November and December are a period saturated with Christmas advertising, much of which goes unremembered.
Some brands manage to cut through the clutter in their own markets and others capture eyeballs across the globe - although, not always for the right reasons.
This year, AdNews worked with Amobee Australia and its Brand Intelligence platform to find out which were the most talked about Christmas campaigns across the internet.
7. Singtel Christmas film - The Gift
The global telco's Christmas campaign in Asia scored an 8.7 interest score. It tells the story of a "phone obsessed, self-absorbed" teenager who gets an unexpected wake-up call on the eve of Christmas when she loses her phone. Refusing to take an older phone to replace hers because she "must have the latest phone", the familiar situation garnered a lot of chatter for its different approach to the festive season.
6. Aviation Gin - The gift that doesn't give back
Aviation Gin, owned by actor Ryan Reynolds, launched its Christmas campaign 'The gift that doesn't give back' which received an 8.8 interest score. Dropping earlier this month, the Christmas ad stars the wife from the widely mocked Peloton ad. Instead of her being overly enthused, we see her drinking her sorrows away with friends and her Aviation Gin.
5. Sky and Comcast - ET returns home
Sky and Comcast joined forces to reunite Elliott and ET after the 37 years apart. The internet loved it with the campaign receiving a 9.2 interest score. Steven Spielberg was brought in to help with the script and create a "real sequel" to the film. The work, which focuses on connection, sees ET reappear behind a snowman out the front of Elliott's house where now lives with his wife and two children.
4. John Lewis & Waitrose - Excitable Edgar
British department store John Lewis and supermarket Waitrose introduced a new friend this year for Christmas - Edgar the excitable dragon. Known both locally in the UK and globally for its Christmas campaigns, John Lewis has been partnering with Waitrose in recent years. The 2019 work, which received a 9.3 interest score, tells the story of Edgar almost ruining Christmas with his fire-breathing ways but his friend Ava makes sure he doesn't miss out on the festive fun.
3. Pepsi - Gift it forward: A Cardi Carol
Pepsi is no stranger to celebrity-filled advertising and its 2019 Christmas campaign is no different. Starring rapper Cardi B, the work received a 9.4 interest score. The campaign tells the fairytale of a girl named Cardi who was on Santa's naughty list and didn't receive and presents for Christmas. She vows that one day she will make sure everyone gets a gift - whether they are naughty or nice. We see Cardi B in her 'Twerk Shop' with her twerkers helping to turn Pepsi into cash. The FMCG brand was offering the chance for consumers to purchase a Pepsi and gift some cash to their loved ones.
2. Hafod Hardware - Be a kid this Christmas
It's not a big multinational company or a business that most people would have been familiar with until its Christmas campaign went viral. Hafod Hardware in Rhayader, Wales created its festive advert with just £100 and it has been hailed as the "Christmas ad of the year" across the internet, receiving a 9.5 interest score. The local hardware store's owner Thomas Lewis Jones filmed his son Arthur helping customers and doing handywork around Hafod Hardware before turning into an adult at the end of the spot. Set to the tune of Forever Young and with a call to action to 'Be a kid this Christmas', the ad has received more than two million views on YouTube.
1. Peloton - The gift that gives back
Coming in at number one - and for all the wrong reasons - is Peloton's Christmas campaign. The viral work, which has been widely mocked including by Aviation Gin, received a 9.6 interest score but this was driven by a negative sentiment from people on the internet criticising it and creating parodies of it. The campaign shows a woman receives a Peloton bike for Christmas from her husband. She becomes hooked on it and talks about how "life-changing" it was as a gift. The ad has been criticised for being sexist and over the top leading to it becoming a meme.
Amobee's proprietary Brand Intelligence tool analyzes digital content engagement and consumer sentiment historically and in real time. Brands can instantly discover content, sentiment, and trends that their target audience is interested in, and activate media leveraging these insights in real time, delivering powerful results.
The interest score is a number between zero and ten that reflects the level of interest across digital audiences.
The content is scored according to relevancy, recency, consumption volume, social and premium publishers.
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