“It might not necessarily be the most emotional response ad, but I think it will be one of the most effective.”

In this festive episode of The Persuasion Game, Media Effectiveness Expert, Matt Stockbridge helps us unpick the effectiveness of the Christmas adverts in 2025.

From John Lewis telling the story of a teenage son connecting with his father, to JD Sports’ user-generated clip sequences, major brands have taken different approaches in 2025.

The question is: which will be most effective when it comes to sales?

Matt is perfectly placed to help us answer that question, having previously worked on brands including Danone, Cadbury and Innocent.

He talks about the need to grab people’s attention, the art of product placement and the power of generating an emotional response.

From everyone at The Forge, Merry Christmas and see you in the New Year!

CHAPTERS:

(00:00) Introduction

(05:45) Sainsbury’s: https://youtu.be/QaF1my5h-Os?si=vb5FgcseZ56KCtWU

(10:15) John Lewis: https://youtu.be/dc5S4IV_NeA?si=1MIyrA2xCBRvQnYl

(18:49) M&S: https://youtu.be/EWGYQL0KMoI?si=pCGDrAY8v4pDChZ4

(22:43) Waitrose: https://youtu.be/wWeYKBXmCRs?si=UZHjSlbrsMn4JVfv

(24:09) JD Sports: https://youtu.be/aCsvYgOcXz4?si=vpGgsDLHkzWEtGGU

Episodes are released bi-weekly. Follow us on LinkedIn for updates.

Subscribe to The Persuasion Game Newsletter on LinkedIn.

Want to know more about us? Visit our website here: thisistheforge.com

This is an 18Sixty production for The Forge.

The Persuasion Game is available on all your favourite podcast apps: https://link.chtbl.com/PersuasionGame

Episode transcript:

Matt: I want something that’s going to get my attention at the beginning. In terms of effect, that might not necessarily be the most emotional response, but I think it will be one of the most effective.

Laura: Yeah

Matt: Because of that link to that very specific product.

Adam: Hi Laura, how are you?

Laura: I’m very good. Are you slightly warm in these jumpers?

Adam: I am warm in this jumper. Yeah.

Laura: Well, that’s because we are filming our Christmas episode today.

Adam: Absolutely. And we’ve got a very, very special guest with us today.  Where did we get our guest from?

Laura: So we talked to Caroline Marshall, friend of the podcast.

Adam: Shout out to Caroline!

Laura: Hello Caroline. Thank you so much for your great advice. And she said if you are going to talk about Christmas ads, there is one person you need to talk to, and he is an absolute expert, not just in whether something is any good, but if it is going to sell any units.

Adam: We’ve got Matt Stockbridge, who is a media effectiveness expert, and he’s worked on previous brands like Danon and Cadbury and Innocent, and he’s here today to help us unpick the effectiveness of the Christmas adverts in 2025.

Laura: And you are even here sweating in a Christmas jumper too.

Matt: I am. I’m very pleased to be. I’m very proud to be wearing the AFC Wimbledon Christmas jumper. I think it’s from a couple of seasons ago, and it’s quite a strong image.

Adam: It is amazing.

Matt: Thank you.

Laura: I can’t get enough of it.

Matt: It’s an epic, it’s a great story. But that’s for another time.

Laura: Well, we can’t wait to get into the ads with you.

Adam: So just thinking about our audience then, so insight, strategy, innovation professionals, working at some of the big brands,  what are the principles that you’d love them to know about marketing effectiveness?

Matt: So, and this is really when you are evaluating creative, and with a kind of an effectiveness head on.

And so one of the key things you are trying to work out straight away is, if you’ve not seen the brief, what do I think they’re trying to achieve through this? And if I haven’t had any of that, I’m just watching on the TV, hopefully, probably towards the beginning because of skippable and attention spans and everything else, I want something that’s gonna get my attention at the beginning.

So you need something at the start. So looking into getting a part of that. And so one of the first sort of metrics you have is around attention. So how, as we’re going through, I’m following a story. Is it one that’s a slow kind of build to a climax, which is a risky theme, but can have a great reward. And John Lewis kind of classically will advertise that way.

Laura: Yeah, it’s interesting.

Matt: Versus some of the retailers that will constantly want different things and products and parts of it. So the attention that runs through it. And for me, after I’ve reviewed it and from that point is, okay, what’s the action that you want someone to take as a result of this? And then can you measure that? Is it in sales or is it in awareness or is it footfall or whichever? So hopefully within the brief of the campaign, there is something in the outcomes that hopefully, that people are expecting.

Laura: And you mentioned also the importance of making people feel something.

Matt: Yeah.

Laura: It feels like this is more important at this time of year than any other.

Matt: That’s right. So the ads that consistently kind of test well, there’s an emotional kind of response. These times they’re probably kind of warmth or joy or something. And, probably even more so given the state of the country and everything else, you know, Christmas, hopefully being something to look forward to.

