What brands want (for Xmas)

Advent no longer marks the beginning of the festive season, adverts do. And by that measure, yuletide has well and truly kicked off. We've watched and re-watched the campaigns released so far to try to figure out what the respective brands want for Christmas.

Amazon, Joy Ride / in house : The slowed-down piano version of a wistful pop song, the joy tinged with poignancy, the thoughtful gifting...all Amazon appears to want for Christmas is to be John Lewis. And it’s making a decent fist of it, too.

Lidl, A Magical Christmas / BBDO Germany : Lidl also seems to want to be John Lewis for Christmas, but its letter to Santa must have got lost in the post. The supermarket's story about a racoon and a little boy’s lost teddy bear is a bit muddled, and neither the brand-building message nor the call to action for Lidl’s toy donation scheme really lands.

M&S, Love Thismas (Not Thatmas) / Mother, London : M&S wanted a big, distinctive idea, and it got it with this campaign about ditching the traditions you don’t like this Christmas. M&S probably didn’t want people to complain to the Advertising Standards Authority that its ad, showing celebrities setting fire to Christmas cards and suchlike, was too negative and distressing to children, but it got that, too. We also wonder whether it got Hannah Waddingham at a discount because she's appearing in a Christmas ad for Bailey's at the same time. If not, someone's going to go on the naughty list.

Asda, Make this Christmas Incredibublé / Havas London : Asda wants everyone to know that it has secured the services of Michael Bublé this Christmas. And why not? The Canadian crooner certainly gives his all playing Asda’s chief quality officer. We wouldn’t be surprised if this ended up being one of the most effective Christmas ads of 2023.

Waitrose & Partners, It’s Time For The Good Stuff / Saatchi & Saatchi, London : Waitrose wants to remind everyone that the best bit about Christmas is the food. It could have done that just as effectively without presenter Graham Norton, in our view, but he makes a brief appearance anyway, to show off some kind of deluxe chocolate log.

Sainsbury’s, Big Fella’s Christmas Dinner / NCA, London : Ostensibly, Sainsbury’s wants people to know that it’s got lots of nice food in its stores. But we also get the impression it wants to show shoppers that it hasn’t spent loads of cash on a lavish-looking Christmas campaign this year. Not a bad idea, given the less-than-ideal economic situation.

Coca-Cola, The World Needs More Santas / WPP Open X : Coca-Cola wants the moon on a stick. It's Holidays Are Coming spot — which it will begin running in the UK from Friday — is already the most well known and well-liked Christmas ad on either side of the Atlantic. But that's obviously not enough for Coke because the soft-drink brand has also made another spot about a town populated by Santa Clauses. It's nicely done, it just feels unnecessary.

Campaign of the week / The Misheard version

Rick Astley has re-recorded his hit song, Never Gonna Give You Up, with commonly misheard lyrics to promote Specsavers’ hearing services.

The new version of the song includes some of the public’s silliest malaprops. For instance, in the original song, Astley sings ‘never gonna run around and desert you’, but in the re-recorded version he sings, ‘never gonna run around with dessert spoons’.

The song was initially teased on the radio and by Astley himself on social media. Specsavers then published a short online video that showed Astley making the song and discussing his own hearing loss. Read our full analysis of the campaign, here. Contagious .

Fiat to share ‘dolce vita’ values at Most Contagious

Fiat injected some distinctiveness into a staid and clichéd category this summer when it promised to stop selling grey cars because they clashed with its vibrant Italian roots.

The brand’s Operation No More Grey campaign breathed life into a category that had become tediously overpopulated with shots of cars driving along empty mountain passes and meaningless straplines about ‘driving the future’.

Unlike other automaker ads, Fiat’s actually had something interesting to say, and the brand said it in an entertaining way by dipping a car (and its CEO) into a vat of orange paint.

And at Most Contagious London on 7 December you can learn about the insights and strategy behind this groundbreaking campaign from Leo Burnett, the agency responsible for it.

To find out what else is on the agenda at our event and to book your place, click here. Contagious .

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