The Christmas ad competition is on to win shoppers’ seasonal spend. Here are some of the retailers’ approaches adopted for this year’s campaigns.
Grocery
Aldi
Aldi focuses on its broadened festive range in the ‘All Your Favourite Things for Christmas’ campaign.
Christmas cakes, gingerbread houses, five-bird roasts and chocolate Santas all feature to the soundtrack of a reworked version of My Favourite Things.
Aldi focuses on its broadened festive range in the ‘All Your Favourite Things for Christmas’
Aldi aims to capitalise on its growing average basket size and send a clear message that customers can do the bulk of their seasonal grocery shopping with the discounter this year.
It marks a step change from the cheeky, humorous approach to advertising that enabled it to capitalise on consumers’ search for value during the recession, instead showcasing its more upmarket lines. But it is a strategy that could pay off with shoppers poised to enjoy higher levels of confidence and disposable income this Christmas.
Asda
Asda seeks to put a ‘fresh, modern’ twist on Christmas, with real festive stories submitted by the grocer’s customers recreated to a high-tempo soundtrack.
The ad playfully points out the lengths people go to in order to make the season festive, from smothering the house in fairy lights to dressing up their dog.
Asda doesn’t attempt to push its everyday low price message during its 60-second ad, instead opting to highlight the ‘live better’ aspect of its slogan with smiles and good times galore.
But with little emphasis on price or product, will there be enough to convince shoppers to choose Asda over its supermarket rivals?
Lidl
The discounter has marched proudly in a new creative direction to come up with one of this year’s crackers. The ‘Lidl School of Christmas’ cleverly shows off the grocer’s growing festive range by suggesting it has everything that families need during the festive season.
The ad shows family members young and old attending Lidl’s real-life school to take part in various classes, including seminars to help them master the arts of ‘the leftover sandwich’, ‘Christmas pudding lighting’ and ‘snowman construction’.
The humorous tack, coupled with an emphasis on Lidl’s Christmas expertise and customer-friendly approach, should prove to be a real winner.
Morrisons
Morrisons has ditched TV presenters Ant and Dec in favour of its own store staff this year, as the supermarket giant highlights its vertically integrated business model.
The grocer hopes to profit from its Market Street proposition by emphasising how much of its produce is made in-store by butchers, bakers, greengrocers and fishmongers.
Chairman Andy Higginson has made no secret that Morrisons needs to regain the “quirky” qualities it displayed in the past and the Christmas adverts hammer home the distinctive business model that differentiates it from its big four rivals. But it is only in a short scene at the end of the advert – when a young girl presents a personally decorated cookie to her mother – that the benefits this can have for shoppers is made clear.
Waitrose
The upmarket grocer plays on the role that food has in bringing people together during the festive season by following various families through a number of heart-warming Christmas scenarios.
Waitrose cleverly maintains its quality message, building on the work of its autumn campaign when provenance took centre stage
But amid the glimpses inside people’s homes, Waitrose cleverly maintains its quality message, with celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal and real-life suppliers briefly featured between the family scenes, building on the work of its autumn campaign when provenance took centre stage.
While the grocer’s first Christmas advert by new agency adam&eveDDB may not have attracted the same level of attention as that of its sister retailer John Lewis, the images of mince pies, stuffed turkey crowns and flaming Christmas puddings certainly whet the appetite for Christmas Day.
Department stores
John Lewis
Each Christmas the burden of expectation grows heavier on John Lewis, but once again the retailer has pulled a rabbit out of the hat.
This year’s beautifully shot advert, featuring the man on the moon, is executed to perfection.
John Lewis has been criticised in some quarters for sticking to the same formula for its ads – it is true they all feature dangerous levels of schmaltz and are accompanied by saccharine covers of classic songs, but why change a winning approach?
This advert will undoubtedly consolidate John Lewis’ position as one of the UK’s best-loved retailers among the middle classes.
Marks & Spencer
The retail bellwether has opted for a colourful, high-energy affair, but with a nod to the past, well suited to being on mobile and social media.
The 60-second spot encompasses all the traditional elements of a Christmas Day, including excited children opening presents and a scene at a dinner table featuring a flaming Christmas pudding.
The ad cleverly highlights M&S’s heritage with images of vintage comedy double act Morecambe and Wise, while the duo’s signature tune, Bring Me Sunshine, plays.
The ad cleverly highlights M&S’s heritage with images of vintage comedy double act Morecambe and Wise
The ad neatly brings together both of the retailer’s key selling points – fashion and food.
The only criticism is that it could almost be seen as an assault on the senses. But it sticks in the mind and certainly delivers a punch.
Debenhams
Department store group Debenhams has taken a family-focused approach to its ad, which features voiceovers from comedian Sarah Millican and actor James Nesbitt.
The spot centres on families exchanging presents, including a young boy receiving a teddy from his parents. It is a stark contrast to John Lewis’ more abstract affair, but earns points for keeping things direct and simple.
There is not the sense of fun of last year’s effort – when kids roamed around a store in search of presents – but it gives the viewer plenty of gift ideas and plays well to the retailer’s core demographic.
Electricals and general merchandise
Currys PC World
A surprise contender for the crown of this year’s best Christmas advert is Currys PC World.
A surprise contender for the crown of this year’s best Christmas advert
Previously the electricals specialist has focused its festive advertising on product and services, but this year it has launched a brand-driven advert.
The retailer has splashed out £10m on a campaign starring Hollywood legend Jeff Goldblum. It features Goldblum teaching the public how to act pleased after receiving an unwanted present, while hoping for an electricals product.
Although the ads will cause guffaws in the nation’s living rooms, the lack of a call-to-action means the jury is out on whether it will move the dial on sales.
Argos
The Argos ad effectively conveys the speed of the retailer’s Fast Track same-day delivery and in-store collection service, but leaves the viewer relatively cold emotionally.
There is a lot riding on this year’s ad as the retailer plunges additional investment into promoting Fast Track, which it believes will differentiate it from rivals this Christmas.
Understandably it is difficult to create a heart-warming festive campaign when the message is so overtly focused on fulfilment.
However, the high-energy ad featuring 50 professional skiers does effectively showcase a huge range of product, some of which consumers might not expect to find at Argos.
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