Data: Cadbury’s Secret Santa most effective Xmas 2024 ad
November 21, 2024

Data from Kantar shows the creative industry has lived up to heightened expectations around this year’s Christmas adverts, through entertaining and emotive campaigns that have ignited the Christmas feel-good factor.
Cadbury’s Secret Santa ad topped this year’s selection, performing especially well on brand difference and meaningfulness, showing that re-using ideas can pay dividends.
There was plenty of creative novelty on show, however, with M&S’ Christmas food campaign among the best performers. It is the most persuasive festive ad this year and the retailer’s most powerful TV campaign ever.
Kantar researched consumers’ response to television adverts from a range of retailers and consumer businesses, comparing performance against its advertising database of over 200,000 ads. On average, 2024’s campaigns sat within the 85th percentile of the database for enjoyment, down only marginally from 88th in 2023. Some 19 per cent of consumers said they laughed out loud at this year’s TV spots, up from 15 per cent in 2023 and just 9 per cent in 2022.
Lynne Deason, head of creative excellence at Kantar, explained: “The pressure was on for marketers and the ad industry this year, with public excitement about festive campaigns hitting a peak in October. Against a tough economic backdrop, the commercial stakes are also incredibly high for brands. Creatives really needed to put their best foot forward and our data shows that they have absolutely delivered.”
Crucially, the adverts put branding to the fore. Deason continued: “Creating a meaningful emotional connection with viewers is vital to helping them notice and remember a campaign and this year’s ads do that in spades. However, emotion on its own isn’t enough. You also need to make sure your brand comes through strongly. That’s what makes 2024’s results especially impressive – brands have delivered the laughs, the smiles and the misty eyes, and they have done it while ensuring people remember what brand the campaigns are for. Cadbury’s Secret Santa is a fantastic example of this, harnessing the power of consistency with a very distinctive ad which is clear on what the brand wants to be famous for. No one else could tell its story about generosity in the way that it does, reinforcing those relevant brand associations in people’s minds. We’ve seen the impact these ideas have had on the brand’s commercial success not just at Christmas but all year round through its wider ‘There’s a Glass and a Half in Everyone’ campaign.”
Coca-Cola remains a Christmas powerhouse, sitting in the top 100th percentile for branding for its latest AI-updated iteration of Holidays are Coming. Deason added: “The ingredients that drive Coca-Cola’s effectiveness are still very present including the most enjoyable music track this year, instant recognition of the ad’s branding and a sense of familiarity and nostalgia that people can connect to. Whatever tools creatives use, keeping the focus on the elements that fuel and underpin an audience’s response to an ad is vital. People rarely care about how an ad is made, it’s what it makes them feel and remember that’s important.”
Particularly notable this year was brands’ extension of campaign ideas across media contexts, including maximising their own channels, such as customer apps, alongside paid-for spots. Kantar data shows that ads which bring to life the core idea and are tailored to work in the media context where they will feature are 57 per cent more effective. Waitrose especially has been leveraging its ‘whodunnit’ Christmas ad across social media and stores, with the second TV instalment of its Sweet Suspicion, A Waitrose Mystery campaign still to land. Research from Kantar reveals that adding experiential elements to campaigns and involving audiences can boost their effectiveness.
Deason concluded: “Creatives have provided some Christmas crackers this year and shown what they can do, delivering enjoyable, emotive and, most importantly, brand centric ads. These campaigns are incredibly powerful. It’s not just the Christmas spirit that makes these ads sparkle – it’s their creativity, the entertainment factor and their ability to bring to life what makes a brand different in a meaningful, distinctive way. If the industry could achieve these highs all year through, not just at Christmas, the results could be extraordinary.”