Big brands battle it out every year to grab the attention of an increasingly distracted Christmas market and 2018 has been no exception. We have seen some new contenders enter the fray and a £50 budget filmmaker also throw his hat in the ring. But how have the newcomers fared against seasoned warriors like John Lewis?
I've ranked 2018 adverts by their engagement (mentions and sentiment), but also 'expert opinion' from digital marketing contributors such as Smart Insights, Brand Watch, Wordstream, Moz and Quicksprout.
7th Place - Marks and Spencer (139k views, 519 likes) #MyMarksFave
6th Place - Boots (374k views, 2.2k likes) #GiftsThatGetThem
5th Place - Sainsbury's (3.4M views, 14k likes)
4th Place - Heathrow (1M views, 5.2k likes)
3rd Place - Aldi (2.9M views, 10k likes)
2nd Place - Iceland (5.3M views, 80k likes)
The Banned Advert
1st Place - John Lewis (10M views, 105k likes)
Special Mention - to the £50 advert from Phil Beastall (1.1M views, 7.2k likes)
Filmmaker Phil Beastall has shared his own Christmas short film and it perfectly drives home the whole 'less is more' point of view. With a budget of £50, this film is filled to the brim with heart and is a wonderfully human portrayal of a harsh reality of the holiday season that is true to a great many people. Beastall shared the video on 18 November following the release of John Lewis’ 2018 advert. He explained in a Facebook post that his short film, which is called 'Love is a Gift', was made in 2014. Despite this, it still managed to hit the hearts of viewers. “Off the back of the John Lewis Christmas advert, I wanted to share my very own Christmas film which I made back in 2014,” wrote Beastall.
So there we go folks. Which is your favourite?