What does it take?
Becoming successful in the UK today
The Race is Coming
The festive season is almost here. Christmas campaigns have started to launch, and supermarket shelves are already stocked with seasonal favourites. For the third consecutive year, we'll be monitoring the nation's reactions, revealing which adverts spark the most conversation online, and ranking the brands leading the way on attention and creative effectiveness.
Stay tuned as we unveil the 2026 Race to Christmas rankings.
Discover the 2025 race scores
In the run-up to Christmas 2025, we kept a close eye on the festive campaigns and innovations of the major supermarkets and retailers. Right up to the big day, we monitored what the great British public had to say, and tracked which ads were generating the most online buzz, attention and creative response. Check out the below charts and explore our race analysis to find out how our racers fared.
of people were excited for Christmas
said that Waitrose was their favourite Christmas ad
recognised & linked Aldi's ad back to the brand
Ad Recognition
Branded Recognition
Ad Empathy
Brand Feel Good
Online Retailer & Platform Traffic - Web & App
Online Supermarket Traffic - Web & App
Social Mentions
What were the Season's Winning Food Innovations?
Food is central to Christmas, so, as we do every year, we’ve hand picked a select list of items available in the 10 major Supermarkets - Aldi, ASDA, Co-op, Iceland, Lidl, Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Tesco, and Waitrose - and put all 40 items in front of a representative sample of UK consumers to see which triumph in a football tournament style survey.
And here are the results...
- Waitrose - British Wagyu Beef Sirloin Joint with Beer Malt Glaze & a Herb Crumb (£59-72)
- Aldi - Raspberry and Pistachio Yule Log (£9.99)
- Morrisons - Firecracker Pigs in Blankets (10 for £3)
