Grab the mince pies and warm up the mulled wine – it’s the most wonderful time of the year. That’s right, it’s time for our annual Christmas ads round up, featuring all the clever brand campaigns that hope to get the public parting with their cash this festive season.
Historically, John Lewis were the big pioneers in this field, paring emotive storylines with acoustic versions of much-loved hits (think: Ellie Goulding doing Elton John, Lily Allen covering Keane etc). But the rest of the advertising industry quickly caught up and we’ve enjoyed a plethora of inventive storytelling ever since. We mean, who can forget Boots’ ‘Special Because’ ad? Or Sainsbury’s heart-wrenching ‘1914’ campaign?
So, what do the likes of Boots, Asda and M&S have to say this year? Who is in the Waitrose Christmas advert 2024? And just who swiped the Red Velvet Bauble Dessert? Find out in our round-up of the best Christmas commercials 2024.
Xmas Adverts 2024
- M&S Clothing & Home – Christmas Starts Here
- Waitrose – Sweet Suspicion: A Waitrose Mystery
- Boots – #MakeMagic
- Asda – Asda Gnome of Christmas
- M&S Food – M&S Christmas Food
- TK Maxx – Festive Farm
- John Lewis – The Gifting Hour
- Aldi – Kevin the Carrot’s Christmas Mission
- Argos – Rockstar
- Tesco – Helping #FeedYourChristmasSpirit
- Coca-Cola – Secret Santa
- Sainsbury’s – Sainsbury’s BIG Christmas
- Amazon – Midnight Opus
- Pandora – Be Love
- Greggs – Bag Some Joy
- KFC – Kentucky Fried Turkey
- Lidl – A Magical Christmas
- Morrisons – 60s
- Barbour – Shaun the Sheep x Baa-bour
- JD Sports – The Family Portrait
- Debenhams – Gifts to impress, minus the stress? Duh, Debenhams.
- Etsy – Waldo Anthem
- Vodafone – 40 years of Christmas on The Nation’s Network
- Sports Direct – New Traditions Start Here
- Disney – The Boy and the Octopus
M&S Clothing & Home – Christmas Starts Here
M&S Clothing and Home’s 2024 ad follows a young girl as she transforms a drab Christmas day into a glittering celebration, with a little help from a magical snow globe. In just a few shakes, she and her family go from swapping thousand yard stares on the sofa to shimmying through the halls in all their party finery. And the song soundtracking their celebrations? Why that’s Jackson Sisters’ 1976 disco classic ‘I Believe In Miracles’, of course.
Waitrose – Sweet Suspicion: A Waitrose Mystery
Just like everyone knows the green triangles are the best Quality Street, it’s a truth universally acknowledged that there’s little better at Christmas than settling down on the sofa for a murder mystery. Which is why Waitrose have cast the great and good of prestige TV drama in their very own whodunnit.
Succession’s Matthew Macfadyen is tasked with working out who stole Christmas pudding from the fridge. Was it Slow Horses’ Dustin Demri-Burns or Fleabag’s Sian Clifford? Sex Education’s Rakhee Thakrar or Eryl Maynard of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple? Or did comedian Joe Wilkinson down the entire Red Velvet Bauble Dessert in one go? As an advert it’s slick, witty and suspenseful, with the answer set to be revealed soon in part two. And adding to the suspense is an instrumental soundtrack driven by tense, rhythmic strings.
Boots – #MakeMagic
With this year’s Christmas ad, Boots have ruffled the feathers of all the right people. The premise is that, while Santa snores, his wife (played by Bridgerton’s brilliant Adjoa Andoh) and her elves do all the heavy lifting. What follows is a tour of Mrs Claus’ totally fabulous “workshop”, where her helpers are hard at work sorting out glam gifts for everyone’s nearest and dearest. Upping the atmosphere of glitz and glamour are the swaggering sounds of Eve’s 2001 hip hop smash ‘Who’s That Girl?’
Asda – Asda Gnome of Christmas
Asda have gone hard on the gnome theme this Christmas, with an ad completely dominated by the little fellas. The set up is this: with roads closed, two Asda staff members have to call in reinforcements to get the store ready in time for Christmas. Enter a veritable gnome army, ready to pick out party outfits, taste test the turkey and put the finishing touches to the Christmas tree. And what better music to soundtrack them parachuting in than the theme from The A-Team? Plus there’s a bonus musical treat at the end, with a cheeky chorus on Chris Rea’s ‘Driving Home For Christmas’, restyled as ‘Driving Gnome For Christmas’ (boom tish!).
