The festive season is upon us, and with it comes the annual spectacle of the Christmas advertising battle.
Each year, brands invest heavily to capture the nation’s hearts and wallets.
But which campaigns have truly mastered the art of festive marketing this year?
As a digital agency, we love to unpack the strategies behind the magic.
In this blog, we’ll explore our top picks for the best Christmas adverts in 2025 and the smart tactics that set them apart.
Waitrose: ‘The Perfect Gift’
Waitrose has gone all out this year with a high-production masterpiece starring Keira Knightley and Joe Wilkinson.
Their 2025 Christmas advert, ‘The Perfect Gift’, is a masterclass in building anticipation and driving online engagement.
Instead of releasing the full story in one go, Waitrose cleverly split the advert into several parts for television broadcast.
This episodic approach encourages viewers to head online to watch the complete narrative.
It’s a brilliant strategy that transforms passive viewers into active participants, driving valuable traffic directly to their website.
Once there, customers are not just watching an advert; they’re in the perfect place to start browsing products.
Waitrose also extended its campaign’s reach by embracing modern digital marketing tactics.
They produced professionally filmed ‘behind the scenes’ content and conducted online interviews with the cast.
By bringing in social media influencers like Max Balegde to host these interviews, they successfully captured the attention of a younger, digitally native audience, demonstrating a keen understanding of multi-generational marketing.
John Lewis: ‘Where Love Lives’
John Lewis has once again secured its position as the champion of emotional Christmas storytelling.
Their 2025 Christmas advert, ‘Where Love Lives’, is a heartfelt narrative that pulls directly at the heartstrings, resonating particularly strongly with parents.
The true genius of this campaign lies in its digital afterlife.
The advert’s audio has become a viral trend on TikTok, with thousands of users creating their own videos showcasing emotional family moments.
This user-generated content provides an incredible organic reach that money simply can’t buy.
John Lewis has effectively outsourced its marketing to the public, creating a genuine, emotional connection with the brand that feels personal to everyone.
To further amplify this success, the brand collaborated with social media influencers, commissioning them to film their reactions to the advert.
They also offered a glimpse behind the curtain with a ‘day in the life’ video of a social media team member on launch day.
These moves show a savvy understanding of what younger audiences find engaging: authenticity and relatability.
Sainsbury’s: ‘The Unexpected Guest’
Sainsbury’s has taken a different approach, tapping into a rich vein of nostalgia with ‘The Unexpected Guest‘.
By featuring the much-loved BFG character, they created a campaign with instant appeal for families across the UK.
The brilliance of the Sainsbury’s strategy is how seamlessly it integrates advertising with commerce.
The advert isn’t just a standalone piece of content; it’s the launchpad for a full range of BFG themed merchandise available in store.
The campaign creates the desire, and the product is immediately available to purchase, closing the loop between viewing and buying.
Furthermore, Sainsbury’s has woven a powerful element of social responsibility into their campaign.
They have pledged to donate £1 million to Comic Relief from the sales of the BFG range.
This charitable angle gives consumers a compelling reason to purchase, allowing them to feel good about their spending and strengthening their positive association with the Sainsbury’s brand.
Aldi: Kevin the Carrot’s Triumphant Return
Aldi’s Christmas advert for 2025 proves that humour and consistency are a winning combination.
Kevin the Carrot and his cast of pun-filled friends are back, and their multi-part adventure continues to charm the nation.
Like Waitrose, Aldi uses an episodic format to keep viewers hooked and encourage them to follow the story online.
This serialised storytelling makes advertising feel more like entertainment, increasing re-watch value and audience engagement.
The adverts are packed with clever puns and visual gags, making them highly shareable across social media platforms.
Aldi has also mastered the art of merchandise. Kevin the Carrot has become a loveable and highly sought-after character in his own right.
The annual release of Kevin-related products generates a huge amount of buzz and often sells out within hours.
This creates a sense of scarcity and event status around the merchandise, turning a simple supermarket character into a retail phenomenon.
What Can We Learn from the Christmas Adverts of 2025?
This year’s standout campaigns show that a successful Christmas advert is about more than just a big budget and a celebrity face.
The most effective strategies are multi-layered, blending traditional television spots with savvy digital marketing.
They create conversations, drive online traffic, and build genuine emotional connections.
From John Lewis’s viral TikTok sound to Aldi’s must-have merchandise, the Christmas adverts of 2025 prove that a great story, told well across multiple platforms, is the perfect recipe for festive success.
Which Christmas advert is your favourite for 2025?
