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Top 5 Christmas Adverts of the Year

It’s the beginning of December and it feels finally acceptable to start openly celebrating Christmas (it has been limited to listening to Michael Bublé in the car for the past three weeks). So, what better time for a round-up of the best Christmas adverts of the year?

5 - Heathrow

As their first ever Christmas advert, Heathrow has really knocked this one out of the park with their tale of bears coming home. Proving Christmas adverts don’t need to be big budget productions to be a hit, this heart-warming story is subtle and simple but truly encompasses what Christmas is all about. From a branding point of view, being tear-jerking enough to make people want to go home and visit their family can only do positive things for business.

4 - Aldi

As winner of probably the cutest advert this year, Aldi’s offering features Kevin the Carrot and his quest to meet Santa. The story itself may not be relatable or overly heart-warming, but it's told in the style of a rhyming children’s book so this light-hearted festive advert certainly captures the spirit of Christmas and shows off some tasty looking treats.

3 - Sainsbury's

Sainsbury’s have gone for an animated musical advert this Christmas centring around Dave, a hard working father trying to give his family the greatest gifts. After amusing train delays and chaos in the factory, Dave decides the greatest gift he can give is his time. As much as they can be highly commended for supporting the Great Ormond Street Hospital with merchandise linked to the advert, it does feel slightly hypocritical of Sainsbury's to be promoting time as the greatest gift but still opening their doors and making staff work on Boxing Day. The advert itself is lovely and very catchy, however; its mixed message from the brand does dampen the impact a little.

2- John Lewis

The John Lewis advert is always the most anticipated one of the year and, although this one isn’t quite up there with Monty the Penguin and The Bear and the Hare, it is still quintessentially John Lewis. Buster the Boxer may not have filled me with Christmas spirit and I may be slightly biased as nothing will ever beat the 2011 ‘ The Long Wait ’, however; they have certainly managed to get social media involved through #BusterTheBoxer and have even sparked many home videos of jumping Boxers. It may not be my personal favourite, but they have certainly got people talking, and I have no doubt sales of toy Busters will skyrocket. Other businesses have also jumped on the Buster bandwagon including the Robert Dyas ‘ Not on my trampoline ’ alternative advert.

1- Marks and Spencer

For me, the M&S advert is truly what Christmas is all about and I love that it creates Mrs Claus as an icon. As well as keeping the Christmas magic truly alive, it targets the typical M&S audience to a T. They have created a fully integrated campaign including a tailored landing page and shopping page for all things Mrs Claus, making it quick and simple to order products shown in the advert.

Do you agree with our Christmas line-up? Or does Buster the Boxer beat Mrs Claus?

This blog post was written by:

Chris Lunn • Dec 01, 2016

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