Aldi has been named the most consistent brand in terms of producing high-quality Christmas advertisements in recent years.
The discounter has produced the most effective festive spots in the last three years, according to advertising effectiveness firm System1.
The news comes as part of System1’s latest analysis of Christmas ad effectiveness.
In a bid to give marketers advice on improving the commercial impact of festive ads, the ’12 Rules of Christmas’ report and ‘The Gift of Great Christmas Creative’ webinar – hosted in partnership with ITV – both feature insights from the likes of Asda and Havas London.
The reports identify the top 35 ads of the last three Christmas seasons, based on 15,750 consumer surveys completed with System1’s ‘Test Your Ad’ platform which ranks emotional responses on an IPA-validated scale of 1 to 5.9 stars.
While Aldi produced the highest scoring average for Christmas ads in the last three years, with a rating of 5.7 stars, Coca-Cola (5.6 stars) and Sky (4.9 stars) followed closely behind. Also securing top ten positions were Lego (4.8 stars), Lidl (4.7 stars), M&S (4.7 stars), Disney (4.6 stars), Morrisons (4.6 stars), Argos (4.4 stars) and Tesco (4.4 stars).
The ’12 Rules of Christmas’ report also outlined elements for a successful Christmas ad which included tips on effective story arcs, cultural references, leveraging IP, garnering purpose, using ‘festive fluent’ devices and deploying effective music.
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“Christmas is THE annual event for UK advertisers and many are already in the midst of planning their 2023 campaigns,” System1 chief customer officer Jon Evans said. “The data and tips we’ve compiled will help brands and agencies alike as they work to develop creative that will increase profits and market share growth.”
Asda senior director of brand communications, Stephi Brett-Lee, who worked with Havas London on the renowned Buddy the Elf ad, believes that Christmas “matters so much to the fabric of the nation.”
“Borrowing a recognisable and beloved character – Buddy the Elf – to put at the centre of our 2022 Christmas campaign and in-store activations helped us capture the hearts of audiences and drive sales during the biggest trading period of the year,” Brett-Lee added. “To have the ad hit the highest brand-building metric on System1’s rating scale was the icing on the cake.”
Havas London executive strategy director Britt Iversen concluded: “We should always strive to make people feel either better, or better informed. And for us at Christmas, we wanted to help everyone get the real Christmas feels. Instead of talking about happiness, with Elf we literally brought the entire box of baubles.”
