Recycled Creative

This one first crossed my mind around Halloween. I've seen and heard (mainly heard) several spots that have been using recycled creative lately. Much of it is time-specific, running around a certain time of year (Halloween or Christmas, for example). Now I'm all for developing creative concepts and executions that can be reused, but the exact same thing year after year?

A few examples:

• Goodwill, and their "Three Witches" spot that has run around Halloween for at least the past three years.
• Hertz Car Sales, and their modified "Christmas Carols" that have run for at least the past two years.
• Ashley Heating & Air, with their "Employee Christmas Band" that is on its second year of rotation.

I'm not suggesting that these spots were all created by local agencies. Maybe they were, maybe they weren't -- that's not the point. The point is that there's a fine line between "Hey, I remember hearing this last year" and "Oh great, they're running that again this year."

Technorati tags: idaho ad agencies, seasonal advertising, radio advertising