The industry's favourite Christmas ads

It’s that time of year again when retailers unleash their (often multimillion-pound) Christmas ads as they hope to grab a good share of consumers’ spend over the festive season. With John Lewis and Marks & Spencer among those winning over the British public, we asked five advertising heavyweights to share their favourite ad:

Rory Sutherland, vice chairman of Ogilvy & Mather Group: Coming home for Christmas, Heathrow Airport

I like the Heathrow Christmas ad immensely – not least because they thought of doing it at all. For a retailer, there are obvious economic reasons to advertise at Christmas; not so for an airport. This is a charming animated expression of a very simple insight – that for all our grumbling from January to November, the arrivals hall at Christmas is a magical place.

The music is perfect, the animation is charming and there are enough little problems shown on the bears’ journey through customs and baggage reclaim to prevent it seeming unrealistically perfect. At the end, the ad even breaks one of the sacred rules of Christmas advertising by showing the bears transmogrified into a real-life pair of human grandparents.

Nick Farnhill, co-founder of Poke: The Snowman and the Snowdog, Barbour

Creatively, a bespoke remake of The Snowman and the Snowdog, feels completely right. Loaded with nostalgia and a timeless image of Christmas, it’s easy to make the brand connection. Barbour has actually been here before and used The Snowman in their 2010 Christmas print campaign, so the highly crafted animation has a natural relationship. Created in-house and in partnership with Penguin Books, the film will appeal to the outdoorsy or at least the pseudo-outdoorsy type. Heritage is central to the idea. But does it work?

It has definitely taken the brand’s fans down a memory (country) lane. Nearly a million Facebook views and sharing of Christmas-related observations demonstrates that it has hit the spot for many devotees. It’s also a nice set-up for the Barbour dog range with the launch of a new Instagram feed that I hope isn’t just for Christmas. A little more amplification and targeting of the film could be made across YouTube and in search, but the idea carries well through to Barbour.com and a whole bunch of gift ideas. Overall I’d say a perfect brand match executed with love.

Micky Tudor, joint executive creative director of CHI & Partners: The Tale of Thomas Burberry, Burberry

Only Argos, John Lewis and Burberry have really nailed it in my opinion. What makes Burberry stand out is that they didn’t even use an ad agency. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, this would be a terrible idea – but Burberry aren’t just pretty faces.

This three-minute spectacular has the class of a feature film, without appearing like a parody. It has proper scale, shows off the clothing effortlessly and educates about the brand heritage entertainingly. Before you know it, you have been swept off your office chair and into a romantic bygone era. It’s rich with Christmassy sentimentality, without needing the Christmassy bits.

I know it won’t be to everyone’s taste (it suffers its own bout of self-indulgence with such a big budget) – but how many ads can boast a cast like Domhnall Gleeson, Sienna Miller and Dominic West, as well as Academy Award-winning director Asif Kapadia?

Gleeson stars as founder Thomas Burberry (see? I even said “stars”, it feels so filmic …), Miller as his fictional first love and West as Ernest Shackleton. Shackleton? What has he got to do with it? Well, I’m glad you asked, because having watched the ad I now know that Burberry supplied Shackleton clothing on his various expeditions. Who needs Wikipedia?

So convincing is this ad, there’s have already been calls online for The Tale of Thomas Burberry to be made into a full-length feature.

And even if the whole two-and-a-half-hour spectacular was written by an unlikely in-house team, I for one would probably pay to see it.

Russell Ramsey, executive creative director at J. Walter Thompson London: Magic is real, Not on the High Street

The stand out ad for me is Not on the High St. It’s a film that gives me a real sense of what the company is about and the suppliers behind it. This ad has a lot of work to do to explain to the viewer what they offer since they may not be very familiar with the brand. The script does this in a skilful and elegant way.

We see various likeable craftsmen and craftswomen making things in their own special way. We see someone putting a name on a necklace, toys undergoing cuddle tests and even a unique constellation being framed. The personal, quirky nature of the gifts really comes through. The music is warm and Christmassy without being cliche.

The idea that the suppliers are Santa’s little helpers is done with subtlety and charm. It’s only halfway through that we start to notice that these otherwise normal people have elf ears. The viewer is allowed to observe the little jokes, like how can an elf be 6ft 7in tall? The reindeer in the back garden and the 5LEIGH number plate on the delivery van. The whole thing is entertaining and charming.

The Not on the High Street ad isn’t as big and flashy as some of the other Christmas retail ads but it’s a great reflection of the brand personality and service, and it intrigues the viewer into finding more unusual gifts online.

Laura Jordan-Bambach, creative partner at Mr. President: The Sing-Song, TK Maxx

One of the fascinations I have with Christmas advertising is how they marry the touchy-feely brand idea with clearly selling products. John Lewis goes one way (and it works) and Argos the other (which also works a treat). But it’s interesting to think about how TK Maxx, a high street retailer with no specific products, approaches Christmas. As a Santa’s grotto of the weird and wonderful, they need to stand clearly for one thing: the uniqueness and unpredictability of their stock. To awaken the curiosity of shoppers to take a peek because you never know what you’ll find.

That’s why for me, their Christmas ad stands out. Sure it’s peculiar, even slightly disturbing; but it’s full of joy. And the family are cast with such infectious playfulness that there’s a real humanity there behind the gargling granny – you can’t help being on their side. It’s something that you can sing along to without feeling self conscious, and something that reminds you of the spirit of Christmas togetherness without being soppy in the slightest. Most of all, it stops you in your tracks – I defy anyone not to notice this surreal explosion in an ad break. You almost need to rewind and watch again just to take it all in. And you sure as hell remember it.

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