Tesco heads up 2020 Christmas ad spree as Sainsbury’s flops
Coca-Cola’s two festive campaigns are the best performing Christmas ads in 2020, according to Kantar research.
The data, insights and consulting firm researched 20 ads with more than 3,000 UK consumers using LinkNow, which evaluates people’s reactions against key dimensions of creative and effective advertising.
Affectiva’s AI facial coding technology also captured emotions on their faces moment by moment as they watched the Xmas offerings.
Coca-Cola’s Holidays are Coming ‘Trucks’ ad took top spot as the most powerful, most enjoyable, generating the most love, and with the strongest branding.
While not hitting the same high notes, its second ad titled ‘The Letter’, featuring a father going the extra mile to deliver a letter from his daughter to Santa Claus, was still highly effective and seen as “very heart-warming”.
Disney + also tapped into nostalgia, as well as escapism, landing in the top three.
Igniting nostalgic memories of older movies and new ones to watch, ‘Make Christmas Wonderful’ knits together a story that is enjoyable, very emotive and well branded to Disney +, all backed by a great choice of music.
Viewers felt it worked well in the current climate, and was both “comforting” and “familiar” in a strange time.
With brands challenged about whether to reference Covid-19 in their Christmas advertising, humour has proven to be a winner, in some cases at least.
Tesco nailed it with its ‘No Naughty List’ ad, and performed in the top third of all UK ads for being enjoyable, emotionally provocative, engaging, and well-branded.
Lidl’s ‘A Christmas You Can Believe In’ failed to deliver the same impact. Its attempts to parody other brands, notably Kevin the Carrot, was largely missed by viewers. 52% thought the ad was funny compared to 67% for Tesco.
Aldi’s Kevin, meanwhile, continues to win the hearts of the nation and reinforce the real meaning of Christmas – looking out for each other and being with those we love.
With co-pilot ‘Turkey’ in the trailer and hedgehog in the main ad, Kantar says that Kevin continues to build warmth for the brand and to differentiate it from others.
Amazon’s ‘The Show Must Go On’, which puts the coronavirus at the heart of it, is the most appropriate ad in the current climate, but not the most effective, according to Kantar’s research.
Half of viewers felt it was very appropriate (versus a study average of 33%) as well as highly emotive, enjoyable and engendering feelings of warmth towards Amazon. But it failed to integrate the brand and was one of the worst performers on this measure.
Finally, Sainsbury’s ‘Perfect Portions’ offering was the weakest ad this year.
While well intentioned with the idea that we can all enjoy Christmas no matter the circumstances, the message was misunderstood or misinterpreted. People found it hard to relate to (because the stories were so personal), unrealistic and depressing.
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