The best 2014 Christmas adverts that perfectly reflect brand values

At Christmas time, everyone gets excited to see the high street campaigns. Brands love doing creative ads to generate extra buzz and therefore ‘free’ media coverage and the viewers have something to look forward to apart from shopping! As there are so many debates going on about this year’s spots, we’re picking the best Christmas ads which perfectly reflect brand values.

John Lewis Christmas TV advert with #MontyThePenguin

John Lewis is well known for their high-budget, feel-good Christmas commercials. Last year, the bear and the hare advert got tremendous coverage from print and online media. Its soundtrack also marked the career comeback for Lily Allen.

This year’s Monty The Penguin, like most of John Lewis’s previous Christmas ads, is beautifully made with a consistent core message: Christmas is a time of caring and love. The people behind the ad know that many of us had an imaginary friend when we were kids and what’s better than giving this friend the Christmas he’s dreaming of?

Feel-good ads like this and the use of various visual stimuli helped John Lewis becomes the first brand this year to earn great coverage, especially on social media. On YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, the ad was praised for its personal feel and for making people feel like kids again so they could experience the special excitement of Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.

Boots Christmas advert with #SpecialBecause

For hundreds of years, the image of the family has been a prominent symbol in advertising and is often utilised in marketing campaigns. Traditionally, mothers have been portrayed as the primary caregivers of children and the theme of motherhood resonates across many audiences and cultures.

Healthcare brands in particular often associate their image with motherly love, and Boots is no exception. Honestly, though I love my mom and dad equally, commercials about motherly love bring more of a heart-warming feeling. I have to admit that I had to fight back tears watching this one.

The hashtag #SpecialBecause encourages people to share stories of the people in their lives and why they are so special, which helps support Boots through social media.

Sainsbury’s Christmas advert ‘Christmas is for sharing’ made in partnership with The Royal British Legion

For years, Sainsbury’s was in their comfort zone with generic feel-good Christmas ads. That’s why it was such a shock when this controversial advert came out earlier this month. Made in partnership with The Royal British Legion, the commercial is inspired by the extraordinary story of the 1914 Christmas truce. All profits from the chocolate bar that features in the ad will be donated to The Royal British Legion.

Of course when you make an ad to sell products based on a tragic historical event, however good the intention, it is inevitable that some people will be upset. The advert has driven quite a lot of attention to Sainsbury’s, having been featured, discussed and debated over and over again on all media channels. It now has more than 12 millions views on YouTube. For the first time ever, Sainsbury’s is trending on Twitter (you don’t often see a supermarket mentioned on social media, trust me – apart from the ‘bashtag’ backfiring of #WaitroseReasons). Debates on the Guardian have also sparked lots of follow up discussions.

Personally, I think this commercial does a great job of capturing the Christmas spirit. More importantly, it has successfully driven a lot of attention to brand; and for a company with a half-year pre-tax loss of £290m (apparently due to a fall in sales from the previous year) it was a clever move to push the brand back to where it was. For this reason, Sainsbury’s is definitely the winner for this year’s best Christmas ad.

How about you? Have you seen any other adverts that capture the Christmas spirit? Please share it with us.