube Channel. (2015, November 28). EDEKA Weihnachtsclip - #heimkommen Youtube video.
Retrieved November 15, 2016, from Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6-
0kYhqoRo

Fisher, D., & Smith, S. (2011). Cocreation is chaotic: What it means for marketing when no one has
control. Marketing Theory, 11(3), 325-350.

Høngsmark Knudsen, G. (2012). Man's last stand! Polysemy and dialogue in advertising reception.
Advertising & Society Review, 13(2).

Jenkins, H., Ford, S., & Green, J. (2013). Spreadable Media. New York: University of New York Press.

Kitchen, P. J., & Uzunoglu, E. (2015). Introduction: Integrated Communications in the Postmodern Age. In
P. J. Kitchen, & E. Uzunoglu, Integrated Communications in the Postmodern Era (pp. 13-15). New
York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Kozinets, R. V., Valck, K., Wojnicki, A. C., & Wilner, S. (2010). Networked Narratives: Understanding
Word-of-Mouth Marketing in Online Communities. Journal of Marketing, 74(2), 71-89.

Simplified Webscraping. (n.d.). How to Scrape Facebook Page Posts and Comments to Excel (with
Python). Retrieved November 28, 2016, from nocodewebscraping.com:
http://nocodewebscraping.com/facebook-scraper/

Thøger Christensen, L., Torp, S., & Firat, F. (2005). Integrated marketing communication and
postmodernity: an odd couple? Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 10(2), 156-
167.

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Unsal, P. U., Yaman, B., Amirak, B., & Ipekesen, S. S. (2015). Rethinking the Role of “The Idea in
Integrated Communications. In P. J. Kitchen, & E. Uzunoglu, Integrated Marketing
Communications in the Postmodern Era (p. 239). The Palgrave Macmillian.

Walther, J. B., Carr, C. T., Choi, S. S., DeAndrea, D. C., Kim, J., Tong, S. T., & Van Der Heide, B. (2010).
Interaction of Interpersonal Peer, and Media Influence Sources Online. In Z. Papacharissi, A
networked self: Identity, community, and culture on social network sites (pp. 17-38). Routledge.

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APPENDICES

Appendix 1

Table 1. Key descriptors of the campaign

FACEBOOK Post 28.11.15 – 19.12.16
Total number of reactions 335.000
From which: - sad 264
- love 268
Number of shares 569.816
Number of views 21 millions
Total number of comments 39.376
From which: -people replies 8.926
- company replies 111
YOUTUBE video 28.11.15 – 19.12.16
Number of views 54.680.300
Number of likes 287.950
Number of dislikes 6.641
Number of comments 16.848
(Edeka Facebook page, 2015) (Edeka Youtube Channel, 2015)

Appendix 2

Table 2. The advertisement’s transcript

0:02 Hallo Papa, ich bin‘s.

0:04 Hallo Opa.
0:05 Ich wollte nur kurz anrufen und dir Bescheid geben,
0:07 wir werden‘s Weihnachten dieses Jahr wieder nicht schaffen. Wir versuchen es nächstes
0:11 Jahr und dann klappt es ganz bestimmt. Fröhliche Weihnachten, Papa.
0:14 Bis bald. Fröhliche Weihnachten, Opa!
1:13 Wie hätte ich euch denn sonst alle zusammenbringen sollen? Mmh?
1:18 Papa…
1:20 Opa!!
1:29 Fröhliche Weihnachten!
(Edeka Youtube Channel, 2015)
Appendix 3

Table 3. The list with the most frequent words

Word Word Length Count Weighted Similar Words

Percentage
(%)
Edeka edeka 5 2710 0.67 #edeka, @edeka, edeka, edekas
Sad trauriges 9 2677 0.72 traurig, traurige, trauriger, trauriges, traurigs
advertising werbung 7 1892 0.51 werbung
Family family 6 1813 0.49 #family, familie, familie', families, family
Christmas weihnachten 11 1648 0.44 weihnachten
do machen 6 1162 0.30 Machen, gemacht, gemachte, macht, machte
Unfortunately leider 6 1063 0.29 leider
People menschen 8 923 0.25 menschen
always immer 5 874 0.24 immer
beautiful schön 5 871 0.23 schön
Sticker sticker 7 839 0.23 sticker
should sollte 6 800 0.22 sollte
easy einfach 7 735 0.20 einfach, einfache, einfacher
photo photo 5 606 0.16 photo, photos
for real wirklich 8 598 0.16 wirklich, wirkliche, wirklicher
Home heimkommen 10 594 0.16 #heimkommen, eimkommen, @heimkommen,
Howling geheult 7 577 0.15 Geheult, heulen
parents eltern 6 558 0.15 eltern, eltern@
think nachdenken 10 556 0.15 nachdenken
great super 5 551 0.15 super
again wieder 6 517 0.14 wieder
Seen gesehen 7 509 0.14 gesehen
thank you danke 5 483 0.13 danke
cry weinen 6 469 0.13 Weinen
together zusammen 8 459 0.12 zusammen
alone alleine 7 456 0.12 allein, alleine
important wichtiges 9 454 0.12 wichtig, wichtige, wichtiger, wichtiges
come kommen 6 435 0.12 kommen, kommens
correct richtig 7 351 0.09 richtig, richtige, richtiger, richtiges
food lebensmittel 12 348 0.09 lebensmittel
will werden 6 342 0.09 werden
children kinder 6 331 0.09 kinder, ''kinder''
Our unserer 7 328 0.09 unsere, unserer, unseres
Cried geweint 7 326 0.09 geweint
Differently anders 6 294 0.08 andere, anderer, anderes, anders
think denken 6 276 0.07 denken
want wollen 6 270 0.07 wollen
 Further weiteres 8 269 0.07 weiter, weitere, weiterer, weiteres
Beautiful wunderschön 10 263 0.07 wunderschön
Reality realität 7 254 0.07 realität
Love lieben 6 250 0.07 lieben, liebens
Mean meinen 6 249 0.07 meinen
Spend verbringen 10 243 0.07 verbringen
Christmas weihnachtszeit 14 243 0.07 weihnachtszeit
time
nothing nichts 6 242 0.07 nichte, nichts
message botschaft 9 241 0.06 botschaft
Self selbst 6 241 0.06 selbst
donate spenden 7 239 0.06 spenden
celebrate feiern 6 234 0.06 feiern
Rather sondern 7 232 0.06 sondern
in between zwischen 8 232 0.06 zwischen
Throw away wegzuwerfen 11 222 0.06 wegzuwerfen
Truth wahrheit 8 219 0.06 wahrheit
(query of the most frequent words run in Nvivo software)

