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- The strategy behind Christmas TV adverts and how you can use the fundamentals for marketing that works.
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Still from John Lewis Christmas ad campaign 2025. Image shows a father picking up a gift from under a traditionally decorated Christmas tree while his son looks at him in the foreground. The son is wearing headphones which could suggest they are once removed from each other in the current state of their parent-offspring relationship.

The strategy behind Christmas TV adverts and how you can use the fundamentals for marketing that works.

Every year, the advertising world gears up for the highly anticipated Christmas ad season. From twinkling HGV’s to anthropomorphised carrots, many of us have that moment when the first big festive advert drops and suddenly, the Christmas season has begun.

But beyond the mince pies and misty eyes, Christmas ads are actually masterclasses in marketing strategy which can be used no matter the time of year.


The Real Job of a Christmas Advert

These aren’t just 3 minute short films designed to make us cry into our snacks. At their core, Christmas ads are carefully constructed campaigns that do three key things:

  1. Create an emotional connection. 

    The product is rarely the star. Instead, the focus is on storytelling, belonging, and values. It’s long-term brand building dressed up in shimmer and festive feeling.

  2. Command attention at scale.

    In a fragmented media landscape, these ads give brands a rare moment of national attention and essentially have become an annual cultural event.

  3. The bigger picture. 

    The most clever brands don’t stop at TV – they really sweat the asset. They repurpose storylines across social, PR, in-store, and digital, building consistency and recall through repetition and emotional triggers and really burn it into the public consciousness.


Why Christmas ads still work (even in 2025)

With streaming and influencer fatigue, you might think the “big TV ad moment” would be losing steam. But the truth is, Christmas ads have continued to adapt.

Now, they’re not just adverts, they’re the biggest campaigns of the year. Teasers drop online. Social clips invite reaction. It’s no longer about watching the ad, it’s about sharing the feeling and people want to be the first to react. Even if audiences are more cynical than ever, the right creative still lands because it taps into timeless human truths: nostalgia, generosity, connection which we’ve already seen in the form of 90’s dance classics this time around. Stripping it back, these techniques are something every brand, at any scale, can learn from.
We’d love to know what you think: Which brand has nailed their Christmas campaign this year? Do these ads shape how you feel about a brand? Or is it time for something totally new in festive marketing? Let us know!