M&S Food – M&S Christmas Food
Dawn French has been moonlighting as a festive fairy in M&S Food campaigns for years, but this time she’s playing herself, trading lines with her Christmas doppelganger. The premise is simple: there’s a party on the horizon and French desperately needs help getting everything ready in time. Thankfully, the fairy is on hand to tidy the house, give French a makeover and – of course – provide the Christmas buffet of dreams.
Accompanying the epic transformation is some John Williams-style orchestral music, while the climax features Elton John’s festive floor-filler ‘Step Into Christmas’.
TK Maxx – Festive Farm
It’s going to be a bumper Christmas for Philly rapper Eve’s family, who’s scored her second sync of the season. Following ‘Who’s That Girl’s spot on Boots’ Christmas commercial, Eve’s 2001 hit ‘Let Me Blow Ya Mind’ has been selected by TK Maxx to accompany their story of a very dapper farmyard, featuring a llama in his sweater, ducks in bow ties and slippers, a hedgehog in a hat and a goat in a beret.
Watching the anthropomorphic fashion parade, the incredulous farmer turns to his wife and reproaches, “I thought we were keeping it small with the gifts this year?” The twist, of course, is that she did – at TK Maxx you can get designer outfits for less.
John Lewis – The Gifting Hour
If there’s one question on every ad fan’s lips it’s what is the John Lewis Christmas advert 2024? The answer is The Gifting Hour, a seriously heart-warming piece of filmmaking celebrating family.
The plot goes something like this: with 15 minutes left until John Lewis closes for the day, a woman enters the store to find a last-minute Christmas present for her younger sister. Browsing the party dresses, she discovers a portal into her past and is transported back in time to observe her and her sister’s dynamic over the years. We see their relationship evolve, taking in arguments and affection, and spanning milestones including their first boyfriends and pregnancy. In the process of revisiting these memories, our protagonist realises she knows exactly what to buy her sister and the final scene finds them embracing each other outside John Lewis, with the tagline, “The secret to finding the perfect gift - knowing where to look.’
Soundtrack-wise, John Lewis have broken with tradition, swapping their usual sad acoustic covers of pop hits for The Verve’s 1997 classic ‘Sonnet’. It’s emotive, nostalgic and fits the advert’s message perfectly.
Aldi – Kevin the Carrot’s Christmas Mission
Kevin the Carrot is back for a Mission: Impossible-style adventure in which the spirit of Christmas has been kidnapped by (bah) humbugs. This sweet animation sees Kevin infiltrate the humbugs’ lair and rescue the spirit in their sleigh, setting the table for a sumptuous Aldi feast on the way home.
Rather than a sleighbell-drenched version of the iconic Mission: Impossible theme, we get two orchestral pieces – one instrumental version of Carol of the Bells, arranged in the style of John Williams’ Home Alone score, plus an espionage adventure theme to ratchet up the tension of the rescue mission.
Argos – Rockstar
Connie the doll and Trev the dinosaur are back for Argos' 2024 Christmas campaign, and they're bringing a whole new meaning to rocking around the Christmas tree. Yep, Trev's dreaming of being a rockstar, performing astride a stack of amps, lit up to look like a Christmas tree. Thankfully, Connie knows all about Trev's aspirations, and gifts him a fun amp-themed bluetooth speaker when he wakes up. And that banging soundtrack? It’s a cover of T-Rex’s glam-rock classic, ‘20th Century Boy’, with the lyrics changed to ‘20th century toy’.
Tesco – Helping #FeedYourChristmasSpirit
Tesco’s biscuit-heavy ad is a sentimental celebration of family and memory. Given a bag of gingerbread men by his grandfather, a man’s world suddenly becomes warm and Christmassy, with everyday items suddenly transformed into the festive biscuits. But as he remembers his grandmother, who has passed away in the year since the last Christmas, that gingerbread world starts to crumble. How can he get that Christmas spirit back? By building a gingerbread house from scratch with his grandfather and sharing it with his nearest and dearest. It's a touching story, made even sweeter by the inclusion of Gorillaz’s gentle synth-pop single ‘On Melancholy Hill’.
Coca-Cola – Secret Santa
Coca-Cola’s new A.I.-generated Christmas ad has been getting lots of attention, though not necessarily all of it positive. Despite following the classic format of a Christmassy Coca-Cola truck driving throw snowy landscapes, audiences are appalled that Santa himself has been given the heave-ho. According to Javier Meza, the EU chief marketing officer at Coca-Cola, the brand is using A.I. to adapt to “today’s times” and that “Coca-Cola’s exciting venture into AI-generated storytelling demonstrates Coca-Cola’s commitment to embracing innovation.” Whatever your stance on A.I., everyone can agree it’s a good thing that they’ve not ditched their iconic “Holidays are coming” soundtrack.
