2023 Christmas ads you NEED to watch this year ??
No Brainer - Search-driven Content Agency | B Corp
Proudly working with some of the biggest and brightest UK brands to: Be Found, Be Famous, and Be First on Search.
We spoke with our Account Manager and all-round brand marketing enthusiast, Alexandra Whiteside , to get some insights into her favourite Christmas adverts from this year.
Lidl - A Magical Christmas
Key Stats:
Lidl has upped its marketing game this Christmas, with a leaf taken straight from the playbook of John Lewis festive ads of old ??
On the whole, the ad has received a positive reaction, with the supermarket chain surprising many with its choice of theme.
First released a few weeks ago, it’s racked up more than 380,000 views on YouTube, nearly 541,000 on TikTok, 426,000 on Instagram and 913,000 on X - an impressive feat for a brand that isn’t necessarily known for its Christmas campaigns.
Side note: BIG up to the marketing team for optimising the content to suit the needs of each platform ??
It’s a simple ask and DOES affect content performance, but it’s all too often overlooked…
With more than 65,000 likes combined across social channels, you only need to look at the replies section on X (formerly Twitter) to see how well it’s been received; even more than certain other Christmas ads that shall not be named.
?? But WHY is the Lidl logo permanently in the top right corner throughout the YouTube clip? It’s a big no-no in my books.
Another brownie point for the supermarket is based on its ranking for relevant festive search queries, claiming a spot in the top 13 searches on Google Trends for ‘Christmas Adverts 2023’, alongside John Lewis, M&S, Asda and Tesco.
And, interestingly, when searching ‘Advertising’ as a Topic, ‘Lidl Christmas Advert’ is a breakout term, amongst other big retailers, including M&S, Aldi, Asda, Amazon, John Lewis, Waitrose & Tesco, showing those brands causing a stir on Google ?
The icing on this winter treat has to be its annual charity initiative, Lidl’s Toybank.
In partnership with Neighbourly, Lidl is collecting donations of unopened toys and gifts, in its stores across the UK.
Christmas is all about giving and the supermarket has really struck a cord in the heart of the nation with this one ??
Asda - Make this Christmas Incredibublé
Key Stats:
When you think of Christmas there are a few familiar faces that pop up - Mariah Carey, George Michael, and of course, Mr. Bublé.
After their big festive hit last year, with clips from Will Ferrell in Elf, Asda have only gone and done it again, joining forces with a true festive legend ??
Leading up to the big reveal, the supermarket chain teased the announcement across its socials, building the hype and conversations around the brand.
Published to YouTube a month ago, there are two versions of the ad available on the platform, and between them, they’ve received more than 1.2 million views and 3,000 likes.
Asda have even taken it one step further, releasing a BTS video, with interviews on the making of the Christmas ad - this clip alone has been watched more than 13,000 times.
With a dedicated hashtag, #IncrediBublé, it encourages users to engage, share and join the conversation. The hashtag #incredibubléchristmas??? has already been viewed more than 13.6 million times, #incredibubléchristmas 5.7 million times, and #incredibuble 37,900 times.
Asda have also created a dedicated playlist on the video sharing platform which has been split into nine parts, with a grand total of more than 8.8 million views between all the clips.
The main video on TikTok has garnered 4.8 million views, more than 76,000 likes, 2,292 saves and 4,765 shares.
Again, when analysing other social channels, the supermarket have taken a similar approach - building intrigue with initial ‘sneak peek’ clips and then rolling out a few variations of the official ad.
The content on Instagram has received a combined total of close to 3.5 million views, and 435,000 watches on X.
?? The marketing team certainly know how to create a stir, with searches for Asda on Google increasing by 265% since the beginning of November.
The same can also be said for the Canadian singer/songwriter, searches for Michael Bublé have sky rocketed by 277% in the last 30 days.
With great Christmas ads two years on the run, all eyes will be on Asda in 2024 to see what they have in store ??
