OPINION, NZ Herald, 27 Nov 2023
What makes a great Christmas TV ad?
In the UK, the spiritual home of Christmas ads, there’s a bit of a formula – big names, a big song, and a big production for animation, special effects or simply a huge cast.
This year, so far, has not let us down – we’ve got Michael Buble, Graham Norton, Dawn French, Ryan Reynolds, Rob McElhenny, Shaun the Sheep, Hannah Waddingham, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, and Rick Astley. Musically, we’ve got The Beatles, Meatloaf, Van Halen, Depeche Mode, Starship and Andrea Bocelli. And Taika Waititi directing.
Throw in a tie-in to Love Actually, Kevin the Carrot, many Santa lookalikes, a trip to Lapland, and it’s a pretty strong year.
There are many ads of note, and far too many to share here, but here are my top five:
5. Waitrose - It’s Time for the Good Stuff
This year Waitrose have focused on the “party spirit” with a massive grown-up house party (including a bath full of booze), a lot of food cues, guests filling the house and the police turning up for noise disturbance (always the sign of a good party in my book). Add in Graham Norton as a surprise guest and it makes for good vibes.
4. Barbour - Shaun the Sheep x Baa-bour
Not normally appearing on lists like these, Barbour (a popular British wax-coated winter jacket) has pulled the stops out, enlisting Aardman Animation’s Shaun the Sheep, Bitzer and the Flock who try and repair the farmer’s coat with great energy but ultimately with little success. It’s the fun you expect from Aardman, full of lots of gags and rewarding repeat viewing.
3. Amazon – Joy Ride
I know it’s not cool to like Amazon but they do produce some of the best Christmas ads. This year is a real little heart warmer. Three grannies sitting on a bench watching kids tobogganing, remembering when they were young. You can enjoy the perhaps predictable but still warmly joyful rest of the story yourself. The addition of a lovely piano rendition of The Beatles’ In My Life adds extra emotion.
2. Asda - Make this Christmas Incredibuble
Directed by NZ’s own Taika Waititi, this is very jolly indeed including both a trailer and a full 90-second ad featuring Michael Buble as Asda’s chief quality officer. What Christmas isn’t a bit better with a bit of Buble after all? It’s witty, original and cunningly works in a lot of food cues as Buble tastes, tests and advises. And it’s got pun of the year, “Make this Christmas incredibuble”.
1. John Lewis – Snapper: The Perfect Tree
Yep. The mother of all Christmas ad motherships’ is back. Skateboarding Dad was sweet last year, but this is a return to form, and clearly the result of some lively agency brainstorms. It’s the well-known tale of a boy nurturing a seedling, which grows into a giant Venus flytrap that eventually has to be moved outside as it takes over the house. But it doesn’t get forgotten about at Christmas. Yes, you have to watch it.
So there you have it, my top five. But before you go, there are two more sobering thoughts I’ll leave readers with as they contemplate the Christmas season.
First, there’s the fact that this Christmas is going to be pretty horrendous for those caught up in the war in Ukraine and the Israel-Gaza conflict, not to mention the oft-forgotten wars in Africa (and elsewhere); this remarkable Christmas advert from supermarket Sainsbury’s in 2014 still stands as a beautiful note of remembrance of the power of the human spirit in the darkest of times and is worth re-visiting, celebrating as it does the famous Christmas Day football match between German and British troops in 1914 when the guns, briefly, fell silent. This is the wonderful long version.
Secondly, Lidl UK has a joyful initiative, “Toy Bank”, where customers can donate toys and games in-store for those in need. The supporting campaign, “A magical Christmas”, features a determined racoon returning a child’s dropped plush monkey.
If you’d like to support families and children in New Zealand who are struggling during the cost of living crisis this Christmas, please consider donating to the Kindness Collective which operates the Christmas Joy Store every year, helping Kiwi kids unwrap a bit of joy – you can find out more and donate at www.kindness.org.nz
– Ben Goodale is the CEO of strategic advertising agency Quantum Jump and he loves a good Christmas ad.
