I love Christmas ads. I’m not sure if it’s something in the eggnog, but this time of year seems to encourage brands to go big. There’s suddenly so much more of a focus on emotion and storytelling than the usual rational lecturing. So, I’ve decided to wrap up (pun intended) what I think are the best of the year. Hopefully, you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll rush out to buy whatever they’re selling. Merry Christmas!
ALDI – Go a Little Extra this Christmas
Let’s start close to home, with an Aussie ad that takes what could have been a boring brief and makes it fun. As with most ALDI work, the idea comes from a strong campaign line and clear strategy: “Go a little extra this Christmas”. Which sets the stage for an ad that is itself a little ‘extra’. The production quality is great, I love the music and the ‘gravy boat’ pun is top shelf. My only criticism is I always feel like the guy carrying the turkey is going to drown when he jumps out of the gravy boat too soon. Other than that, this ad is a cracker. 4 out of 5 Love Actuallys.
John Lewis – The Gifting Hour
I love British ads for their clever insights, and this John Lewis ad is no exception. The idea that you have a lifetime of memories to help you pick a present for your family is really nice. The craft of the ad is also great, if not a little confusing on the first watch. Jumping backward and forward in time with different actors playing the sister, and the protagonist being able to interact with her memories, makes things a little hard to follow. Having said all that, I really love the emotion of this spot and the more times I watch it, the more I enjoy it, which is not something I can say about many ads. 4.5 out of 5 Love Actuallys.
Carib Breweries – Home for the Holidays
Paul Kelly’s classic Aussie song, “How to Make Gravy” proves there’s something powerful about the longing you feel for family at Christmas. This ad picks up on that same feeling and although the story is a bit familiar, it looks beautiful, was well-cast and has a nice emotional resolution.
The other interesting thing about this spot is the bus driver protagonist was also in the brand’s 2022 Christmas ad, which I love. It’s something I’m surprised more brands don’t look to do, especially when your first ad is a hit. It certainly worked for AAMI with their Rhonda and Ketut ads. 4 out of 5 Love Actuallys.
Etsy – Where’s Waldo
I love the starting point for this ad. Wally is well-cast and the way people react to seeing him is fun and natural. Unfortunately, I feel the payoff is a bit underwhelming. Although the ‘I’m glad I found you’ engraving on the compass is nice, the endline, “Gifts that say I get you” feels like it’s been done a lot. Please don’t put me in advertising jail, but I think this ad might have been stronger without any endline at all. 3.5 out of 5 Love Actuallys.
Shelter – World of our own
I almost skipped this ad after 15 seconds because the start is so saccharine, but I’m glad I stuck with it. It takes an issue that we have all gotten used to ignoring and approaches it from a new angle. I’m not sure about you, but it certainly made me think about homelessness differently.
What makes this ad really powerful for me is how it conveys the scariness of homelessness for parents and the unfairness of it for children. You can really imagine being in that poor father’s shoes, trying to protect his daughter from the situation they are in. 4.5 out of 5 Love Actuallys.
Norwegian Postal Service
There’s no point skirting around it – this ad is bonkers, but in a good way. It’s one of those ads you feel could be turned into a feature film that people might actually watch. I like the idea of the Norwegian Postal Service being there for you if something should happen to Santa’s reindeer. There isn’t much else they need to say here, but that doesn’t always stop people, so I’m glad they resisted the urge. Hats off to the brave client who bought this one! 4 out of 5 Love Actuallys.
The gift of emotion
What can we take away from this year’s best Christmas ads? For me, it’s the power of emotional storytelling: the ability to make your audience feel joy, surprise, or a sense of belonging.
A study analysing 1,400 case studies from the IPA database found that purely emotional campaigns performed twice as well as rational ones in terms of profitability. So, perhaps it’s time to ask ourselves why we wait until Christmas to remember the importance of emotion? Let’s focus on making our audience feel something year-round. If we do, we might find that every day is Christmas in terms of effectiveness.