Sainsbury’s – Sainsbury’s BIG Christmas
Using the logic that booking a big celebrity is a surefire way to get folks talking about your advertising spot, Sainsbury’s have secured the biggest celebrity of all. That’s right, The BFG is fronting their festive campaign, appearing in stop motion form in a sweet film about catering Christmas. Using his giant stride, our big friendly hero helps Sophie the shop assistant to source local produce from around the British Isles, and then magics it into a sumptuous Christmas feast that he kindly drops through a family’s window.
In the background you can hear a twinkling orchestral piece, chosen to accentuate the advert’s magical message.
Amazon – Midnight Opus
Music isn’t just background noise in this year’s Amazon campaign – it comprises a crucial part of their tear-jerking narrative. Their advert charts the life of a theatre janitor, who secretly aspires to be a performer and practices his vocals on the job. When his colleagues overhear him singing, they decide to make his dreams come true and order him a tuxedo to wear as he takes to the stage to perform Burt Bacharach classic ‘What the World Needs Now Is Love’. Subtle it ain’t.
Pandora – Be Love
R&B stars Chloe and Halle Bailey front Pandora’s Christmas campaign, which is remarkable for its total lack of Christmas branding. Using a palette of millennial pink, the jewelry brand portrays tender moments between friends, family and lovers, subliminally implanting the idea of gift-giving in their viewers’ heads.
Of course, you couldn’t book Beyoncé’s proteges without utilising their musical skills, so the ad is soundtracked by their soulful cover of Bee Gees’ ‘To Love Somebody’.
Greggs – Bag Some Joy
Is there a sneakier ad than Greggs’ Christmas special? We doubt it. Nicking Nigella Lawson’s tried and trusted show format, the add sees everyone’s fave domestic goddess seductively describing a festive feast in the twinkly surrounds of what we assume is her home. Half-way through we get the big reveal: Nigella is actually introducing Gregg’s Christmas menu, bringing her premium touch to budget cuisine. And in the background you can hear an instrumental version of ‘Carol of the Bells’.
KFC – Kentucky Fried Turkey
Buckle up for some seasonal cheek because KFC have revived the concept of Kentucky Fried Turkey. We’re transported to a professional kitchen where a chef is lovingly preparing the fried bird to the emotive sounds of Puccini’s epic ‘Nessun dorma’. Simultaneously we see social media messages from customers asking KFC to swap chicken for turkey this Christmas. The expectation is that KFC have done just that, only for them to pull the rug away at the very last moment with the words, “We saw you. We heard you. We ignored you again.”
Lidl – A Magical Christmas
Lidl combine kids, Christmas magic and altruism for a festive ad that will leave you feeling all warm and fuzzy. Soundtracked by a sweeping orchestral piece, we see a young girl sledging with her pals on a snowy hillside, when she spots a boy standing all alone. On the way home, an old lady gifts her a pair of magic bells, which she hangs on her Christmas tree and her siblings start using them to make wishes. Turn a pile of brussels sprouts into biscuits? No problem. Want a pet racoon to sit on your lap during Christmas dinner? You got it. Giant gingerbread man outside your house? Sure thing! But our protagonist remembers the lonely little boy and uses her wish to send him a winter hat. The ad ends with her inviting him to ride on her sledge, with the voiceover, “Gift a toy to Lidl’s toy bank and share the magic.”
Morrisons – 60s
The singing oven gloves are back! Yes, after 2023’s karaoke session to Starship’s ‘Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now’, this year they’re celebrating the festive season with a cover of ‘You Give A Little Love’ from Bugsy Malone. Set in the 60s, it’s big West End-style set piece showcasing Morrison’s food offerings in a manner that brings to mind the ‘Be Our Guest’ number from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. The results are fun, uplifting and family friendly.
Barbour – Shaun the Sheep x Baa-bour
Whetting our appetites for the new Wallace and Gromit caper coming to Netflix in January, Barbour have borrowed some help from Aardman Animations for this year’s Christmas campaign. Over on Mossy Bottom Farm, Shaun the Sheep and his pals are trying to do some carol singing but keel over with cold. Fortunately, Bitzer the dog has a bright idea: he heads into town and comes back with bags of Barbour scarves for everyone. Cue our self-styled baa-ber shop choir belting out ‘We wish you a Merry Christmas’ behind the farmer’s back.
