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For the first time in their 189-year history, Cadbury have decided to bring out a Christmas advert! They took over a whole street in Plumstead, South East London, to film the ad which shows houses, cars and lampposts all wrapped in festive ‘Cadbury purple’ paper and children running around, pretty much hyper ventilating in the hope to be the first to unwrap Christmas.

So Cadbury weren’t the only ones to invade our screens with commercials early in the rush to Christmas as last week saw the launch of the 2013 Christmas adverts from the main UK retailers.

Hence we here at the CuCo design agency thought we would present you with our take on this year’s selection: the good, the bad and the marmite.

 

Getting it oh-so right this year are…

John Lewis

John Lewis are switched on to the psychology of today’s consumer. They know that we no longer just buy products, we buy their emotional setting as well. £7 million, and a handful of beautifully created assets later, alongside the help of communications agency adam&eveDDB in London, John Lewis have finally revealed their new christmas advert; a heart-warming, animated short-story entitled ‘The Bear and the Hare’. The Christmas advert not only brought a tear to our eye, it also marks the comeback of the great Lily Allen after a three year break… woohoo! An all-round winner, especially as the bear and hare can now be bought at a John Lewis store near you – Brilliant marketing example where they might just claw back a few quid from teddy bear sales!

M&S

This year M&S splashed out and enlisted the help of some famous faces, including Helena Bonham-Carter and model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. Inspired by Alice in Wonderland and the Wizard of Oz, Rosie chases her westie down a manhole, beginning a journey into a world where things aren’t quite what they seem. Of course, there are plenty of M&S products on display and conveniently Rosie seems to lose her clothes a lot to reveal several different styles and colours of M&S lingerie. Having said that, this magical christmas advert does appeal to our inner child and so overall, a big thumbs up for M&S this year. Would have been nice to see the man topless as well – Just saying!

Lego

Lego have stormed out of the Christmas Advert gate this year with a fantastic father-son-focused advert entitled ‘Let’s Build’ created by Amsterdam-based agency ‘We Are Pi’ and Director Joanna Bailey.

‘This campaign is designed to build the Lego brand and everything that it stands for, bringing parents and children together to enjoy a creative play experience that only Lego can offer’ said Lego Brand Manager, Kathryn Marriott.The media spend on this campaign is estimated at 10% of Lego’s annual marketing budget – money well spent we think!

Now on to a category we would like to call: What happened?!

Asda

Having had their Christmas advert slammed last year for being sexist, Asda have shrunk their offering this year. In a short, 30 second ad, Asda portray their rival supermarkets as sad and thin snowmen, with a fat, happy, green-hatted Asda snowman standing out from the crowd, emphasising that Asda are, on average, 10% cheaper than their competitors. Rather than splashing out on their Christmas ad this year, Asda have insisted that they will be investing their money instead into lowering the prices of their products in-store. Let’s just say – it shows. Even the targeted short adverts promoting specific products, such as their wine selections don’t make up for it.

 

Co-op

In an almost unbearably dull and drawn out advert, the Co-Op’s offering this year didn’t go down well in the CuCo design and branding agency. Based around the unimaginative strap-line ‘Relax, Christmas is just around the corner’ the ad will at least be supported by a social-media push, with hashtag #relaxmas displayed on all their TV, outdoor and print Christmas advertising.

Sky

Created by WCRS in London, Sky’s Christmas advert this year smacks of a bad rip-off of the much-loved Christmas classic ‘Love Actually’. The ad depicts three different story lines and attempts to show how Sky TV can make Christmas with loved ones more magical. The whole thing is pretty lame and an over done marketing story line.

The one’s made of Marmite…

Tesco

This is the one that divided the CuCo design agency the most. Tesco’s 2013 Christmas advert opts for a dose of nostalgia. Set to Rod Stewart’s 1988 hit Forever Young, the ad shows the central characters age as their household expands over the years. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this ad was a hit with those in the studio with children. In spite of their ad, Tesco consumers seem to be among the most up-to-speed -last year as 20% of their online customers ordered their groceries via tables or smartphones.

Waitrose

Waitrose have just unveiled the second christmas advert, in it’s ‘the story of…’ campaign. Developed by BBH and Waitrose’s in-house team, the ad focuses on actual Waitrose celebrity farmer, Jonathan Martin, as he tends to turkeys on his farm in Lincolnshire and then serves up a mean feast for the family, where the organic turkey has most likely fulfilled its destiny. Perhaps a bit too twee with no real memorable storyline or it it gets you apprecaiting the organic ways..

Morrisons

Cue an all-singing, all-dancing gingerbread man. Like Ant & Dec? You will probably like it. But if not… it might just make you think why has the gingerbread man from Shrek joined forces with Morrisons for their Christmas advert? Or consider where are all the other guests for that massive spread of food!?

Funnily enough these are a just a fraction of adverts out there! Please feel free to let us know which ad is YOUR favourite and most creative?