Etsy’s Brave Ad Stands Out From the Holiday Pack

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The holidays are when Etsy comes into its own as the marketplace for thoughtful, personal gifts that show you really understand somebody. So there’s excitement around its holiday commercial, which aims to break through all the festive glitz to remind people that the best gifts connect more deeply when it’s made with a human touch. With Orchard Creative, Etsy created a brave new ad which isn’t afraid to evoke emotions on the way to a heartfelt moment of feeling seen.

The ad, “Little Drummer Boy”, tells the story of Alex, a young boy with a habit of tapping wherever he goes – his fingers, his pens and pencils, and anything he can lay his hands on. He can’t help himself, to the consternation of his parents, his football coach, his crossing guard and his very patient teacher.

But finally the teacher has a bright idea, and gives Alex a present – and we cut to the school giving a performance of “Little Drummer Boy”, the carol, with Alex happily on the drums. His love of rhythm finds a perfect release with the teacher’s gift of a pair of personalized drumsticks from Etsy.

Most of the Christmas ads we test for Test Your Ad go heavy on the season’s comfort and joy. Sleigh bells and festive feasts abound, and while it certainly works as a way of creative positive feelings, the individuality of brands can get a little lost. Etsy and Orchard Creative take greater risks with this story, as it doesn’t hold back in showing the arc of Alex’s habit. His Mom is called into school and he knocks over a pot of paintbrushes and water in art class, but this is followed by his teacher’s thoughtfulness that turns a simple gift for Alex into something that says “I get you.”

The narrative brings heightened emotion, with sadness rising and then falling among the Test Your Ad panel of viewers as the ad progresses, to be replaced by greater happiness. But the message of the ad is that ultimately, everyone is different, and if we honor those differences with kindness and thought, there’s a way (and a gift) for everyone to feel more seen in their lives. Our viewers on Test Your Ad found almost all their emotions resolved by the end of the ad. Etsy’s risks pay off.

So how does Etsy’s ad compare to the rest of America’s 2025 holiday ads? Extremely well. The ad is in line with the national average on Brand Fluency (rapid recognition), which is a good result for a smaller brand. And it really excels on the two most important Test Your Ad metrics – Star Rating, which predicts long-term brand-building potential; and Spike Rating, which predicts short-term sales boosts, vital for a Christmas ad.

“Little Drummer Boy” gets a 4.8-Star Rating, comfortably beating the Christmas norm of 4.0-Stars. And it gets an Exceptional Spike Rating, again well above the holiday norm. And this great short-term prediction is a direct result of the narrative risks the ad takes. Etsy’s ad gets exceptional, norm-beating Emotional Intensity thanks to its heartfelt storytelling. That’s a key component of short-term gains, as the more emotion-filled an ad is, the more it will cut through and spur action.

In other words, by going against the festive norm and telling a single, very personal and even bittersweet story, Etsy and Orchard Creative have made a highly individual ad that resonates and stands out Like the ad’s drummer hero, Etsy dares to be different and further their mission to Keep Commerce Human.