Readers of the lucecannon blog I wrote between about 2008 and 2012 (I know there were a couple of you) will know that I love a Christmas telly ad, particularly the John Lewis ads. I even once contemplated, and I think tweeted, that I was changing my bio to ‘John Lewis Target Audience’. That’s still the case. But these days I’m a bit more taken with Aldi’s Christmas ads; I think it’s Jim Broadbent as Father Christmas, rather than a particular love for Kevin the Carrot. And no, I wasn’t tempted to buy a stuffed Kevin last Christmas in my local Aldi.
I find I’m celebrating Christmas earlier and earlier and this year, for obvious 2020/Covid/quarantine reasons, like millions of others, it’ll be earlier still. Last year, under peer pressure from colleagues in my (then) arts PR job, I put my tree up either on the first or second weekend of December. This year it will definitely be the first weekend of December and I just hope it lasts in our well insulated and thus quite warm sitting room (there’s not much room, so it has to go quite near a radiator and I cannot contemplate a fake tree just yet… Even though the real ones don’t smell like they used to.)
I confess I even bought mince pies in October (one of my daughters persuaded me). No more, though, until 1 December when I’ll also be cracking open some sloe gin (shop bought, this year) and enjoying my That’s Christmas playlist.
But what of those ads? John Lewis have gone for the gift of a little love this year, rather than any of their never knowingly undersold electronic goods. I’ve seen their ad online but – is it my imagination – they seem to buy less and less actual TV airtime each year. It’s as if the ad is made for the big unveil on social media and then rarely used, in the midst of the programmes I’m watching anyway. I quite like the pigeons in this year’s JL ad and it’s great to see different animators getting work in what has been a vicious year for creatives.
For my money, Morrison’s Christmas ad this year with Dua Lipa’s Levitating as a soundtrack is about as close as any come to JL’s usual schmaltzy feel-good, family vibe – and I like it. Tesco have gone with ‘there is no naughty list this year’ with Britney’s Oops I Did It Again as a soundtrack; quite good. And kudos for making a joke about not giving to Captain Tom (made me laugh).
Lidl’s Christmas 2020 ad is ok, a Christmas you can believe in. And nicely diverse. Asda’s giant hand patting a giant pocket in lights on the roof of a festive house I do not like.
Sainsbury’s ad I love. “Food is home. Christmas is home.” Again, something we can all believe in. And don’t post any comments about this ad. Yes it features a black family. Why the [deleted] not?
But overall, I like Jim “Old Saint Nick” Broadbent and Kevin the Carrot best. “That magical moment was finally here. Christmas together, with those you hold dear” in a nice rhyming couplet. A message to cling on to, at the end of November 2020 during Lockdown 2, if ever there was one.
Lucy Rouse PR Blog 