Earlier today, we sat down to discuss advertising campaigns that caught our attention over the last week. Our conversation turned festive as we tried to agree on our five favourite Christmas ads for this year.

Before we get to our top five, one of the team asked us when we thought Christmas ads became events in their own right. There’s almost universal interest in the Super Bowl halftime adverts, but the hype around Christmas ads in the UK seems to have sprung up out of nowhere over the last few years. We also noticed that, as we move further away from watching live TV, many of this year’s commercials seem to have been created with a social media-based viewing audience front of mind — with some ads, like Disney’s, running for over two minutes.

Nostalgia was a common theme in many of the adverts we reviewed. Whether that was Paddington recreated in his original cartoon form for Barbour, Will Ferrell as Buddy the Elf visiting ASDA stores, or Aldi’s Kevin the Carrot recreating scenes from Home Alone. These brands clearly know their markets and customer demographics — and just how to trigger those happy childhood memories.   

Of course, you can’t talk about Christmas adverts in the UK without mentioning John Lewis. This year, the partnership takes a much more low-key approach, highlighting two charities it supports — Action For Children and Who Cares? Scotland. The advert is deliberately designed to bring home the message that over 100,000 UK children will be in care this Christmas. There’s also a nod to the current economic climate and cost of living crisis from Aldi and Lidl, both of whom encourage viewers to donate to Neighbourly, one of their chosen charities.

And now, as promised, here are our top five 2022 Christmas adverts:

John Lewis - The Beginner

 

Barbour - One Of a Kind-ness

 

Aldi - Will Kevin be Home Alone This Christmas?

 

Lidl - The Story of Lidl Bear

 

Disney - The Gift

 

And, for a bonus sixth Christmas ad, check out our German colleague’s favourite commercial from a couple of years back. We’d be curious to know what you make of this one from EDEKA, a German supermarket…

 

To donate to the John Lewis campaign, click here or to donate to Neighbourly, visit https://www.aldi.co.uk/neighbourly

 

Do you have a hands-down favourite Christmas from this or any year? And dare we ask; is there a Christmas ad you really can’t stand?