No Place Like Home for Poland’s Allegro

Seven years ago Polish e-commerce platform Allegro made a big impact with a viral Christmas ad. The heartwarming story of an old man who orders an “English for Beginners” audio set and practices intensely with the help of his dog became a huge internet hit, with over 20 million YouTube views. It also got a lot of press outside Poland, with commentators claiming it was better than most of 2016’s homegrown Christmas ads.

Now, claiming foreign, independent or amateur ads beat the big brands is something of a Christmas tradition in its own right. The difference with Allegro was – the people saying that were right. 2016 had some great UK Christmas ads, like M&S Mrs.Claus and John Lewis’ Buster the Boxer, but none of them scored more than 4-Stars in Test Your Ad. Allegro’s “English for Beginners” scored 5-Stars in Poland, and its mostly wordless narrative ensured that it was a huge international success too.

Now Allegro have done it again, this time with agency Ogilvy Warsaw. Allegro’s Christmas ad for 2023, “Dom” (meaning “Home” in Polish), has racked up 20 million views in just 2 weeks. It’s another charming ad which focuses on an elderly man, though this time he has his family around him as they visit. His old house has seen better days, but he’s determined to be self-reliant, and at Christmas he’s able to delight his grandchildren with a doll’s house kit from Allegro – and his own son is able to help with the leaky roof. The ad ends with its tagline, “Give your loved ones what they need the most” – whether that’s a real or metaphorical gift.

Just like “English for Beginners”, Allegro’s new effort scores 5-Stars on the Test Your Ad platform among Polish consumers, showing it has exceptional potential to assist brand growth. It also gets Exceptional short-term Spike rating and strong Brand Fluency scores – it’s an emotionally intense and well-branded piece of work.

Looking at the ad you can see so many things Allegro have got right here – using tried-and-tested tactics which we know from our research work to increase the effectiveness of an ad. There’s a strong lead character, a lot of human expressiveness and between-ness, and a lovely melodic cover version of a classic 60s hit. It’s rare for a 2-minute ad to score so well – often fatigue sets in – and it’s a testament to the quality of the storytelling and performances here.

It can be difficult for great international work like this to get noticed. After all, we’re living in a golden age of Christmas advertising over in the UK. But the ad’s minimal dialogue gives it plenty of potential to travel. It’s another exceptional performer from Allegro so perhaps it’s not surprising that viral lightning has struck twice.