Creative

The Best Christmas Ad 2016 & Why - IMHO

Christmas is quite the event for advertisers. Consumers throw caution to the wind and there's lots spending going on, so it's a logical time to get into market and make a splash. In the UK for example, the annual Christmas production budget ad war between John Lewis, Sainsbury's and M&S raises the bar every year.

These ads are all beautifully produced and masterfully written, my personal favourite so far being The Bear & The Hare by Adam&Eve/DDB for John Lewis in 2013. Haunting Lily Allen track - check, cute animals, check, illustrated in a way that makes us feel nostalgic - check.

Oooof! Right in the feels, eh?

I wonder what the unaided brand attribution would be though. It cuts through and the audience remember their emotion, perhaps associating John Lewis with those feelings, all good brand stuff. But I find these ads a bit disconnected, almost as if the ads have become more important than the brands they represent. The John Lewis logo enjoys 2 seconds of screen time. Quite missable. 

Anyway, this is why my favourite ad of Christmas 2016 was Coca Cola's effort. Why? It gets all the brand response and emotions flowing, but it does so while showing the product and the branding throughout the entire ad. The Coke is the hero. Not an animated hare. This i quite unlike John Lewis whose branding enjoys less then 3% of the media time bought.

Being able to illicit a strong emotional brand response whilst keeping the core offering front and centre and with branding littered throughout but in an appropriate way necessary to the narrative? Masterful stuff. IMHO, anyway.