With 21st century technology comes 21st century Christmas cards. But are video cards the season’s greetings of the future or a Christmas cringe-fest? We take a look at some of the reasons a video Christmas card may, or may not, be for you.
They could go viral
If you upload your family’s video Christmas card to Youtube, there’s a chance it could go viral. This is what happened to the Holderness Family, whose video Christmas card ‘#XMAS JAMMIES’ has now been viewed over 16 million times.
If, like the Holdernesses, you actually want your video to be seen by millions of people, then this is great news. If you just want to send a private message to your family, a written card is less likely to be shared with strangers online.
They can only be sent to the tech-savvy
If you want to send one Christmas card to the entire extended family this year, a video card may not be the way to go. It will cause no problems for your technically-minded relatives, but you may end up spending Christmas Day teaching your Great Aunt Edna how to open an email attachment over the phone.
They can’t be put on display
Unless you think your recipient might put their laptop on the mantlepiece and play your e-card on repeat, it’s unlikely that your video card will be put up around their house. If you don’t think anyone you’re sending it to will want to put your card on display, this is not an issue. But if your friends and family like putting cards up around their home, you might want to reconsider.
They are cheesy
Okay, so maybe it’s perfectly fine for a Christmas card to be cheesy. But video Christmas cards can potentially take it to a whole new level. For some reason, the majority of video cards online feature a family or group of colleagues lip-syncing or singing a rewritten version of a popular song whilst dancing uncontrollably. This kind of thing could be seen as adorable, or it could cause the viewer to slam their laptop shut in embarrassment. Think carefully about whether your video falls on the right side of Christmas cheesiness.
They could help your business
If you want your card to go viral because it showcases your video making, photography or rapping skills, then a video Christmas card could be a huge help to you. The Holderness family Christmas video was actually a hugely successful attempt to virally promote their video production company.
Bigger companies have tried their hand at video Christmas cards too, with ad agencies in particular showcasing their skills with ambitious video cards.
They are personal, but not personalised
A video Christmas card may be unique and you may have injected a lot of your personality into it, but unless you fancy shooting one video for every person you send a card to, it is difficult to make the message personalised.
Of course, if you only send out a generic ‘Merry Christmas’ every year, sending it in video form will probably be an improvement. And with a written card, you can never truly show off your Christmas jammies.
