AdMiration feature: The UK’s top supermarket Christmas ads 2024

For this week’s AdMiration feature, we looked at consumer response to several UK supermarket Christmas ads, from the likes of Aldi, Marks & Spencer, Asda, Tesco and more. These ads are all part of the associated brands’ 2024 Christmas campaigns, geared to drive consumers to choose them as their go-to places for food and more during the holidays.

Read on to get our 3-2-1 snapshot of the ads (3 facts, 2 learnings and 1 reflection), learn how their ads were received based on our data, as well as key themes for success.

Marks & Spencer’s “The Journey”

This year, Dawn French comes face-to-face with M&S’ magical Fairy! But unbeknownst to Dawn, Fairy has invited all the neighbors over for a party.  

Tesco’s “Helping Feed Your Christmas Spirit” 

This heartwarming ad shows a young man named Conor navigating through the Christmas season without his Grandma, turning his world into a gingerbread wonderland and creating new traditions with loved ones.

Morrisons’ “The Greatest Show at Home” 

Oven mitts come to life in this Morrisons ad, singing together as households prep for their holiday meals.  

ASDA’s “Gnome of Christmas”

Filled with gnome puns, this year’s ASDA ad introduces their “Gnomies” who help ASDA store employees prep for the holiday season.               

Aldi’s “Get into the Christmas Spirit With Kevin the Carrot”

Everyone's favorite carrot returns again, this time for a secret mission to save the Christmas Spirit so everyone can have a cracking Christmas.        

Sainsbury’s “BIG Christmas”

This ad features a magical collaboration with the beloved Big Friendly Giant (BFG) who embarks on a journey to collect food from all over and make it more “fizz-whizzing” with Sainsbury’s Sophie.

3 facts

• Supermarkets and food retailers have truly put their best foot forward for this critical time of year with a fantastic lineup of entertaining ads that can drive short and long term sales for the associated brands. On average, the ads from the six supermarkets scored in the top 25% of all ads for sales potential and in the top 20% ads for long term brand building potential.

• The ads capture people’s imagination and attention averaging a score of 4.0 on claimed attention versus an average of 3.7 and achieving an overall emotion score of 56 compared to an average of 43, reflecting powerful positive emotional engagement.

• Across all the ads, the ads’ power is harnessed beautifully for the brand, either through using distinctive assets that uniquely fit the brand, or by executing in a way that gives the brand a strong role (or is even the hero of the story!). Unaided brand recall on average across the ads was 81% versus a norm of 72%.

2 learnings 

• Great storytelling is a very powerful play and can be found at the heart of the best of these ads. It’s something which has been used generation after generation, for thousands of years. When done right, storytelling captures people’s imagination and makes things memorable. The ads have twists and turns and create moments of love and laughter, meaning they capture the imagination and people stick with them for far longer than usual, in spite of most of them being 90 seconds or longer. 

• Two of the best ads in this group serve as a great reminder of the importance and power of ‘fresh consistency.’ Aldi and M&S both use the same main protagonist of previous years (Kevin Carrot and Dawn French as a fairy) making them ownable for those brands and creating immediate warmth through familiarity and intrigue for the audience. But they don’t stop there. The true power is in how they use these characters to tell a completely new and different story with its own twists and turns — just the right balance of familiar and new.

1 reflection

Is your brand making the most of all the moments of shared culture and emotion that are relevant to your category throughout the year? Shared moments of culture provide a wonderful opportunity for brands to connect on a different level with people so long as they can bring something meaningful and entertaining to the party.

It’s been wonderful to see the ‘mini films’ created by the UK supermarkets this year — they truly are magical examples of storytelling, which match the wonderful programming around them for this time of year. They also do a fantastic job at heroing the brands, which is just as important. All the ads have great potential to drive short term sales that are critical for this golden quarter and to support the brands going into 2025. 

Before we jump into the themes, let’s look at what people spontaneously said they loved across this set of ads:

There are a lot of commonalities across the ads. Of course not all of these things are loved within all the ads. However, all of the ads had a big tick on several aspects that resonated well with people.

