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The most emotional attractive ad of the 2024 holiday season is a Teleflora ad featuring a hospitalized boy and a magical snowman.
According to DAIVID research, the ad generated the highest levels of positivity among viewers.
Advertisement The Power of Wishes was created by The Wonderful Agency and encourages donations to help grant transformative wishes for children with critical illnesses.
Along with Teleflora, there are nine other brands that also evoked the most positive emotions for creating emotionally engaging ads.
1. Power of Desire By Teleflora
As the description of the video states, “Believe in the power of desire. This holiday season, Teleflora is proud to partner with @MakeAWish. Find out how you can show your support at Teleflora.com/wish and watch our new film.”
DAIVID’s analysis found that 57.1% of viewers experienced an intense positive reaction to the campaign, securing its top spot in the platform’s holiday ad rankings.
2. Your spark can light up the world by Erste Group
In second place is Erste Grupa’s ad “Your spark can light up the world,” which celebrates the story of the origin of the Christmas carol “Silent Night”.
As the video’s description says, “Be inspired by Silent Night and let your spark light up the world.”
And 56.4% of viewers are likely to feel intense positive emotions.
3. John Lewis Gift Hour
“Hour of giving”, the John Lewis Christmas ad, is the final chapter in the Saatchi & Saatchi trilogy. It came in third place with its touching story about two sisters on a magical quest for gifts.
It’s worth noting that the video description is over 800 words long – and reads like a script.
And, with 56.4% of viewers likely to feel intense positive emotions, it makes “The Gifting Hour” one of John Lewis’ most emotionally engaging Christmas ads in six years.
4. Marks & Spencer trip
“Travel” by British retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) took fourth place.
The ad featured comedian Dawn French reprising her role as the Christmas Fairy, reluctantly hosting a holiday party for her neighbors.
It caused intense positive feelings in 55.4% of viewers.
5. Amazon Midnight Opus By Amazon
“Amazon Midnight Opus – Holidays 2024” took fifth place with a caption that says, “Make your dreams come true this season, with a little holiday magic from Amazon.”
The 90-second version of the ad evoked intense positive feelings in 55.2% of viewers.
I’ve also seen the 30-second version of the commercial on TV, and it loses much of its emotional impact. The longer version is much better.
6. Shrine of Chevrolet
“The sanctuary”, Chevrolet’s 2024 holiday ad, is in sixth place.
The description of the video reads: “This holiday season, remember that none of us can get where we want to go without the support of others, especially those we value the most.
Watch as father and son gather on the bench of their family’s 1978 Chevy Silverado C10 to look back on their past together and how it continues to drive them forward.”
The ad evoked intense positive feelings in 54.9% of viewers.
7. A Christmas Story by Suchard
Suchard’s “A Christmas story” is ranked seventh as “A story that shows that Christmas comes anywhere”.
This ad evoked intense positive feelings in 54.7% of viewers.
8. Waldo Anthem, Etsy
Etsy’s Holiday Ad “Waldo Anthem” is in eighth place. The description of the video only reveals the cryptic question Where’s Waldo?
Despite this, 54.6% of viewers are likely to feel intense positive emotions.
9. 40 Years of Christmas on The Nations’ Network Vodafone UK
Vodafone UK it is in ninth place with its 40 years of Christmas. And it shows the journey from the first mobile phone in 1984 and a nostalgic look at technology through 40 years.
The video’s description reads: “Our 2024 ad shows how technology has changed, but the feeling of connecting with loved ones at Christmas remains the same. “
The ad evoked intense positive feelings in 54.5% of viewers.
10. A magical Christmas from Lidl
And finally, “Lidl presents: Magical Christmas” comes in at number 10 and encourages viewers to donate a toy to Lidl’s toy bank and “share the magic”.
And 53.7% of viewers are likely to feel intense positive emotions.
Christmas big emotions
Now that you’ve seen the most emotionally engaging Christmas ads for this year, what did you notice? What are you surprised about?
For festive advertisementsthe common themes that resonate with the audience will always be the basic emotions: warmth, joy and excitement.
And this year the big winner is nostalgia.
According to the CEO of DAIVID. About 85% of ads tested this year scored above average for that emotion.
Nostalgia
In collating the data, I noticed that 9 out of 10 of the above ads included nostalgia, ranking it among their top 5 emotions.
Reminiscing about the ghosts of Christmas past will always be a winner. It’s an easy way for brands to get across a lot of emotion in a very short amount of time, which makes it very powerful.
Brands that have had success this year include:
- Chevrolet – 162% more.
- Vodafone – 152% more.
- John Lewis – 95% higher feelings.
These are just some of the notable examples.
Read more about 39 emotions digital marketers can use in advertising and Nostalgia marketing and what we can learn from John Lewis ads.
Sadness
But brands that add other emotions to the mix tend to fare better. This is why Teleflora’s “The Power of Desire”, which is almost five times sadder than the average commercial, surpassed other emotional Christmas commercials.
Now, there was a time when “deplorable advertising” was a big trend at Christmas, but not so much this year. I wonder if the brands are trying to cheer us up after such a terrible year.
It’s worth noting that only 12 of the 125 ads tested by DAIVID scored above the standard for sadness.
Don’t get me wrong – there were brands that made us cry.
Let’s say, the ad that made us cry the most A world of its own from the Shelter. The ad caused intense sadness in 31% of viewers, far ahead of any other ad this year and more than five times sadder than the industry average.
Others that made us cry are “PETA’s Christmas ad.” As the video’s description warns us, “PETA’s 2024 Christmas ad is here — and this cow’s story will break your heart.”
And then there is #FeedYourChristmasSpirit from Tesco. But the ad’s attempt at being bittersweet seems odd.
fun
Making people laugh was also a key theme this year. Again, I think brands and their agencies are trying to cheer us up.
A notable example of this in the top 10 is “The Journey” by M&S. Dawn French is a national treasure of the United Kingdom – and very much loved.
However, the funniest holiday ads didn’t quite make the top 10 this year.
The ad most likely to make people laugh is “Watt Holiday Classic” from DICK’s Sporting Goods.
It features former NFL player JJ Watt, who recreates scenes from the iconic Holiday movies after being trapped in a Dick’s store after closing time. The ad made 37% of viewers laugh, which is well above the industry standard.
Another festive advertisement that will make us laugh this year is the advertisement of the British supermarket chain called “Sweet Suspicion: Waitrose mystery” from Waitrose. This commercial made 34.1% of viewers laugh.
Sprinkle some magic
A lot of magic was used this year. That was a very common theme throughout the chart. Do you think people are trying to forget what the world is like now?
But there was a lack of celebrities. I think only one (Dawn French) is in the top 10. That makes holiday advertising very different from Super Bowl commercials. But that’s a topic for another day.
Methodology
The study analyzed a total of 125 vacation advertisements from around the world. Ads are rated based on the percentage of viewers expected to experience strong positive emotions in response to the content. As stated, DAVID it measures 39 different emotions, and their intensity is rated on a scale from 1 to 10. Scores between 8 and 10 are classified as “intense”. Data for the chart was collected at 7:00 AM on December 3, 2024.
More resources:
Featured Image: Nicoleta Ionescu/Shutterstock
