The Christmas battle of the brands

This year’s eagerly awaited Christmas campaigns have arrived, and VI are big fans so far!

 

In recent years big-budget television adverts produced by major British brands have become more imaginative, featuring loveable characters targeted at the younger generations and heartwarming stories to get us in the festive spirit.

Love them or hate them (humbug!), the hype around Christmas advert releases has taken social media by storm with hundreds of thousands of us liking and sharing. Their impact is hugely impressive and many brands also run their campaigns throughout their stores including impressive, enticing window displays to attract high-street customers.

The ability to influence through social media, from raising brand awareness to lead generation is more powerful than ever. #ExcitableEdgar was trending on Twitter within minutes of its release.

John Lewis and Waitrose have partnered for their first joint Christmas advert this year and created Edgar, an excitable young dragon who you can’t help but love! The accompanying song, a re-recorded version of ‘Can’t fight this feeling’ by Dan Smith from Bastille is the perfect fit and set to climb the charts.

Over the last decade, John Lewis’ Christmas ad production budgets have often exceeded £1m and it’s been revealed that these big-budget ads have produced, on average, £8 of profit for every £1 spent. Driving a 16% rise in sales.

Here’s a list of some of the best 2019 Ad’s (in our opinion) so far:

Sainsbury’s – we’re not sure 2018’s memorable “plug” scene can be topped. View here

Joules – “30 Years of Cracking memories” – featuring Wallace and Grommit. View here

Aldi – Kevin the Carrot is in trouble again with Russell Sprout and his Brummy gang of ‘Leafy Blinders’, featuring Robbie Williams hit “let me entertain you”. View here

Boots – ‘Bootiques’. View here

Debenhams – staring Fleur East. View here

M&S – has released two festive adverts (so far). One promoting their premium knitwear collection (the retailer is reportedly expected to sell over five million jumpers this festive season!) and another (reportedly the first of 6 M&S Food ads) featuring Paddy McGuinness and Emma Willis sampling a selection of their mouth-watering Christmas foods – celebrating the role of food at Christmas. View here

IKEA – ‘Silence the critics’ – focusses on “home shame”. View here

Amazon – ‘Everybody Needs Somebody to Love’. View here

Walkers – featuring Mariah Carey and ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’, 25 years after its release. View here

Argos – ‘The Book of Dreams’ was this year’s first release and see’s its iconic catalogue take centre stage. View here

Very ‘s heartwarming animation celebrates community spirit at Christmas time. View here

Barbour – celebrating 125 years with the well-loved Father Christmas animation. View here

McDonald’s – Are you #ReindeerReady? View here