Appendix 4

Original scraps of the comments selected

1) Doreen Schulz - 326 likes: “Sehr Makaber, nur leider so ist, das Leben ! Dieses Video trifft es
genau auf den Punkt.”
2) Astrid Schmidt – 5869 likes: “Wow das ist bis jetzt die beste weihnachtswerbung hab geweint ,
Werbung die einen sinn hat super gemacht edeka”
3) Nina Rink – 231 likes: Verzeihung, EDEKA, aber dieser Spot ist zur Ganze pietätlos, widerlich und
ein herausragendes Negativbeispiel dafür wie man bei kreativem Storytelling mal so richtig
daneben greift. Die Tatsache, dass unter den Kommentaren so gut wie keiner ansatzweise kritisch
reflektierend die evidente Geschmacklosigkeit aufgreift ist mal wieder lediglich der Beweis für den
Niedergang der deutschen Kulturgesellschaft und völlig abhanden kommender
Schwarmintelligenz, die scheinbar so gar nichts mehr hinterfragt und jegliche Form der
berieselnden, kommerzialisierten Unterhaltung einfach nur noch der netten Bildersprache wegen
konsumiert. Einerseits Dürrenmattscher Humor par excellence, andererseits nicht auszudenken,
welche Großväter sich da tatsächlich ein Beispiel dran nähmen und ihre eigenen Todesanzeigen
verschickten, um die Familie an Weihnachten zu versammeln.
4) Gesa Waldeck - 7700 likes: “Das video ist echt herzzerreißend. .. Jemand hat gepostet, dass man
über den tod keine scherze macht. Ja stimmt, man macht darüber keine witze. In diesem video geht
es auch nicht um scherze machen, es ist leider die traurige Wahrheit in der heutigen Zeit. Der alte
 Mann ist verzweifelt, einsam und ratlos. Es ist aus der not heraus.... Die Menschen nehmen sich
heutzutage leider nurnoch dann zeit für die Personen, die immer für einen da sind, wenn es zu spät
ist....TOP Edeka, ich hoffe, es lässt hier viele nachdenklich machen”
5) Fernando José Blank - 5 likes: “Mit ABSTAND eins der traurigsten und bewegensten
Werbespots,die es gibt.. Auch wenn viele sagen,es ist ein tag wie jeder andere auch..Nein.. Der
24.12 ist ein tag der Familie.. Familie ist das wertvollste,was es gibt.. Man sollte Mama und
Papa,sowie Oma und Opa,genau wie Geschwister IMMER lieb haben..Und niemals alleine lassen..
Es kann schneller vorbei sein,als man denkt..”
6) Michael Steinforth - 627 likes: Ich musste 46 Jahre alt werden um ausgerechnet von Edeka eine

Werbung zu sehen, die mich so beeindruckt und tief berührt hat. Leider habe ich selber nicht mehr
die Möglichkeit Ähnliches zu erleben, meine Mama, mein Papa, beide Omas und Opas sind schon
teilweise lange tot und ich bin der letzte Mohikaner der Familie. Meine Familie ist ausschließlich
meine große Liebe Christiane Steinforth. Egal wie albern oder peinlich es euch vorkommt mit 15
oder 16 oder teilweise später, wenn ihr den Job für wichtiger erachtet, nehmt euch Zeit für eure
Familie und genießt die Zeit miteinander, sie ist endlich und manchmal einfach viel zu früh vorbei.
Eigentlich wollte ich so etwas nie bei Facebook oder Ähnlichem posten, aber nehmt es als Weckruf
ihr Kids und freut euch, dass Ihr noch Eltern und GroÄeltern habt. Ich vermisse Euch, Mama und
Papa, aber ich weiÄ ihr schaut zusammen glücklich runter auf uns”
7) Gabriele Valente - 5 likes: “Vielen Dank Michael Steinforth du sprichst mir aus der Seele. ..warum
muss man immer ein Haar in der Suppe suchen. ..versucht es doch einfach mal...ich würde sehr viel
drum geben meine Mutter noch an meine Seite zu haben!!!!! “
8) Martin Rohe: ”Nicht jeder hat einen Ort zum #Heimkommen. Viele Menschen können sich kein

Weihnachtsessen leisten. Edeka, spenden Sie Essen statt es wegzuwerfen. Setzen Sie ein Zeichen
zur Weihnachtszeit! sumofus.org/edeka”
(Edeka Facebook page, 2015)