So a positive emotion or it can go the other way and be distaste or something. As long as it’s not indifference, you want some response. So even after you’ve watched it the first time, watching it again with someone else just to watch how they’re responding. And if you think you’re not even seeing a flicker or an ‘Ah’ or something, it’s probably not going to be memorable.

Laura: And it’s, if nothing else, a brilliant time of year where people are actually paying attention to ads, looking forward to ads. It’s kind of the last of the golden age of where people go, have you seen this advert?

Matt: And we hear about, you know, we started planning the Christmas campaign in January or February, so it’s a long process going through of the getting to what we finally see.

One of the challenges obviously they have is, of course, everyone’s going through that process. So in one ad break we might be watching three or four different retailers talking about come do your Christmas shop with us. A couple talking about coming for gifts and then probably a fragrance ad, because there’s always a fragrance ad that’s a part of it this time of the year.

Laura: Yes.

Matt: So that’s kind of the challenge, because they’re trying to second guess. We want ours to stand out so that people aren’t going, Oh did I like, was it the Tesco ad? Or was it the Sainsbury’s ad I’ve seen?

Adam: Of course. Yeah.

Matt: And so, that’s when you are planning in isolation it’s fine to really see how this is gonna stand out, but it’s when it’s on the TV and alongside everything else that you’re seeing.

Adam: Yeah.

Laura: Excellent. Well, without further ado, shall we, shall we get into it? We had an idea because there’s so many different ads we could talk about.

Matt: One or two. 

Laura: So we thought maybe we’d start with some ones that tap into a Christmas past.

Matt: Yes.

Laura: Maybe think a bit more about nostalgia.

Matt: Yeah.

Laura: We’ve seen quite a few of those this year. Adam, do you wanna lead the fray with some of the ones that were top of mind for us?

Adam: Yeah, sure. So I think, I mean, there’s a few ads that are playing on some of the ads that they’ve had in previous years.

So I think we’ve seen the Sainsbury’s ad has the BFG again.

Matt: Yeah.

Adam: We’ve seen the Barbour ad using Wallace and Gromit again. We’ve got the Grinch coming in for, for…

Matt: For ASDA yeah.

Adam: So I think there’s definitely some brands there which are kind of using nostalgia as a play to kind of, I guess, warm the hearts and create that emotional connection.

Matt: And arguably, even with say Argos and with Aldi, they’ve created characters themselves.

Laura: Right.

Matt: And they’re trying to build that as well without relying on something that’s established. So there’s those two things, but you’re right, those things probably have a bit more history and memories for people to tap into.

Adam: Yeah. So, I mean, should we take Sainsbury’s with the BFG?

Matt: Okay. 

Adam: I mean, I think it only really made sense to me if you had seen the first version of the BFG, which I think was last year, the BFG needed help creating a Christmas dinner. So he enlisted the help of one of the people that worked at Sainsbury’s to create a fabulous Christmas dinner.

Matt: Yes.

Adam: And I think it kind of was kind of funny. It made sense. It was different because obviously there’s a BFG in your advert. And I think that just kind of creates, I’m guessing, some kind of memory structures.

Matt: Yeah.

Adam: Because you’re doing something a bit, you know, jarring you’re not used to seeing.

Matt: Yeah.

Adam: And so the follow on this year had a sort of similar kind of idea where the BFG was involved in the Christmas advert, but it didn’t really make sense to me as a sort of storyline. It just felt like it was, let’s just use him again.

Matt:Yeah.

Adam: And I didn’t really fully follow through on the thread. What were your thoughts on that?

Matt: So this is the thing when you look at creative, you have your kind of personal view on that, and people usually can kind of stop there because you can sort of say, well either I like it, I don’t like it. These are the reasons why. So my feeling about it was a bit similar to you in that the storyline I didn’t- it was like, we’re doing this, we’re delivering this there, there’s turkey with all the trimmings, and then there’s this happening and this happening, this happening. And the thing I’m always looking for in a supermarket one is that there’s quite a big shop happening at Christmas.

There’s this theory, I think, that shoppers have that, oh, it’ll be closed, you know, days afterwards. So I better stock up on loads of other stuff while I’m there. So you get this boost, the shops are open, but you know, it’s an old passion kind of thing. So it’s quite, I think it’s quite important to start tying it into things that are gonna make, ’cause I could discretionally choose between a number of them.

And so what I’m looking for in that, for an effective point of view is a link into a product or something, or an idea that’s gonna make me think, actually no, I will go there because then I can get this. Why are their turkeys better than someone else’s or their Brussels sprouts or something else? Or it’s usually the kind of party food thing, which is what M&S have kind of done.

Laura: Right.