Looking at likes, the full set of emotional responses, how people play back the story and the key moments they react to, we found six key themes for success:

Each of the ads had a common thread of nostalgia and great storytelling. This can especially be seen in Sainsbury’s “BIG Christmas”, which consumers found to be highly relatable and nostalgic of their childhood, with the recognizable characters  and magic throughout the story. 

Aldi’s “Get into the Christmas Spirit with Kevin the Carrot” also has that fairytale feel, with the couplet narration serving as a familiar reminder of The Christmas Carol and a happy ending with good winning over evil. 

Tesco’s story was also magical, but closer to reality than the others. Their  "Helping Feed Your Christmas Spirit” tackles the reality of the difficulties of people’s first Christmas without a loved one — leaving a hole where traditions once were and making the audience feel great nostalgia for their own traditions and family members. But they tackle the topic in quite a magical and fantastical way, with the gingerbread-ification of the world around the main character and how people come together in the end for a positive outcome. This ad was particularly interesting because it has more divergence in emotional response with over ⅓ people feeling love (versus a norm of 19%) and also 6% being left with a feeling of sadness (versus a norm of 0%).

Here’s what several respondents shared: 

• "I liked the Dickensian BFG cook. Very wholesome and nostalgic for Xmas. The girl Sophie is very friendly. The food looks very fresh and quality. The nighttime scene reminds me of The Night Before Xmas."

• “As I watched the BFG film as a child, it brought back childhood memories for me. I like how they kept the girl's name as Sophie."

• “Kevin is a recognizable brand character; the echoes of star wars (senate-type environment and architecture); the rhyming text is reminiscent of seasonal classics such as The Night before Christmas." 

• "I liked the storyline of Kevin and Katie going on their mission to save the Christmas spirit. With a few smart puns thrown in regarding the contents of the briefcase."

• "I liked the story telling and cute and cozy characters. It's very Christmassy and entertaining.”

• "I liked how it still conveyed a story taking the viewer through a rollercoaster of emotions, even nostalgia, making it relatable.” (Tesco)

In addition to being a key theme of what people liked about the ads, love is the key emotion felt across the ads. All 6 of the ads far exceed the amount of love felt on average as a result of the ad and people really appreciate it at this time of year. 

When we look at the moment-by-moment responses, we can see that the moments of people coming together are some of the biggest drivers of love. In the Sainsbury’s ad, we see the biggest peak in love of 14%, which is when the food is given away with magic to a family table. 

We see peaks of love in the Tesco ad, when people gather together and the relationship of the grandson and grandad evolves. And in a completely different sense, the peak of love comes with the magic of the gnomes working together to light the wonderful Christmas tree in the Asda ad.

Here’s what some respondents shared: 

• "BFG was the star. It had everything, humor, pathos. Love above all. What more is needed to have a great experience this coming Christmas."

• "I like the idea of the BFG. I like that after everything it portrayed sharing which is a major and relevant Christmas culture."

• "They focus a lot on family, sharing meals, and making those moments special." (Sainsburys)

• "The joy it brings. There was this happiness that transcended when the spirit was cracked and freed. That's the spirit of Christmas.” (Aldi)

• "It was a very uplifting ad with a warm feel about it. It has community spirit in it. We will all be at this point at sometime in our lives, very good ad." (Tesco)

• "I liked the family appeal, grandson & grandad spending time together making the ginger bread house that his gran used to make." (Tesco)

• "The sentiment of the whole ad, in that Tesco brings family together and helps you remember fond memories of past loved ones."

Characters played a huge role in the success of these supermarket Christmas ads, from gnomes to fairies, oven gloves to the BFG…and even a not-so-lowly carrot!  

All of these characters provide a wonderful platform for magical storylines. Some characters have more depth,  some purely drive joy and some are used again and again, becoming more than just characters in a story, but brand assets that are immediately recognizable for the brand and allows for fresh consistency with each new tale they’re featured in — often seen to be a huge driver of the best creatives.

