Christmas ad round up 2024 – our thoughts on the offerings from John Lewis, Cadbury, Disney and … Peter Crouch?!
We don’t remember the last time we had a Cadbury advent calendar, but we might just treat ourselves to a little bit of Cadbury every day in December!
The Christmas advert rollout marks the start of the holiday season, so we’re excited to review some of this year’s offerings.
Christmas ad #1: Cadbury
First up, the Cadbury Advent Calendar campaign… We really like this as an out-of-home campaign. Not only does it use real pictures submitted by the public, but it’s delightfully simple. There’s no struggling to understand the plot, no confusion over whether it’s actually a good advert or not, it’s just a bit of fun.
We don’t remember the last time we had a Cadbury advent calendar, but we might just treat ourselves to a little bit of Cadbury every day in December!
Christmas ad #2: Disney
Next, let’s take a look at Disney’s latest Christmas ad… Personally, we’re not entirely sure where we stand on this Christmas advert; we don’t know if it necessarily screams Disney. You could slap a John Lewis logo on the end of the advert and it would be equally as believable. For us, the only identifiable Disney-esque thing in the ad is the music – an instrumental version of ‘Part Of Your World’ from The Little Mermaid. Which makes sense, given the content of the ad.
Feel free to correct us, but is the storyline of the ad basically E.T. (which is not a Disney film)? There’s even a shot of them flying across the moon! All that being said, it’s still a nice advert. And we’re sure there’ll be cute little octopuses plastered across every bit of merch imaginable very soon.
Christmas ad #3: John Lewis
Moving on to the John Lewis Christmas ad… The only ad that matters to many people landed with a splash. It’s a bit different this year, in that it’s actually about shopping. Inside an actual John Lewis store. People are outraged because they say it’s not Christmas unless you’re crying at a maudlin John Lewis ad.
Objectively, it’s a good ad. The protagonist doesn’t know what to get her sister for Christmas and ends up ‘falling’ through a dress rack in the Oxford Street John Lewis into memory lane. It’s a weird combination of Narnia and Wonderland, but it works. Every memory is a thinly-veiled reference to a John Lewis department, but in the end she manages to find the perfect gift. (Although we don’t know what that is, because they don’t tell us. Annoying really, but it’s a cute advert.)
And finally, we’re rounding off with the weirdest Christmas ad we’ve seen so far in 2024:
For us, the best bit about the Agent Provocateur advert is the pub landlady. Played by Jaime Winstone, she’s the catalyst for what happens in the ad. And, with some of us having been bartenders in previous lives, we can tell you we love the drama!
Christmas ad #4: Agent Provocateur
Agent Provocateur’s Christmas ad is…. definitely something. Featuring Peter Crouch and Abbey Clancy (interesting casting choice, but we’ll get onto that later), the ad barely counts as a Christmas ad. It’s not set at Christmas (all the trees are still green) and Abbey Clancy is wearing red, but that’s about it.
The premise is ‘don’t forget date night this Christmas’, which is good advice, but we’re not sure what’s happening in the ad constitutes ‘date’ night.
The ad is set in an empty pub where the only customers are Peter Crouch and his mates and – again – it’s not Christmas. This would’ve made a better Valentine’s advert maybe.
For us, the best bit about this advert is the pub landlady. Played by Jaime Winstone, she’s the catalyst for what happens in the ad. And, with some of us having been bartenders in previous lives, we can tell you we love the drama!
Aside from all of that, Peter and Abbey are not great at acting. It feels wooden and jerky, which is opposite of what the ad should be considering it’s about seduction.
There’s nothing else to say about this advert because it’s just not a Christmas advert. It’s the Die Hard of Christmas ads. (Yes, we went there.)
If you’d like us to cast a curious eye over your Christmas comms, get in touch with the team.
