Upon traveling the whole world in one night, Mr. Claus is probably chilling on his sofa in the North Pole with a big mug of hot chocolate in his generous hand, leafing through this Christmas magical photo album.

We invite you to do the same, as we take you through a selection of the most creative, emotional, sentimental, and cheerful brand campaigns of the festive season 2022.

As we take through our favorite Christmas adverts album for this year, we will explain why they were some of the most notable and why we loved them the most.

ASDA, Have your Elf a Merry Christmas

“I just like to smile; smiling’s my favorite.”

This line, cheerful, rich in memory and nostalgia, was brought back to life this year, thanks to the fantastic job done by Asda’s creative marketing team. As if our super Buddy the Elf is in the supermarket Asda, spreading the joy around customers. Touching their memories – and their wallets.

From the first, second, 1000th repeat of the commercial, we ought to think that Will Ferrell’s back to the big screen. Yet, more impressed than disappointed, the fantastic editing job done by ASDA’s marketing team, masterfully took Buddy the Elf out of the old film and put him into a more recent footage of the supermarket, working in two and a half dimensions.

“Is there anyone more joyful than Buddy the elf?
I’m not sure there is.”

These are the words of the Marketing team at Asda, who described the project as a jigsaw puzzle.
Joyful, nostalgic, and funny are ASDA’s main bits on this ad.

Making us float in memories and jest through the commercial and closing it with a mixt of both: ‘Son of a nutcracker!’ is Buddy’s last line, as he gets almost hit by shopping carts.

Penny, The Rift

Penny is hitting hard on emotional marketing and community engagement this year with a 4-minute ad, under the title: The Rift.

In Germany, the ad starts showcasing a few neighbors who live in the same building as they deepen the intergenerational rifts that divide us on a social and cultural level.

As they do so, the crack that begins on the glasses, worn by a lady of age, passes to the building’s walls, and the whole building starts crumbling down in an almost apocalyptic vibe.

The collapse continues until the young boy who started the “rift” on the lady’s glasses, goes to her apartment and proposes to talk: “let’s talk” he says.
The lady smiles and the building’s instantly restored.

At the end of the ad, the line “Let’s heal the rifts in our society. Let’s talk,” jazzes up in the middle of the screen, followed by the link to the distributor’s page.

By far the most joyful ad of the season, the marketing department at Penny has seen a differentiating approach, emotional and engaged in one of the most pressing society diseases.

The ad emotionally and mentally engages us, making us wonder how our society would be, if we were to talk more often?

Barbour, One of a Kind-ness

This year Barbour warms our hearts again with our most loved bear Paddington, who’s looking for a one-of-a-kind gift for his less loved, misunderstood neighbor Mr. Curry.

The ad opens on a band of local carol singers who, seeing the lights off, decides to skip Mr. Curry’s house. He runs in an attempt to catch the singers, but they leave without turning their backs.

While delivering gifts, the kind Paddington witnesses the scene and feels bad for Mr. curry. Thus, he sets out to deliver a unique gift for the left-behind man.

Mr. Curry feels cheered up by the kindness Paddington shows in his direction and falls in love with the unique Re-loved Barbour Jacket.

Paul Wilkinson, group marketing director and managing director USA at Barbour, said in a statement:

“We are delighted to feature Paddington in our Christmas film. Extending the life of our garments has been at the heart of our brand for over 100 years and through Barbour Re-Loved, a key focus of our Wax for Life initiative, we have been able to demonstrate in a humorous and sentimental way, the importance of upcycling and how much a thoughtful and unique present can mean particularly at Christmas time.”

TK Maxx, Christmas Nailed

In this Ad unveiled on the 27th of October, K Maxx, maximized its cinematic investments.

In an ideal Christmas-City, a cheerful young redhead is jumping, dancing to christmas jiggles, and receiving high fives from almost every person she encounters.

The bountiful hi-5s symbolizes the praise the young heroine of the ad gets for having nailed her christmas gifts, by getting great quality gifts for affordable prices.

TK Maxx thus, have positioned themselves this year as an affordable brand with high quality items. Deborah Dolce, Group Director of TK Maxx, shared:

“With the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, we know this is a tough year and, for many people, Christmas is such an important time to come together with loved ones.’

Playful, toe-tapping and fully knowledgeable of the financial pressure households are particularly facing this year, this present-buying success-story advert was launched early enough to reassure the audience that they can find ‘affordable and fabulous gifts’ with smaller budgets.

‘Sharing presents is an integral part of the festivities – we all love to treat our friends and family. So, we just wanted to let people know you can still do a brilliant job by shopping at TK Maxx; there’s no need to compromise on brands and quality because our gifts are available for up to 60 per cent less than the recommended retail price.’

Final thoughts

These four ads combined, have generated more than 4M views on YouTube alone – the platform where we can’t wait to hit ‘ skip the ad’ button. But that’s not the only reason we loved them.

In a very emotional period of the year, these four adverts nailed emotional marketing. Love, kindness, and generosity were at the heart of the ads, and they’ve successfully made it to ours through inventive, inspired storylines.

Paddington cheered us up. Buddy the Elf made us smile and giggle. The less familiar face of the heroine of ‘Christmas Nailed’ made us tap-toe reassured against the economic crisis.

Meanwhile, Penny made us reflect on our behaviors and triggered instant reaction right after their spot, calling for the action to talk.

Even with a small budget, we can be generous. Even with a small act, we can heal the rifts that are dividing our society.

These are just a few of the most sensible takeaways of this years’ most memorable campaigns. Will next year Christmas campaigns still have the impacts of Corona and the energy crisis at the center of their marketing strategies?

Who do you think could be more cheerful than Buddy the Elf to be integrated in ASDA’s next year’s Christmas advert?