It’s that time again – the most wonderful time of the year! When Mariah Carey has been thoroughly defrosted and our televisions are ablaze with festive adverts, celebrity cameos and cloying jingles galore.
Every year, retailers dig deep and pull out all the stops in an attempt to be behind one of the best Christmas adverts of the year. Whether it makes you laugh out loud or tugs mercilessly on your heartstrings, there’s no denying that there’s always one that stands out.
Of course, John Lewis has become renowned for its Christmas ads. Christmas 2007 saw the first John Lewis television advertisement in three years and since then, it’s never looked back. It reset the Christmas campaign and kicked off a new, more frenzied era of competition among retailers. Hailed by many as the king of Christmas adverts, its campaigns have become something that we wait in anticipation for, and which seem to officially mark the start of Christmas.
So with this in mind, and after much deliberation, the Carrington team have come up with our top six best Christmas adverts of all time.
Will John Lewis feature in the list? Read on to find out!
Kevin the Carrot – Aldi, 2022
We’re all a fan of bizarrely anthropomorphised objects, but in 2016, Aldi took the cake – by giving us a carrot.
While initially a fun standalone character undergoing festive adventures, in 2022 he was jokingly placed in the role of Kevin McCallister in the famed Christmas film, Home Alone. Kevin the Carrot spawned his own dedicated line of merch at Aldi and has since gone on to have regular festive adventures – this year, he’s even getting married!
Yes, it’s a saccharine and emotive way to draw attention to the familial element of Christmas that resonates so deeply with the British public. It’s also an intelligent way to remind us all that Aldi are among the leaders in offering fresh fruit and veg at knockdown prices – so much so that, especially since the rate of inflation began to soar in recent years, now every major supermarket seeks to match its prices with Aldi.
Edgar the Dragon – John Lewis & Waitrose, 2019
Fresh off the heels of Game of Thrones’ ill-fated final season, the franchise that re-invigorated the world’s obsession with the medieval dragon may have inadvertently brought us this little gem: John Lewis & Waitrose’s 2019 Christmas advert ‘Edgar the Dragon’.
After accidentally using his projectile pyromancy to ignite… well, almost everything (!), this little dragon is gifted a Christmas Pudding which he gleefully sets fire to and is welcomed with open arms by the townsfolk. A suitably happy ending for an uplifting festive tale – designed at its heart to showcase some scrumptious looking grub courtesy of Waitrose.
Mariah Carey – Walkers Crisps, 2019
Nothing screams Christmas more than Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ so Walkers certainly knew what they were doing when they featured not only the song, but the woman herself, in their 2019 Christmas ad.
But the campaign seems to have gained more interest from Mariah’s hilarious crisp nibble than from the actual advert itself…
It sees the US star and a Christmas elf have a tussle over the last packet of pigs in blankets flavoured crisps, which Mariah wins after singing her famous high pitched note, stunning the elf into giving up the crisps.
Following the altercation, Mariah then opens the crisps and takes a tiny nibble of a crisp – forgive us for thinking that she’s never actually eaten a bag of crisps in her life!
It’s rumoured that Mariah was paid a huge £9 million for appearing in the advert; that’s certainly got to be the most expensive packet of crisps in the world!
Be A Kid This Christmas – Hafod Hardware, 2019
Forget your million-pound productions. For us, a real contender for one of the best Christmas ads is Hafod Hardware; an independent shop in Rhayader, Wales.
Thomas Lewis Jones, who runs the shop with his grandparents, spent just £100 creating a truly adorable advert with the help of his family and friends.
His own son, Arthur, is the star of the show and we see him working away as a budding store manager – opening the shop, putting out stock and serving customers. The emotional sucker-punch comes right at the end of the advert with a subtle twist which leads into the line “be a kid this Christmas”.
It goes to show the power of a simple, honest story that’s told with real love and passion. With their advert, Hafod Hardware has earned its reputation instead of splashing the cash and we think that makes them a real winner!
Mistletoe – Yellow Pages, 1992
Carrington founder, Rob, is definitely showing his age with this one! But there is no other Christmas advert that entered the lexicon for ‘nineties children’ more than this one.
Anyone born after 2000 probably won’t remember the Yellow Pages arriving at the door, but this advert gives a simple message, in just 20 seconds, to show that the Yellow Pages can help you with anything.
There are few Christmas adverts that look more classic 90s than this one. The advert shows a little girl standing by the Christmas tree, holding a piece of mistletoe over her head as a little boy attempts to give her a Christmas kiss – but he’s too small. Fear not, the Yellow Pages is here to save the day! The little boy grabs his brick-like copy of the telephone directory and uses it as a step, allowing him to get his Christmas kiss.
The ad is heartwarming, uplifting and certainly made the whole nation go “ahhh”. And best of all, check out that nineties fashion sense!
The Holidays Are Coming – Coca Cola, 1995
Perhaps the most iconic contender is the classic Coca Cola truck advert. Appearing on our screens year after year, it’s surely at the top of the list when it comes to the best Christmas ads – it certainly is for us!
First created in 1995 by ad agency, W.B. Doner, the advert shows a convoy of ‘Christmas caravans’ snaking through the snow, adorned with 30,000 festive lights. And the effects since then have been astounding – #holidaysarecoming is tweeted 57 million times a year and, according to Coca Cola, 44% of Brits say they eagerly anticipate the advert as the official start of the season. The Coca Cola truck also does a tour of the UK in December every year, so the advert really has created a lasting legacy.
In recent years, the advert has been modernised with the use of AI – which caused quite the conversation when done for the first time last year. But this clearly hasn’t deterred the Coca Cola marketing team. The AI generated ad returned again for 2025, featuring the usual convoy of red lorries alongside several animals, such as polar bears, penguins and hedgehogs, that are overjoyed at seeing the trucks.
Although we love a good Christmas advert, great marketing isn’t just for Christmas! For more tips and advice on creating an effective marketing campaign, get in touch with the Carrington team today.