Here’s what some respondents had to say about the characters:

• “I loved the concept and the way it came from a different angle to other ads. The gnome characters were great, I loved them. The variety of food shown. The music and the storyline." (Asda)

• “I really enjoyed the whimsical and festive spirit of the ad, with the animated garden gnomes bringing a touch of magic and fun to the holiday season." (Asda)

• I loved the feel good scenes and all the gnomes racing around. I loved the dialogue and also the team music.” (Asda)

• “Like the idea of the gloves being puppets, my children are engaged by it." (Morrisons)

• “It’s a happy and cheerful advert, and the animated oven gloves make it fun to watch and a nice song.” (Morrisons)

• "I liked the familiar character of the BFG." (Sainsbury’s)

• "Kevin the Carrot actually got my attention from the beginning. I loved his character." (Aldi)

• "I like everything about the ads including the plot, the characters and the theme."

• "Everything! the characters, the plot, the music & the voiceover." (Aldi)

Whether an outright ‘laugh out loud’ from some of the one-liners in the Aldi ad (like the false bottom briefcase) and key moments like Dawn’s shock at the live fairy, through to general fun and amusement with the singing oven gloves and helpful gnomes (including that amazing play on the word ‘gnome’ throughout Asda’s ad), humor and fun is at the heart of four of the Christmas ads, grabbing attention, creating engagement and leaving people feeling great. 

We have often seen love and humor to be a winning combination and this certainly seems to be the case for these Christmas ads.

Here’s what some respondents found to be the most humorous: 

• “Kevin and his false bottom ,then being booby trapped, very funny. The whole advert was great then the food at the end looked amazing." (Aldi)

• “I like the jokes and innuendos but they fit well with the story of the ad so the whole ad is good." (Aldi)

• It was a very fun and humorous ad which was well acted by the actress who is known for her comedy. The feeling of being overwhelmed felt relatable. The food looked appealing and delicious." (M&S)

• “Like Dawn French's humour and comments, she's relatable. She's a grinch at first but ends up having a good time.” (M&S)

• “It was fun and an all out comedy challenge to use the word gnome instead of other words associated with Christmas and such." (Asda)

• “The animation, the gnomes, the humour, the plot, and just overall the fun of it all." (Asda)

It’s incredible to see the huge emotional response of ‘love’ to the delicious food in these ads! 

In the M&S ad, we see the highest peak of love when the fairy creates a beautiful looking table of delicious food. The magic in making the room Christmassy and then making Dawn’s make up look beautiful also creates peaks in love…but the food creates the very highest! 

And it’s not just in this M&S ad that we see it, we have seen it every year for M&S but also far beyond in ads for Aldi, Sainsbury’s, Asda and other supermarkets. 

It’s a wonderful reminder about the importance of including these moments and making them look truly delicious. The anticipation of the taste and pride of sharing with friends and family is incredibly powerful and is a great way of cuing the brand and product in a way people want to engage with.

We have talked often about the importance of music and its role within advertising to engage, create a mood and help tell a story. 

Across all of these Christmas ads, we see a masterclass in the use of music. For Aldi, it really helps to tell the story, with the music changing with the narrative to punctuate and add drama and the right mood throughout. For Sainsbury's, the music plays a supporting role, fitting with the ‘fairytale’ mood and magic. For Asda and Morrisons, music is a key hero element of the ad, instilling drama and positivity. And for the audience, they find it to be memorable as a key driver of their enjoyment. 

Here’s what some respondents had to share about their experience with the music: 

• “The BFG being in the ad I liked. The different families in it. The colors and music in the background makes it festive." (Sainsbury’s)

• “I loved the feel good scenes and all the gnomes racing around. I loved the dialogue and also the A team music.” (Asda)

• “It was entertaining and the a-team theme tune was the cherry on the top.” (Asda)

• “I loved the visuals, the holiday cheer, the quality of the singing, and the nostalgic element - it reminded me of the sock puppet Christmas show i was in as a child at school." (Morrisons)

• “I loved the singing and dancing oven gloves, the music was good and the food looked delicious.” (Morrisons)

What a fantastic turnout of ads for this year’s holiday season! Delivering on great storytelling and nostalgia, love, memorable characters, some magic, delicious food, humor and some great music, each of these ads really hit the mark with consumers. 

What did you think? And which ad was your favorite? Let us know by interacting with our coverage of the ad on LinkedIn.

To make sure you never miss one of our AdMiration analyses, subscribe to our LinkedIn newsletter.