The Christmas ads that have captures our eyes and heart this year
Every year we eagerly anticipate the arrival of the Christmas adverts to see who brings out “the best”. It also signals that Christmas is almost upon us and its time to get your decorations up (subject to opinion) and the Christmas songs can start to be played. John Lewis is arguably the most highly anticipated one as they renew their ad, messaging, song choice and overall theme yearly. In the past, they have brought out some of the most popular ads including the #ManOnTheMoon and The Bear and The Hare.
With the strange year we have all faced we were all wondering the same question: would companies stay with the 2020 theme of Coronavirus and the prevailing decisions we have all had to endure as a nation?
Whilst the COOP references the struggles we’ve faced as a community and Tesco’s campaign “There is no Naughty List” makes reference to the year we’ve had, the campaigns that have caught our eye and the ones that keep with the traditional Christmas spirit and uplift us.
Simon Jones – Senior Marketing Manager
The holidays are coming!
My favourite Christmas ad of 2020 is one that appears every year – the Coca Cola advert with the Christmas trucks. It’s a classic, it appears every year around November time and that’s how you know the Christmas countdown has officially started! Funnily enough, I don’t actually drink Coke but the Ad was created in 1995 and so became a staple of my childhood and teen years and just takes me back every time I see it.
Glenn Graves – PPC Manager
Kevin – the lovable, carroty mascot from Aldi. You wouldn’t think it to look at him, but even Kevin has had his fair share of controversy.
Two years ago, Kevin’s booze-peddling The Sixth Sense parody advert was taken off air due to a single complaint. The complainer had argued that, as The Sixth Sense is a children’s film, Aldi was attempting to market hard liquor to minors. Makes perfect sense – or at least the Advertising Standards Authority thought so, who then proceeded to ban the advert immediately. Poor Kevin!
And who could forget the pyjama scandal of November 2020?
None of this controversy seems to have hurt Kevin’s popularity, as this year Aldi have had to employ the same ticket queuing software Glastonbury Festival use, in order to manage demand for the latest plushy Kevin doll.
But don’t worry – if you missed out on a Kevin, there’s always eBay – where you can pick one up for a mere £1,100.
Crazy? I would say so – but not as mad as Kevin’s latest Top Gun inspired advert – which is my pick for Christmas 2020.
Andy Clarke – Digital Marketing Executive
I don’t watch much live TV and never see any ads and I never liked any of the Coca-Cola adverts or the little dragon etc, but I see plenty of Facebook / Instagram ads!
There’s this subscription service called On That Ass, which basically sends you a pair of boxers with a wicked design every month, each month’s pair is unique. It costs £10 a month, and you think hey that’s a little steep for a pair of boxers, BUT they’re super comfy and they all look very cool, plus of course, delivery is included, AND they entice you by offering the first month for free which is pretty cool!
They do limited edition boxers that you can’t buy individually, and for Christmas they did a members-only giveaway where they send you all 9 limited edition boxers of course valued at £90, in a Christmas themed box. You don’t even have to do anything except be a member and comment on the Instagram post.
I didn’t win but was a cool Christmas giveaway which also would’ve helped them gain some future business as people could sign up for free to get a chance of winning the 9 free pairs.
Carolanne Mangles – Digital Marketing Executive
My favourite Christmas advert for 2020 is one that has not been shown on British TV but has gone viral online. Doc Morris, a German-based medical and pharmaceutical company has stolen my heart this year for the best advert. Their “Take Care of Yourself” campaign really embodies the spirit of family, self-love and Christmas for me and overall is a heart-warming ad that builds up to an ending I did not expect.
Finally, we also want to make a special mention to Sainsbury’s for their three-part Christmas campaign that focuses on the family connections and emotions within the Christmas Holiday period.