Amazon - Joy Ride
Key Stats:
?? Why is Amazon winning and losing at Christmas?
Their festive ad brought the brand's iconic smile to my face and I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one.
The video combines a mixture of joy, laughter and nostalgia, connecting with its audience no matter their age - and that’s true marketing magic ??
For me, the ad has been somewhat underrated so far. Despite having more than 800,000 followers on TikTok, views have remained at less than 10,000 with a small number of likes (below 300 at the time of writing).
The clip has been posted across social channels within the last day, as well as airing on TV over the last few days, and we’ve seen competitive Christmas ads soar in popularity within a matter of hours, but the reach for this seems to have fallen flat ??
Could this be down to the lack of optimisation of the ad for the platform they’ve chosen to post on? Amazon has decided to post the video in its original landscape format but, in my opinion, this may have harmed its performance.
Similarly on Instagram, the main worldwide Amazon account, with more than 4 million followers, has only had 278,000 views and 4,839 likes on its video so far. In comparison, Amazon UK, with a mere 3% of the global account's following (141,000 followers), has received 148,000 views and 2,105 likes.
?? The big difference? The global account has shared the video in landscape, and the UK account has optimised the content to fit the preferred platform's aspect ratios for Reels.
Although there’s not much data on the effects on users when content is not properly formatted for each social platform, it clearly plays a massive part in engagement.
From my own experience, I’m much less likely to watch a video on TikTok if it doesn’t fit the whole screen. Why? Because that has always been the platform’s selling point - scrolling through portrait videos that fit nicely on a screen.
So yes, the actual content of Amazon’s Christmas ad is a winner, but the marketing of it across socials could have cost the online retailer going ‘viral’ with its festive campaign ??
John Lewis - Snapper: The Perfect Tree
领英推荐
Key Stats:
Within nine hours of this year's Christmas release, it received:
Love it or hate it? This year's John Lewis ad is a bit like Marmite.
?? But what can we learn from the most anticipated brand's Christmas advert?
They have the power to stir emotion within us, even if that means we're feeling sad for a computer-generated Venus flytrap.
The John Lewis & Partners festive ad has become a home staple for announcing the arrival of the Christmas period, and it's eagerly anticipated every year.
From 'Moz the Monster' in 2017, to 'An Unexpected Guest' in 2021, and 'The Beginner' in 2022, the retailer tries to tie its messaging in with relevant themes for the year to connect with its audience - and oh, how it works! ??
It's not only the concept and the visuals of the videos that receive all the praise, but the stars on the backing track usually enter the UK's music charts, including Frankie Goes to Hollywood, 'The Power of Love' (topping the singles chart), and Lily Allen covering Keane's 'Somewhere Only We Know'.
?? Within nine hours of this year's Christmas release, it received more than 231,000 YouTube views and a combined total of 13.1 million watches on TikTok - that's an impressive 266% more views from users than the number of followers it has on the platform.
There's no doubt it's had immense pick up in the media already, with big hitters such as Sky News, The Independent, The Telegraph and The Guardian discussing their opinions on the ad Many of them have also been sharing it on their socials, including YouTube, to help spread the message.
Now, I may be biased because I'm absolutely OBSESSED with 'Little Shop of Horrors' (and the carnivorous plant reminds me so much of Audrey II), but it's a winner in my eyes.
I love how John Lewis' videos aren't just focused on their products, they portray a message, and they're confident enough in their brand name to go with what the viewers want, not necessarily what the company needs to push at Christmas ??
The music is beyond perfect, the concept of '#traditionsgrow ' is fitting, and the way the story is told is mesmerising.
To be named as the Christmas ad to watch, year after year, they've done well not to let their crown slip.
But JL have done it again for 2023 and this one, I'm sure, is one we'll remember for years to come ?
Aldi - Brooke and Jessie Collab
?? Now this one is split into two parts - the marketing warm-up to the festive ad, and the actual ad itself because everything about this is a big WIN in my eyes.
