The Race is into the Final Stretch
Welcome back to the Ipsos race to Christmas blog 2024. The tree is up, and presents have begun to appear underneath it up and down the land. Oh, you’ve not bought us a gift yet? Well, this doesn’t need to be awkward, there’s still plenty of time… and you’ve got Amazon Prime right…right?
Food is the focus as we get closer to Christmas
The final weeks leading up to Christmas are the hottest in the race yet. Those grocery delivery deadlines are looming large, and the family expect to be well fed. Many of the advertising campaigns for Britain’s favourite retailers have switched from a focus on their long form story ads to more functional ads calling attention to specific products. Wondering which retailers have showcased their food best. Don’t worry we’ve got you covered.
In our latest round of Fast Facts tracking of the Christmas campaigns we asked campaign recognisers if they agreed with the statement “the food looks delicious” in relation to the ads. Perhaps unsurprisingly Greggs and Nigella came out on top here (66% Agree). Or is it surprising? We discussed this more in our previous blog, but would anyone before the race launched have expected Greggs to win on most delicious looking food in a Christmas ad? The power of Nigella and a surprising collaboration really comes through here.
An honourable mention goes to Tesco who beat the other large supermarkets into second place (58% Agree). Waitrose came third (56% Agree across parts 1 & 2) by having the genius thought to put a food product at the very heart of their narrative. It gives the impression that Waitrose food is at the very heart of day-to-day family activities and should be celebrated for its innovation.
I know you’re itching to go out and do a bit of last-minute food shopping. Want to know which new food innovations are grabbing consumers attention this Christmas? We’ve got you covered there too. Our product innovation team have been Duelling a host of the supermarket new food innovations and the results are now available, check out the Festive Food Face-off here.
66% agree that the food in the Greggs Christmas ad looks delicious
What have the Christmas campaigns taught us about the fundamentals of great Christmas advertising?
In January when the wrapping paper has been cleared away and the last of the chocolates have been eaten, we’ll be reviewing the entire Race to Christmas and giving out the Ipsos: 12 Awards of Christmas.
We understand that while Christmas may have finished for consumers it will just be starting for advertising creatives up and down the country, because there’s always next year.
In the process of creating the award categories for this year’s race, we’ve had time to reflect on what makes great Christmas advertising, and look at some of the standout campaigns this year.
1. Make it memorable and make sure you get the credit
The advertising landscape is cluttered and that is truer at Christmas than almost any other time of the year. Ensuring your ads can cut through this noise is critical. Entertaining, unique and emotionally connecting stories will help you do that, but that is all for nothing if consumers think the ad is for something else. Good branding is critical to ensuring you get the credit for your creative hard work.
The most memorable campaigns of 2024 have done this by playing the long game. The ads that have the highest peaks for branded recognition are either direct repeats of previous campaigns like Cadburys (35%) and Coca-Cola (27%), or creative new twists on established holiday favourites like Aldi (35%) and M&S Food (36%).
An honourable mention goes to Asda who achieved the joint highest brand linkage (65%) for a completely original campaign idea, alongside Amazon’s ‘Midnight Opus’. It was a tall order but just like the gnomes in their ad, they pulled it off.
M&S Food had the highest peak for branded recognition, hitting
36%
64% strongly agreed that the Disney Christmas ad 'gave me a good feeling about the brand'
2. Tap into the feel-good feeling of Christmas
Being remembered is not enough. Telling these kinds of stories at Christmas is about building brand relationships for the long term. Advertisers don’t just want people to feel Christmassy, they want people to feel good about their brand.
Disney achieved that in 2024 by making an ad that doubles up as a piece of content on Disney+. The story of a boy and an adventurous Octopus stood out for making consumers ‘feel good about the brand this year’ (64%). We particularly enjoyed the way this content showcased Christmas in warmer climates. But not every advertiser can animate a 4-minute epic. So, what about the rest?
A late comer to the race has stood out here. Vodafone (gave me a good feeling about the brand 50%) not only reminded people of the connections they make with loved ones at Christmas but were able to connect that back to 40 years of delivering mobile phones to enable that connection. This plays off a desire for nostalgia that has been growing in recent years as the world feels more trouble. We know we’d like to live in the world Vodafone have been talking about this Christmas.
3. Stories with empathy for their audience
Ipsos data highlights that you can amplify both the memorability and the equity effect of a campaign by connecting with people on a personal level.
When we asked people which campaigns were ‘for people like me’ many of those ads that we’ve already talked about did well here. Disney (62%), Greggs (55%) and Coca-Cola (53%) – because there is a natural connection between driving empathy and other measures of ad success.
Some ads may not be for everyone, but if they resonate with their targeted audience that is what matters. Special shout out to McDonalds here. Electro-house music may not be your jam (yes, I had to look up the term electro-house) but their advert showcasing their iconic characters through a mixture of 00s music and Christmas lights certainly had may people feeling like that was a ‘bit of me’.
50% of consumers agreed it was ‘for people like me’. A true piece of Misfit advertising embracing the spirit of Christmas while feeling like it hasn’t conformed. Are you thinking it wasn’t for you… that’s ok stick some on some Wham! It’s Christmas.
55% strongly agreed that the Greggs Christmas ad is 'for people like me'
4. The only thing worse than being talked about, is not being talked about
Social power is an increasingly important part of the creative job. Advertising that travels across platforms and has a heavy presence on social media can build more engagement for the brand when being shared.
At Ipsos all our creative testing includes a measure of Social Power validated again social media listening data from our partners at Synthesio. This metric combines several responses to an ad together to create social power. Uniqueness, a place in popular culture, an ad people will talk about, and ad people will share on social media, all these perceptions come together to create social power.
John Lewis has tapped into this by becoming synonymous with Christmas advertising. People now anticipate and expect the latest John Lewis Christmas ad and can’t help but share and discuss it. Social media listening data shows us that John Lewis had 21% share of mentions during November. Positive or Negative, its ads were being talked about.
And that leads me to the last of our measures that inputs into social power – ‘some people will hate this’. Because if we know anything it's that social media is a place where our negative opinions can be shared and challenged.
Boots faced that this year with the response to their Mrs Claus ad. We know that ads that promote inclusivity often drive business impact, but can that really be true when so much negative discussion has broken out online? Not only did we see campaign recognition grow significantly following online discussion, but Ipsos Iris data shows that time spent on the Boots site was 15% higher in the seven days after the advert's release on the 6th of November, compared to the seven days prior.
A business success perhaps? We’ll see how many choose Boots for their gifts this Christmas. For more discussion of the social media listening trends see our article here.
Merry Christmas to all...
Have I given away some of the Ipsos Race to Christmas award winners? Stay tuned in January to find out. Hopefully this deep dive has given some of you a better understanding a what makes great advertising work and the kind of adverts that have done that this Christmas.
All of us here at Ipsos have really enjoyed covering this year’s race to Christmas. Thank you so much for taking the time to read our content. And so, for the final time, and this time most sincerely...
May your days be merry and bright. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and yours.
The Ipsos Race to Christmas Team.
