One of the best parts of Christmas is watching an abundance of brands trying to outdo each other for the best festive advert, only to see them fall short to John Lewis every time. However, over recent years it seems as though John Lewis' Christmas crown is slipping, especially after last year's Moz advert left many people underwhelmed. Companies have finally seen their chance to leap to victory and oh boy have they delivered! So, let's look at this years best Christmas competitors, in the red corner we have...
(All ads are included so if they don't show up, just hit that refresh button!)
Sainsburys
Sainsbury's has decided to play the nostalgic card this year with help from The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey. Titled The Big Night, the advert shows a bunch of kids putting performing their school's Christmas play complete with New Rascals' classic 90s song 'You Get What You Give'. It starts with a nervous Tia Issac stepping out onto the stage only to get too shy and struggle to sing. However, in true festive feel-good spirit, she overcomes the nerves and belts out the song while more funny characters rush out to join her like The Queen in her TV, a drum-playing turkey, and my favourite a plug who jumps into a socket.
The advert is genius and is defiantly a contender, but what do you expect from the shop which gives us consistently great ads, let's not forget the heartwarming depiction of the English and German soldiers playing footie on Christmas Day.
Iceland
Everyone loves a bit of controversy which is probably the reason why Iceland has done so well with their advert this year. A couple of days ago it was announced that the supermarket, which famously entices mums through their doors, had its 2018 Christmas advert banned due to its political stance about the use of palm oil. Let's face it, there's about a 70% chance that they knew it was going to get pulled, but as they say in the PR world, any publicity is good publicity, and since being uploaded on YouTube on November 8th it's racked up an applause-worthy 4 million views. In an emotionally animated story, voiced by the nation's sweetheart Emma Thompson, Iceland have moved away from the jolly Christmas time story in a bid to raise awareness about the destruction of harvesting palm oil told through the perspective of an orangutan. Within just a few days, a petition has surfaced with over 600,000 signatures looking to get the advert unbanned, looks like an adorable orangutan is the way to people's hearts nowadays.
Marks and Sparks
M&S are known for a more traditional approach for their version of the Christmas advert, or in other words, it's a very glitzy and glamorous couple of minutes with a few celebs thrown just to make you wish you had more money. This year's theme is 'must-haves' which shows Holly Willoughby going through everything you need for the perfect Christmas like lights and music. It also features a cameo role from supermodel, and previous UoG student, David Gandy. On the whole, it’s not too bad, there's a sprinkling of humour throughout such as 'must have Bridget' and 'must-have seething gift envy', but when you’re up against the likes of a little boy dressed as a plug, it’s nothing special.
Heathrow Airport
Becoming a serious competitor only last year, Heathrow Airport is having another shot for the Christmas crown with a follow up to their 2017 story following the Heathrow bears. This year the cuddly couple are sunning it up in their retirement home of Florida, but after a Skype with their family across the pond they decide to fly back home for Christmas. The advert lacks the surprise-factor of last years unveiling of who the bears were. Sequels are never good as the original, but it's still cute as hell!
John Lewis
After a long wait, watching all the previous ads come before it, the King of Christmas, John Lewis has finally released their version, featuring none other than the Rocket Man singer Elton John. Yes, John and John have partnered up this year to show the heartwarming story of his life from the present day and travelling back in time to when he got his first piano. Don't get me wrong, it's a charming tale, just like every other one of their adverts, but it feels as though its more of a promotion for his upcoming retirement tour rather than for the department store. Being released just this morning it's already received a lot of mixed opinions, but if there's one thing for sure, Elton is a clever boy; I can't think of a better marketing strategy.
Who do you think has been crowed 2018's Christmas champion?
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