JD Sports – The Family Portrait
Vying with John Lewis for the most emotional Christmas ad of the year, JD Sports’ spot celebrates “the different forms of family that make the festive season special for communities around the country.” Created by Uncommon and directed by Elliot Power and Samaneh Aminzadeh, the focus is on authenticity, depicting working class families rather than the chocolate box ideal usually favoured by Christmas ads. This being JD Sports, there are, of course, some big names leading the campaign, including presenter/model Maya Jama, rapper Central Cee, footballer Trent Alexander-Arnold, mixed martial artist Paddy Pimblett and YouTube comedy collective Beta Squad. And in the background you can hear Jamie xx’s track ‘Wanna’, its mix of skeletal beats and haunting piano helping the ad pack an even bigger punch emotionally.
Debenhams – Gifts to impress, minus the stress? Duh, Debenhams.
“Why does Christmas have to be so hard!" screams a Christmas shopper in despair, as she waits for a bus in the pouring rain. Cut to model Elizabeth Hurley, reclining on a chaise longue in an evening gown, “Duh, Debenhams darling.” So continues Debenhams’ tongue-in-cheek Christmas ad, as burnt out shoppers are contrasted with well-groomed celebrities brandishing the online department store’s easy-to-use app. Other celebs featured in the campaign include model and TV host Leomie Anderson, comedian Ellie Taylor and model/presenter Hannah Cooper-Dommett. And it’s another soundtrack appearance for ‘Carol of the Bells’.
Etsy – Waldo Anthem
Where’s Waldo (or Wally to us Brits) is the hero of Etsy’s Christmas campaign, with a real-life version of the cartoon character travelling the world and being spotted wherever he goes. It isn’t until he makes it home, however, that he’s finally recognised by someone he knows (his girlfriend Wilma, obviously) who gifts him a personalised compass. As Waldo puts it, in his voiceover, “Sometimes it takes someone who really knows you to make you feel seen.” The kiss off comes in the tagline: “Gifts that say ‘I get you.’” In the background you can hear an original instrumental sprinkled in sleighbells and driven by staccato strings to suggest motion.
Vodafone – 40 years of Christmas on The Nation’s Network
Marking the 40th anniversary of the first ever mobile phone call – which was made on the Vodafone network on January 1st 1985 – this Christmas ad charts the progress of mobile communication in a way that delivers both festive fun and nostalgia. From brick phones to flip phones, panicked conversations picking up Christmas essentials to video calls with technically challenged grandparents, we race through the last four decades of Christmas communications, watching how Vodafone brings families closer together. The final scene sees a young man surprise his doting mum by turning up on her doorstep after months out of the country. It’s heartwarming stuff, made even more emotional by the inclusion of The Flying Pickets’ 1983 hit ‘Only You’.
Sports Direct – New Traditions
Eschewing traditional Christmas fayre for a shot of adrenaline, Sports Direct’s campaign is centred around establishing new exercise norms, be that Hyrox sessions in the garage or your nan shadowboxing a snowman in the front garden. They’ve roped in a load of big sporting names to help spread the message too. Footballers Frank Lampard and Lucy Bronze join legends from the world of boxing Eddie Hearn, Connor Benn and Johnny Fisher, England rugby plater Maro Itoje, Irish sprinter Rhasidat Adeleke and endurance athlete Russ 'Hardest Geezer' Cook. And to keep the energy pumping, the soundtrack is powered by high impact D’n’B.
Disney - ‘The Boy & The Octopus’
For their Christmas campaign, Disney called upon adverts heavyweights Adam&EveDDB who duly devised a fantastical fish/mollusc out of water tale about of an unlikely friendship between a little boy and an octopus.
Having met while snorkeling under the sea on holiday, the boy lets our super-cute eight-legged friend hitch a ride back to shore and all the way back to his house. He then introduces his curious CGI companion to a few of his favourite Disney-themed things – from a Buzz Lightyear figurine to an imitation light sabre – before taking him on a tour of his town, which is full of the joys of the festive season. In a conclusion redolent of E.T., the octopus must, of course, find a way back home – but instead of relying on bikes, he hitchhikes on Santa’s sleigh. As Disney put it at the end of the ad, “The greatest journeys start with a dream.”
At four minutes long, The Boy & The Octopus is one of this year’s longest ads, but it’s also one of the sweetest, made even more heartwarming by the new, orchestral arrangement of ‘Part of Your World’ from The Little Mermaid.
The Gift that Keeps On Giving
Need help downloading Christmas music or finding the right track for your next project? Discover the Best Christmas Music in our catalogue plus themed playlists including Winter Warmers, Christmas Party, Traditional Christmas, Holiday Season, Christmas Beats and Modern Christmas. Head to our Playlist Hub, or check out the very latest albums and collections, where you’ll find an abundance of brilliant, pre-cleared music perfect for TV and film, advertising, digital entertainment and branded content.
You must be logged in to post a comment.