Faced with the grim prospect of a yuletide lockdown, consumers are counting on advertisers to entertain them with some lively festive cheer this Christmas. 

The 2020 Holiday Insights Report by video advertising companies Unruly and Tremor Video found that after all they’ve had to go though this year, 47% of people want Christmas ads that make them happy, 44% want ads to give them a warm feeling, and 31% are longing for a seasonal dose of nostalgia. The last thing 33% of them want is to be reminded of the pandemic.

A quick look at this year’s early crop of Christmas crackers reveals that most of those angles have been covered.

Back to our festive roots.

It’s welcome back to the star of previous Aldi seasonal spectaculars, Kevin the Carrot. This time around we see the plucky little vegetable parachute from a jet fighter, hitch a ride aboard a hedgehog in the snow, meet with Santa, and finally arrive home, emerging through the catflap to be reunited with the family for Christmas dinner. What a guy!

Real Christmases aren’t perfect. 

There’s a funny Christmas campaign from Very telling people to quit pretending Christmas is perfect, and embrace the very real things that lead up to December 25th. In this ad, that includes the very human – and often imperfect – things that go awry. As a picture of how Christmas really is, it works.

A touch of seasonal magic.

From Argos comes the second chapter in its ‘Book of Dreams’ campaign that taps into how people feel when flicking through the pages of its Christmas gift guide. In the spot, two girls spot a box of magic tricks in the guide, and suddenly they have their own magic show using merchandise in the ‘Book of dreams,’ aka the Argo Christmas gift guide.

Making dreams to true.  

Amazon has chosen to use the power of dreams to combat the restrictions caused by the pandemic. Their ad tells the inspiring story of 17-year-old French ballet dancer, Taïs Vinolo, whose character must train from home due to the pandemic. Set to an arrangement of Queen’s ‘The Show Must Go On’, her sister and the community around her pull together to give her a stage and an audience in an emotional finale. Definitely a warm feeling.

A goat for Christmas.  

TK Maxx’s Christmas ad features a small goat wearing a pink designer outfit – and why not? – strolling through a snowy landscape as the farmer looks on tenderly. “Did you buy the goat a designer outfit?” his wife asks. “Yes,” he admits, “she’s had such a hard year, she bloomin’ well deserves it.” The message, if you didn’t figure it out, is that after the year we’ve had, everyone deserves to feel special this Christmas. Even goats who shop at TK Maxx.

Happiness, made with Lego.

As part of its ‘Rebuild the World’ brand campaign, Lego’s ad brings us an adventure with stories, animals and vehicles based on existing Lego products; princess knights calm dragons, astronauts celebrate their marriage with dinosaurs and giant chicken, and a Star Wars AT-AT. It’s practically a Christmas panto.

Facebook means togetherness.

Facebook’s Portal uses footballing luvvy Ian Wright to launch a brand new holiday campaign showing us how the whole family can hang out together during the holiday and keeping their traditions. Each family moment in the campaign showcases how a different feature of Portal is helping the Wrights feel like they’re together, with the sentiment: ‘If you can’t be there, feel there.’

An Asda price Christmas.

This year, Asda was one of the first of the major supermarkets to launch its Christmas ad from AMV BBDO. Featuring the tagline, ‘the Christmas we all need, at the prices we want’, their spot brings back Sunny and his wife and kids as they indulge in the many seasonal goodies that Asda has on offer. Ending with the thought ‘Christmas is going to be different this year, so let’s really make the most of it,’ the ad pretty much sums up the general mood of us all right now.

If an amazing new marketing strategy is at the top of your Christmas list, get in touch with a member of the Harrison Carloss team.