Half-Baked Muppets And Festive Puppets: The Most Shared Christmas Ads Of 2015

The race for Christmas advert success is always hotly contested – and 2015 was no exception. As brands gear up another festive season of clamouring for shares, likes, views and, of course, sales, let’s take a look back at last year’s top 10 to see what we learned.

2015 was one of the biggest Christmas upsets in a few years, with none of the major British retailers taking home the top spot.

Instead of a British supermarket, 2015’s Christmas champion was – you guessed it – a German supermarket. Edeka has certainly produced memorable campaigns in the past, but 2015’s ‘#Heimkommen’ was their first festive winner.

A tearjerker in the truest sense, ‘#Heimkommen’ follows a lonely old grandfather whose family no longer visits for Christmas, and so he takes the radical decision to fake his own death. While it’s admittedly pretty extreme behaviour, it made for sharing gold; the ideal combination of emotional blackmail and a heart-rending twist have taken it to nearly 4,000,000 all-time shares. That’s over double the number two contender.

Edeka was not the only brand to lead with a lonely old man last Christmas. In fact, this was something of a running theme last year. John Lewis’ much-touted entry ‘Man On The Moon’ found a little girl befriend the eponymous old man, while a soulful cover of Oasis’ ‘Half The World Away’ plays lambently in the background.

Meanwhile, Spain supported its annual Christmas lottery with the incredibly charming animation ‘Justino’. Arriving at number 5, Justino’s bid to befriend his co-workers certainly warmed a lot of hearts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrG4xikTsPw

Of course, we’d be remiss not to mention the third old man on 2015’s Christmas list, appearing in Aldi’s bold and silly parody of ‘Man On The Moon’, an incredibly quick response which landed the supermarket chain at number 10.

If nothing else, Aldi’s effort shows the benefit of a nimble attitude to festive advertising. Compare this to our number three, Sainsbury’s ‘Mog’s Christmas Calamity’, which arrived with the bluster and build-up of a Hollywood blockbuster. While Mog didn’t have the overwhelming effect of the brand’s controversial 2014 spot, it did inject a bit of humour and levity into the brand’s repertoire.

Diverting somewhat from the yuletide theme, Warburton’s decide to celebrate its new giant crumpets with the help of everyone’s favourite felt-based entertainers, The Muppets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLfMrj74otA

Trotting out an updated version of its theme tune, the bread company was not alone in a bit of pop culture appreciation. For its predictably stylish spot, Burberry celebrated the 15th anniversary of Billy Elliott by having celebrities like James Corden, Julie Walters and Naomi Campbell recreate Jamie Bell’s famous bed bounce. Duracell took the pop culture love a step further with their delightful ode to Star Wars and imagination, ‘Battle For Christmas Morning’, landing at number 9.

So there we have it for 2015’s Christmas ads, and we’ll have to wait and see what 2016 has in store. In the meantime, what better way to round out our list than with two charming tributes: Apple’s festive collaboration with Stevie Wonder and Andra Day, or a very Orange Is The New Black Christmas, courtesy of Litchfield Prison. Enjoy!

Most shared Xmas ads of 2015