Alerts on UK Xmas Ads: Orange is the Colour
David Whitelam, Head of New Client Development at System1 Research, reflects on 2016’s UK Christmas adverts – highlighting Aldi’s “Kevin the Carrot” Christmas advert and what makes it a solid 3-Star performance.
Aldi’s offering was the season opener in this year’s Christmas ad parade. Quite surprising, in that it stars a root vegetable, viewers found Kevin the Carrot to be a happy, innocent and cute little chap; his triumph at the end of his exciting adventure leads to good levels of happiness and an effective resolution.
Taking place among a Christmas feast, and with the Jim Broadbent voiceover, Kevin’s scrapes (including literal ones on a grater, echo Indiana Jones but with roast potatoes rather than boulders tumbling down behind him as he pursues his goal of meeting Santa. As in the Waitrose ad, and indeed the M&S ad, the mince pie plays a key role. Will such exposure lead to record mince pie sales in 2016?

While the advert showcases Aldi food, the products are sufficiently part and parcel of the action to not feel forced under the viewer’s noses. As such, they enhance, rather than disrupt, the storyline so engagement is maintained throughout. This said, the intensity of emotion is not at the same level as we have seen in the leading ads we have tested this year M&S’s “Mrs. Claus”and Waitrose’s “Home For Christmas”.
On our 1-to 5-Star scale, Kevin the Carrot achieves a solid 3-Star rating on FeelMore50™.