Key Stats:
Within 14 hours, the promo clip (prior to the official Christmas ad) received:
On the lead up to the release of their festive ad, Aldi UK went VIRAL on TikTok, and their choice of collab was absoluteluy top tier.
To introduce them by their official handle, @brookieandjessie, are arguably the video viewing platform's favourite pair of dancing influencers, and they take centre stage with a specially designed, easy-to-follow dance routine.
But why choose Brooke and Jess to front part of this build-up campaign? The question really should be - why not?
Let’s take a look at their track record over the last couple of years.
?? TikTok dances became a craze during lockdown, and the platform will still always be recognised for this.
But the pair have taken this evergreen trend to new heights, shooting to stardom over the years with their ‘must learn’ dances to newly released songs.
The sunglasses and hoodie-clad duo went viral with their Louis Theroux ‘jiggle jiggle’ routine, achieving the top US trend spot on TikTok’s fifth annual ‘Year on TikTok’ report in 2022.
And let’s not forget, the video we’ve all definitely seen, and the one which opened the doors for Brooke and Jess to brush shoulders with celebrities - Meghan Trainor’s ‘Made You Look'.
?? This 25-second clip racked up the engagements with an impressive 61.7 million views, 6.7 million likes and 632,000 saves (no doubt this last metric is down to us all trying to nail the moves!).
Since then they’ve danced alongside HUGE celebs, including Shania Twain, Gwen Stefani, the Jonas Brothers and Ashley Tisdale, to name just a few.
So of course, this collab was a sweet deal for Aldi and already the proof is in the pudding ??
With 3.8 million views in less than 14 hours, and already racking up close to 30,000 likes, the Aldi marketing team has done it again.
With a clever CTA for users to tag Aldi if they recreate the ‘iconic dance’, knowing full well Brooke and Jess have grown a fan base of viewers who will do just that, the positioning of the whole ad is chef's kiss.
?? Bravo to one of the greatest marketing decisions this year.
Aldi - Kevin and the Christmas Factory
Key Stats:
Now, it's time to focus on the actual Christmas ad that's landed.
And of course, we can't talk about iconic Christmas Ads without mentioning the one, the only... Kevin the Carrot ??
Aldi UK struck gold when they decided to create a bespoke Christmas character that can stand the test of time, especially one as likeable as our veggie friend.
With the carrot mascot making its first TV appearance back in 2016, Kevin has been on lots of festive escapades, including a stint in Home Alone, adventuring through A Christmas Carol, and even doing a parody based on Peaky Blinders.
?? The sky really is the limit on what Kevin can do - and the marketing team clearly has a lot of fun with it.
This year's Christmas clip sees Kevin venture to William Conker's Christmas Factory, taking a fun, quirky spin on Roald Dahl's classic story.
Since the ad was posted to YouTube, it's racked up more than 4.5 million views. If we add up the watches of Aldi Christmas ads since 2020, this shoots the total up to 19.5 million ??
And that's not all, demonstrating its importance in ad marketing, the festive clip has been watched more than 11.6 million times on TikTok, with more than 72,000 likes and nearly 6,000 shares.
The same goes for the other big hitters in the world of social with Instagram reaching 1.9 million views and Twitter achieving 9.5 million views.
The combined total follower count across social platforms for the brand is nearly 2 million - an impressive feat for a supermarket chain.
?? And there's no doubt it's all in the marketing, from social to design, and graphics to creatives, the creation of Kevin the Carrot has set Aldi apart from all the rest. I mean, who else has a best-selling vegetable toy?
Since the Christmas ad dropped in November, searches for 'Aldi Christmas Advert' over the last 30 days have increased by 4,300% on Google, along with 'Aldi Advert' increasing by 1,900% and 'Kevin the Carrot' by 1,650%.
With an evergreen character able to adapt to popular festive themes, and all the while still able to subliminally promote their food offerings, Aldi has cracked the code on how a Christmas ad is done right ?
Can't wait to see what fun Kevin gets up to next year!