Tesco – Delivering Christmas
So, Tesco this year have gone with the theme of time travel. Tesco’s choice of a ‘time travel’ themed Christmas advert this year is to celebrate the grocer’s 100th anniversary. A Tesco delivery driver called Joel who travels back through time, due to a little decorating incident, Joel is seen making various deliveries to Victorian children, Winston Churchill and many more during his travels.
To start the advert off, you can see Joel driving through the street in the present when suddenly…one of the Christmas light decorations falls onto the Tesco truck. This suddenly turns the truck into a time machine, where you see Joel firstly deliver food to the Victorian children. Next stop for Joel was a lovely delivery for Winston Churchill, followed by many other trips through the years, such as the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s etc.
At one point, Joel even crosses paths with Santa before finally returning to the present, where he’s greeted by his children at home just in time for their Christmas dinner.
What I loved about the Tesco advert this year is that they’ve added so much history which many generations can relate to. I think Tesco have done a great job ensuring the ad meets their target audience by including a range of timelines into the advert, as well as keeping it fun and exciting to watch.
The only thing that may let the advert down a little is that it doesn’t really relate to children; I don’t think children will necessarily find the advert exciting. I think when creating Christmas adverts, it’s always important to bare children in mind (as well as adults!) which I feel Tesco may have missed the mark on.
Other than this, I think Tesco did a great job with their advert this year, considering they had to keep the advert relevant to the 100th year anniversary.
7/10 FOR TESCO!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocIEskQuKOA&t=2s
John Lewis Partnership – Excitable Edgar
Next up we have John Lewis who usually win the best Christmas advert every year, so I always expect big things from the brand at this time of the year.
In 2019 John Lewis has had a helping hand from pop-rock band Bastille to set the mood for its first ever joint Christmas advert with Waitrose. The advert tells the tale of a little girl named Ava and her overly excitable friend Edgar, who is also a young dragon.
The advert starts off with Bastille playing in the background whilst Ava and Edgar are walking together in the snow when they see their friends building a snowman. Edgar gets excited and runs over to join in but then ends up melting the snowman with the fire from his nose accidentally.
During the advert you see Edgar continuously ruining activities for other due to the fire he produces when excited, leaving everyone upset and disappointed. Ava helps Edgar as much as she can to stop the flames by wrapping a scarf around his nose, but this doesn’t help.
In the end, Edgar gets so upset that he keeps ruining the fun for everyone, that he locks himself in his house. Ava tries to visit Edgar to see if he’s okay, but the young dragon doesn’t want to see anyone. Finally, Ava has the idea to invite Edgar to the big Christmas dinner and lets him light the Christmas cake, bringing joy to everyone!
I think it’s safe to say that this advert hit all ‘the feels’ for everyone here at the Superfly Office. Once again, John Lewis have done it for another year in a row where they create a beautiful emotional advert that everyone can relate to. I loved everything about this advert, as it teaches valuable lessons to treat everyone with kindness and to never give up on a friend.
I also think the advert really gets you into the Christmas spirit with the soft music in the background, snowy scenes, children playing in the snow etc. To top it off as well, the graphics are amazing!
10/10 FOR JOHN LEWIS!
Sainsbury’s – Nicholas the Sweep
This year, Sainsbury’s celebrates it’s 150th anniversary and has created an advert to show Santa as a young boy called Nicholas (chimney sweeper) and how he became Santa, set in the London Victorian times.
To start the advert off, the first scene shows the London streets on Christmas Eve in 1869. The man who runs the chimney sweepers moves the children along the streets. During this time, the man steals some fruit from a local fruit stand, dropping an orange on the floor on the way.
Young Nicholas reaches down to pick up the orange and put it back on the stand, when he is suddenly caught and arrested for theft. Nicholas is locked in a cage and dragged through the streets as the locals shout what the penalty should be for theft. All this time, poor Nicholas is proclaiming his innocence, whilst the woman who owns the fruit stand notices that it was actually the man who stole the fruit, not Nicholas!
Nicholas is banished and left in the snow until he’s rescued by the lady at the fruit stand. She also gifts Nicholas with a basket of oranges, in which Nicholas then delivers the oranges to each of his friends during the night by placing them in their socks.
The children wake up with pure joy and you see Nicholas stand from a far watching the children’s joy. Nicholas then put on his red hat and walks off into the distance with reindeer surrounding him.
After watching the John Lewis advert, I think each advert has to be something really special to come close. When watching the Sainsburys advert I did like the little bits of humour but overall feel as though the advert wasn’t anything special.
I enjoy the concept of the advert, but feel as though I’ve seen the same idea repeated over the years. Sainsbury’s were clever with their branding, as the only colours that seemed to pop were orange.
Overall, I don’t feel massive Christmas vibes from this advert but better luck next year Sainsbury’s.
5/10 FOR SAINSBURY’S!
Aldi – Leafy Blinders
Back by popular demand, Aldi’s 2019 Christmas advert shows the return of Kevin the Carrot, except this time Kevin is confronting angry Brummie sprouts led by Russel Sprout. Aldi’s theme this year is Peaky Blinders, a popular British crime drama television series primarily set in Birmingham, exploiting the Shelby family crime following the aftermath of World War 1.
The advert starts off with Kevin the Carrot tied to a cheese grater, with a mob of sprouts surrounding him (a reference to 2018’s advert). Russel the Sprout then throws a tomato at Kevin which turns out to be a helping friend called Tiny Tom who un-ties Kevin.
The next scene then shows Kevin the Carrot performing a show/musical (inspired by The Greatest Showman) with the voice of Robbie Williams in the background. The song choice is ‘Let Me Entertain You’ but the lyrics have been turned into ones related to Christmas / food. During the musical, you’ll see various vegetables joining in and food being added such as turkey etc.
At this point, Russel Sprout runs in trying to stop the show, but ends up being caught up in it instead and fired off in a cannon. To which the final scene finishes with Kevin the Carrot and his family standing outside the showroom looking out.
I absolutely loved this advert as I am a massive fan of Peaky Blinders and also The Greatest Showman, so making a Christmas themed advert based on these two was an amazing idea. As well as this, it followed the story lines for the TV series and film, which made the advert both amusing to watch and clever to see how Aldi have converted the series into a family friendly advert.
As per, the graphics were amazing too. I think it was a very entertaining advert for both adults and children, whilst still keeping it Christmas related as well. Nothing better than being able to sit with your family, having a giggle to Christmas adverts, and getting into the spirit.
Overall, I think this has to be my favourite advert out of them all and would definitely give Aldi a 10/10. Well done Aldi!
