By Olaf van Gerwen, Founder and Global creative Director at Chuck Studios
Every year we witness the phenomenon called “Christmas creep”, the increasingly early appearance of Christmas. It may put fear and panic into parents around the world when Christmas songs and adverts start appearing in mid-September, but for marketers, the arrival of the seasonal adverts on our TVs is the moment they’ve been waiting all year for.
The silver thread through every festive-related campaign, is, of course, food and drink. For some, it’s the best part about the holidays – and so it should be! No calorie counting is allowed at the week-long all-you-can-eat buffet. For others, Christmas is all about family with the Christmas table being a mathematical enigma to work out how to fit Grandma on the corner.
In this piece, Olaf van Gerwen, founder and global creative director of Chuck Studios, a creative production house focused on the food and drink space, gives us his picks on 10 UK Christmas ads that have stood out from the class of 2024.
Kevin’s still cut out for the job
The consistent use of Kevin deserves big praise. We’ve seen a few brands use compound creativity as a strategy this year where the same successful creative has been rolled out again because, at the end of the day, familiarity wins. I’m a fan of the ‘Mission Impossible’ puns but it could be dialed up for the foodies. It’s only until the very end that we get a glimpse of this year’s festive food collection. So, although I enjoyed the ‘booby trap’ pun, I’d like to see Kevin sharing the spotlight with real food a little more.
Big. Friendly. Genius.
Sainsbury’s doubled down on nostalgia and sweetness this year with the whole world of Roald Dahl’s BFG seeping into this ad. The BFG is cunning and clever and his mission with side-kick Sophie is very on brand for Sainsbury’s – it’s all about the food – which supermarkets can strangely sometimes forget. Every part of this warms my heart. From the BFG with the big ears to Sophie with the big glasses – it’s all very sweet. What’s not to love?
J’adore les gnomes
What a stroke of genius to give gnomes individual personalities and jobs as chefs and kitchen staff. It’s the most creative way I’ve seen the food showcased and it’s especially tricky when food typically doesn’t look at its best on the supermarket shelf compared to on the Christmas table. The French lady in charge of desserts stole my heart!!
A mystery masterpiece
Waitrose outdid itself this year. By far my favourite ad for many reasons. Adding a layer of mystery got us constantly talking about the food and added intrigue and suspense from the very beginning. It played into the psychology of the human brain needing to complete things by finding the missing pieces of the puzzle. Clever move. The unlikely crew gathered at the table was also an intriguing decision. It feels random and mismatched but somehow they’re magnetic. Bravo!
The GOAT
The power of consistency is at play again here. The magnificent Dawn French returns, and that is, despite the hysterical screaming, a good thing. This campaign is here to simply remind us who is the best at making food look delicious. No one is competing on the same level at M&S food this year. In the product ads, every fork pull and honey drizzle is spot on. But also, the food is recognisably M&S food from the first frame onwards.
Missing a trick
Encore! The oven gloves have returned this year. But the musical aspect took centre stage and the food suffered. There isn’t a main character or mitts with distinct and individual personalities for the viewer to decide which they like the most. When it comes to the food, aka the raison d’être of the ad, things are a bit underwhelming. They dialed up on abundance and musical tropes but forgot about the delicate framing and lighting all food needs.
Same same but different
The Coca-Cola Christmas ad is the ultimate proof that audiences don’t always crave something new, shining and special like we think in advertising. It’s got the same visuals with the animals, truck, lights, etc, that it has had for the last 30 years. I find the AI version eerie, scary, ugly and creepy, but…I’m in marketing. People in the real world love this because of its nostalgia and repetition. So much so that it marks the timing of when you’re allowed to start celebrating Christmas for many. No one wants it to change – its world-famous familiarity is pure marketing gold.
Performative but lackluster
Using Nigella Lawson is always a safe move and it’s worked out for Greggs as Christmas ad first-timers…to some degree. People are certainly talking about them but mainly because it relies on the power of celebrity, not the power of creativity. Nigella takes the spotlight rather than the food, but her presence does work at getting people in the Christmas spirit. One question I would like answered is would Nigella really eat this?
Mixed messages
At Christmas time, the spirit is all about sharing. Consumers want to fill the table with magical things to make everyone happy but this gesture feels muddled in this campaign. It mixes ‘doing the right thing for everyone else’ with ‘doing the right thing for yourself’, which makes it a rather complex ad to watch. I’m also not amazed by the kid making a wish and turning the brussel sprouts turn into cookies – what’s up with that? Plus, the raccoon from last year’s ad wasn’t worth bringing back because no one really spoke about it.
Rome wasn’t built in a day
Whatever Tesco does, it does big. 3 minutes is an epic-sized advert and perhaps their attempt to take the crown from John Lewis this year. The depressing undertone of missing our grandparents certainly feels John Lewis-esque. However, instead of pulling on my heartstrings, overall, I found it creepy. The gingerbread faces of fish and dogs made it feel like it was set in an almost dystopian world. The ending is fun (making a gingerbread house with Grandad) but the storyline is highly complex. They’ve certainly pulled out all the stops and tried their best to execute this one idea well but it bit off more than it can chew. Where was the mention of food love stories? John Lewis’s legacy has some big shoes to fill after all.
