The most wonderful time of the year is upon us and that can mean only one thing…Christmas adverts! The time when businesses spend billions on big budget adverts to showcase who they are and what they stand for at this time of the year.

Many people (including me) get very excited about Christmas adverts with a third being just as excited about the premiere of a Christmas advert as they are about a film release with this hype turning into increased sales for the businesses with the best adverts.

In recent years, there have been several brilliant Christmas advertising campaigns that have captured the hearts of the nation and I’m going to pick my five favourites (only opinion, I’m sure you’ll disagree).

John Lewis: 2016 Buster the Boxer

The John Lewis Christmas advert is the pinnacle of festive marketing and has caused a buzz ever since the first campaign in 2007.

The 2016 ‘Buster the Boxer’ advert showed a dog enjoying a young girl’s trampoline with the tagline ‘Gifts everyone will love’ and became one of the most famous John Lewis adverts of all time.

It was the most shared advert on social media of 2016 and caused an increase in sales of 2.7%. It’s one of my favourites and you can’t dispute that it was successful.

Aldi: 2019 Kevin the Carrot’s Show

Aldi’s lovable carrot has entered the British psyche and won over the hearts of thousands who enjoyed watching the characters and their activities.

There have been many Kevin the Carrot adverts with the first being in 2016 and with those came a frenzy of people buying plush toys of the carrots which I may or may not have partaken in.

Although there have been many great adverts featuring Kevin, my favourite is the 2019 advert which alludes to The Greatest Showman with a performance from the carrots, absolutely brilliant and one I looked forward to seeing on TV.

Sainsbury’s: 2018 The Big Night

A brilliant advert from Sainsbury’s that caused rather a lot of (in my eyes unwarranted) controversy. ‘The Big Night’ showed a school Christmas play with children singing and dancing to a nice song with some cute moments.

The controversy came when there was a scene where a child dressed as plug ran into a socket (to switch on the lights) and 35 people complained to Ofcom as they thought it encouraged children to play with electricity, really?

Either way, I really enjoyed the advert and it always sticks in my head which is a bonus (for Sainsbury’s).

John Lewis: 2019 Edgar the Dragon

Another John Lewis advert, apologies to all the other companies but they are very good at the big budget Christmas advert with the campaigns from 2012 onwards contributing to a 35% increase in sales around Christmas.

This advert follows the story of an excitable dragon called Edgar who loves Christmas and sets fire to things too easily in his happiness.

This is the first John Lewis Christmas advert that incorporated Waitrose into the campaign and was another one of their adverts that people across the country loved.

CocaCola: Holidays are Coming

You can’t do a list of Christmas adverts without mentioning the classic that is the CocaCola Christmas campaign. It follows a similar heartwarming story every year and is accompanied by a truck traversing the world with the fizzy beverage inside.

The company that convinced the world that Santa wore red very rarely gets it wrong at Christmas as they stick to an idea that works.

What’s your favourite Christmas advert?

Do comment your thoughts below.