-
ROAR
- 5 Min Read
- Blog
10 Of The Best Christmas Marketing Campaigns Ever
It’s officially the run-up to the festive season! As Halloween and bonfire nights pass, it’s time to think about Christmas! We’re breaking down the best Christmas marketing campaigns ever – in our opinion, anyway. Let’s get into the Christmas spirit early, shall we?
The best Christmas marketing campaigns ever
Asda (2022) Have Your Elf a Merry Little Christmas
Based on my favourite Christmas film ever, ‘Elf’ Asda cuts scenes of ‘Buddy the Elf’ (Will Ferrell) and takes him around an Asda store. He is seen interacting with staff, trying different foods and after he gets lost, he finds himself locked in the store overnight. This leads him to decorate the store top to bottom with festive decorations landing him a job at the supermarket!
Buddy is one of the most wholesome Christmas characters to ever exist with his sole purpose to celebrate Christmas.
John Lewis (and Waitrose) (2019) Edgar the Dragon
In 2019 we were introduced to Edgar The Dragon as part of John Lewis’ and Waitroses’ first Christmas advert collaboration.
As always, any Christmas advert with the John Lewis name attached to it is sure to be a tear-jerker, and this one is no different. The advert features Edgar and some cuddly characters, including Monthy the Penguin and Moz the Monster from previous ads.
Edgar can’t stop sprouting fire every time he opens his mouth and sadly ends up disrupting some festive fun by melting a snowman and burning down a Christmas tree.
Eventually, Edgar prevails and uses his fire gift to light a Christmas pud for the village feast! The advert, like every other, is so heartwarming.
It’s no shock people wait for an advert featuring John Lewis advert each year and is deemed one of the best Christmas advertising campaigns.
Sainsbury’s (2014) 1914 War truce
Sainsbury’s teamed up with the Royal British Legion for an advert inspired by real events that occurred during World War One. The Advert saw both the British and German War troops.
The advert was made to commemorate the 100th anniversary of a truce between allied troops and Germany on Christmas Day 1914.
The video sees the soldiers come together to pause fighting and play a game of football whilst sharing a chocolate bar with the tagline ‘Christmas is for sharing’.
The chocolate bar was available to purchase in-store with a percentage of sales going straight to the charity, to help soldiers and their families.
This is definitely one of the most sentimental campaigns from over the years.
Google (2018) ‘Home Alone Again’
In 2018, Google launched a Christmas campaign advert for their ‘Google Home Assistant’.
The advert stars Macaulay Caulkin, who reprised his famous role in Home Alone, playing the real-life adult version of Kevin McAllister 28 years after the Christmas themed classic premiered.
Google even replicated some scenes from the film to give the audience a sense of pure festive nostalgia.
They did this whilst showing off their latest Google Home to promote the ideal Christmas gift.
Aldi (2016) Kevin the Carrot
If you don’t know who Kevin the Carrot is, have you been living in an alternate universe where the great Aldi does not exist?
Kevin is a stuffed toy launched by Aldi around Christmas in 2016 as a Christmas gift. He has been the face of the Aldi Christmas adverts for years, we’ve even met Kevins’ wife and his kids!
Following his debut, Aldi saw a 15.1% sales uplift. Featuring inTV adverts, social media campaigns and even in-store merchandise.
Kevin has become a part of Christmas ad furniture, according to System1.
Ted Baker (2014) #TedSelfie Treasure Hunt
View this post on Instagram
In 2014 Ted Baker launched an interactive scavenger hunt through Instagram to win Ted Baker goodies.
Using the hashtag #TedsElfie (great pun), participants had to locate Father Christmas’ missing else using clues and accounts on the platform to win. Even the hashtag itself was a clever play on words: #TedsElfie.
For Instagram users who committed to this social media campaign, there were opportunities to win various goodies and even a trip to see the Northern Lights.
Coca-Cola (2015) Share A Coke With Reindeers
@CocaCola_GB check my reindeers out Can’t find Santa anywhere 🎅🎅 pic.twitter.com/VN2uiwi6BD
— Samantha Moran (@sammymoran21) December 3, 2014
No surprise, one of the best Christmas marketing campaigns ever comes from Coca-Cola.
When Coca-Cola first launched it’s ‘Share a Coke’ campaign, sales skyrocketed with cola fans frantically searching for their names on bottles and cans.
After the great success, Coca-Cola decided to use some other festive names around Christmas for the holiday season. Coca-Cola replaced the ordinary branding with the names of Father Christmas’ 9 reindeer to share some reindeer love around the festive season.
It also saw cola fans attempt to collect all nine different cans or bottles for some festive decoration.
Air Canada (2014)
In 2014 Air Canada pulled off one of the most wholesome PR campaigns ever as they handed out free flight vouchers to Canadians in London. This was in aid of those who couldn’t get themselves back to Canada for the holidays and ultimately ended up stuck in London.
This campaign was so special because it highlighted the gift of giving. It resonated with the general public as many do miss out on family time around the holidays due to working overseas.
Costa and Starbucks Christmas cups and festive menus (Every year)
Say hello to this year’s Christmas cups! It wouldn’t be Christmas without them 🎄☃️❄️ pic.twitter.com/aUQ7gcH2XX
— Costa Coffee (@CostaCoffee) November 4, 2022
View this post on Instagram
I don’t know about you, but I can never resist a Costa Gingerbread Latte around Christmas time!
Each year, Christmas and Starbucks bring out festive new cups and merchandise along with a new festive menu to make the Christmas countdown much tastier.
From black forest hot chocolates to toffee nut lattes, it becomes irresistible walking by without visiting the stores.
Both brands have also been known to encourage user-generated content by sharing pictures of the festive cups online, I bet you’ve seen a few on your Instagram feed!
M&S (2019)
As mentioned in our past blog, the top Halloween marketing campaigns, M&S marketing adverts, are always special. This year M&S held their own Christmas Market in the advert, where friends and families visited to try their latest Christmas selection.
We enjoyed this one because it included the most important thing about Christmas… FOOD. Okay, not just food, families enjoying food together, which is definitely one of our Christmas highlights.
Just Eat (2020)
Did somebody say Just Eat…. you’ve heard that everywhere and in 2020, this campaign featured Snopp Dog bringing a festive advert for the food ordering app.
Snoop Dog in this advert who is actually just voicing a dog, describes himself as ‘the D.O.G.G. is feeling festive’’.
He encourages viewers to “hit up” the Just Eat menu after rapping about “burritos dropping down the chimney” and gold-leaf burgers with jerk chicken in his stocking.
The full track was even released by Snoop Dog and his label Doggy Style Records and Empire.
Did any of the above make your best Christmas marketing campaigns list?
Team up with ROAR today to take your campaigns to new levels! Get in touch with one of our specialists today.
