• by Larissa Faw , 65 minutes ago

In the countdown to December 25, marketers and agencies in the UK are getting an early start with their holiday-themed campaigns. 

Aldi is once again following the adventures of Kevin the Carrot with this year’s mission to return home to celebrate Christmas with his family after a “Top Gun” style adventure. 

The holiday creative, developed by McCann UK, first launched via this teaser showing Kevin’s  journey. The full campaign is now being released following the aftermath of his crash as he relies on an unusual group of friends, including Harry the Hedgehog, to reunite him with his loved ones. 

The ads run via traditional TV as well as online. The carrot has won over the hearts of viewers. Last year, Aldi reports 33 million people were entertained by Kevin taking on the Brummie gang of “Leafy Blinders.” It was crowned by Kantar as the most effective UK Christmas advertisement in 2019. 

Online retailer Very.co.uk is suggesting the best thing about the holiday is not just Christmas day but the combination of all the festive moments in the build-up to the big day, from Christmas lights to jammies. 

The “Jodie” TV spot, developed with Grey London, opens with a perfect Christmas day celebration before the camera pans out to show that it’s a clichéd Christmas TV ad being watched by a family who recognize the falseness, with the dad exclaiming: “What a load of rubbish!” The mum then addresses the camera directly to say: “You know what Christmas moment I like? Every bloomin’ one of them!” 

In addition to the TV spot, the campaign includes out-of-home, print and online ads. This year’s “Christmas is this Very moment” serves as the second partnership between the agency and retailer, following October’s celebration of life’s little moments of immediate joy right now based on the tagline: ‘Life is this very moment’. 

Iconic claymation characters Wallace & Gromit are back for the second year to help UK’s furniture retailer DFS celebrate the holidays. 

The campaign, developed by the Mission Group’s Krow, tells the story of  Wallace’s new invention, the “Ewe-phonia.”  Wallace is eager to take the contraption around the whole neighborhood, whereas Gromit is cold and tired, looking enviously at those sitting comfortably on DFS sofas. 

Krow has also developed a new Christmas filter for social, which has been produced by Wallace & Gromit’s creators Aardman to enable users to play and share holiday moments with family and friends. In addition, a digital photo-booth will invite fans to record a video or take a photograph that places them in a holiday-themed DFS scene along with Wallace & Gromit, complemented by additional snow and sparkles. 

Ari Halper’s Sauce is continuing to blur the lines for “traditional” ad agencies by releasing the shop’s first children’s book. The book Feliz Navidog: How Santa’s Pet Dog Saved Christmas initially served as a small family project between Halper and his daughter that was first conceived last December 2019 when he still worked at FCB. Halper thought it would be a fun bonding experience but wasn’t expecting to deliver an entirely finished and professional produced product. 

However, after starting his own shop Sauce, Halper recognized the opportunity to develop a proof of concept under his agency’s ethos as well as truly collaborate with his daughter in an equal partnership. 

“I even consulted Reya on our rhyming meter, and which hires to make for our editor and illustrator,” he says. “In fact, every line in the manuscript was either nixed, tweaked or approved by Reya, her favorite being the one about sniffing Santa’s butt, obviously.”