Creative effectiveness platform System1 has revealed this year’s best performing Christmas ads released so far, with Morrisons, Aldi and M&S finding themselves neck-and-neck.
All three retailers have registered the highest score (5.9) available on the platform’s ‘Test Your Ad’ measurement solution, which asses each works potential to drive long-term brand growth.
Rounding out the top contenders were Lidl’s ‘A magical Christmas with Lidl’, Sainsbury’s’ This Christmas, one little girl asks one BIG question’, and Vodafone’s ‘Feel the Connection this Christmas’ – which all scored over 5.5.
“This is a beautifully simple ad from Morrisons executed with real magic. It goes to show you don’t need to make budget-busting epic stories at Christmas – sometimes all you need is one great idea, brilliantly done. A 5.9-Star score is genuinely hard to achieve and to see 3 ads do it shows how hard creative teams have worked to make this year’s ads special,” System1 chief customer officer, Jon Evans said.
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“As expected it’s a strong showing for retailers so far. But it’s good to see Duracell break into the Top 10 with their first Christmas TV ad in a long time. Vodafone and Duracell are great examples of how tech brands can operate on a level with the big retailers at Christmas by using traditional Christmas icons well – both those ads have Santa in a starring role.”
He added: “John Lewis have landed outside the Top 10 this year. But the public have responded well to the ad and they can still teach other brands a lot about taking risks, earning coverage and making your Christmas ad a real event.”
This year’s work has proved incredibly strong according to System1, with further ads from Duracell, Coca-Cola, Boots and TK Maxx all scoring above 5.0.