Matt: And so for me, the Sainsbury’s one, if I mean, you know, if you’re saying, I’m not quite sure I can remember the previous year one, presumably if they’ve kept it going, they’ve believed that it has enough traction to draw people into it. So they’ve got the BFG, you see the story.

“That’s reminds me. I’m definitely gonna go to Sainsbury’s. I trust them with my Christmas shop”. So I feel like it may appeal to existing Sainsbury’s shoppers to reassure them. I don’t know whether it will, I’m not sure I can see how that’s gonna make me switch from, if I usually go to M&S or Tesco or somewhere else.

Laura: Well I was also interested in the idea of, you know, the BFG as a sort of nostalgic piece of equity in itself. Like the majority I would say, like sort of parents now would probably have grown up with the BFG. So I was wondering if perhaps it was a sort of trying to evoke a little bit of the warm feeling and kind of family vibes or story time vibes that you would associate with that.

But do you think that one plus one equals more or is it diluted?

Matt: So it’s a very interesting point about the target audience and particularly if you recognise, actually I’m not a part of that. So there may be a big group of shoppers, female had kids or that sort of age group who are gonna exactly tap into that sort of thing.

Laura: Yes.

Matt: I think it’s a similar thing around the John Lewis ad, because I think there’s a whole group of probably men. A beer holder thinking I am there on that dance floor jumping up and down and so on.

Laura: Yeah.

Matt: But a whole other generation and whether those are the key shops, we’ve all got to relate to that story and feel sympathy for it.

Laura: Right.

Matt: And embrace it and then think actually now I’ll go and shop at John Lewis. So it’s important to kind of bear that point in mind. It could well be reaching an audience that isn’t you, but actually resonates very well with them.

Laura: I think you’ve made an excellent point, which is we need to keep attention going.

Matt: Yes.

Laura: So it is about time we had a boost, and get the drinks out

Matt: Come on. Yes.

Adam: Anybody for a winter berry spritz?

Matt: Do you know, I’m so glad you’ve said that because unless you’d have said, would you like some Sussex charmer, which is the cheese from the Waitroses ad, which would’ve been my second choice, this was right up there, a spritz.

Laura: I often wake up in the morning hankering for a winter berry spritz.

Matt: That’s right.

Adam: We’re just not allowed to tell anyone that’s listening, what time of the morning this is.

Laura: Or that it’s November.

Matt: It’s so festive at the moment.

Laura: So you made a great point about John Lewis there, that actually, that is tapping into a very specific nostalgia moment, which a certain cohort are gonna really identify with.

And it does feel like there’s been a lot of conversation around that music. Around that emotional identification with the dad.

Matt: Yeah.

Laura: But if we took a step back and said, let’s think about it in terms of effectiveness, what are your thoughts?

Matt: I know. So, for me, it’s a bit of a challenge because it’s beautifully shot and told, and the characters are kind of, are very good and strong and they work.

There’s no celebrity, is just a family. So it’s really playing into that I can relate. These are relatable. Choosing a guy and communicating with his son is, you know, that’s very on message and so on. It’s almost a bit where it starts off kind of Christmasy and then I’m sort of forgetting.

Laura: It takes you out doesn’t it?

Matt: Yeah. So then it comes through to the bit at the end, and there’s the kind of the thing and, and they’re relying on the person watching it to make all of those kind of connections. Oh yeah. Nostalgia, communication. It’s important to talk and actually buying a gift can start a conversation and do the John Lewis and the text appears.

So, and John Lewis famously like never knowingly undersold, but then it kind of tweaked sometimes their kind of banner. So for me, I’m worried that they’re making it more difficult for people to then, from that to think, actually, I’ll go to John Lewis, do my Christmas, get some presents. Get some gifts.

I probably have some, maybe some reinforced warm feelings towards John Lewis.

Laura: Yes.

Matt: And they’re usually reinforced each year, but there’s a point sometimes I see with certain campaigns that run. Possibly this happened with Aldi. There’s so much success with a Christmas campaign that sometimes they lose a bit of sight of the reasons of some of the parts that make that.

So even just for example in that one, they’re saying, by the way, there’s the vinyl. You can get it in the store. So I don’t know whether it’s compelling for a load of people to think, actually no, I’ll go and get that from John Lewis. You know? Yeah. As opposed to a few years ago, whether it was the telescope or something else.

Adam: Yeah. It feels like you can sell way more penguins than you can sell those vinyls.

Matt: Exactly. And I think sometimes creative stuff, it can be difficult, you know, ’cause we want more of the moving, it’s a piece of artwork, it’s something beyond that. You can get a lot of pressure to do that.

And I think John Lewis is somewhere nearer that. So I’m not sure from an effectiveness, like driving sales, improving them versus what you said it’ll be a success.

Adam: Can I ask you a question, Matt, about this? 

Matt: I’m going to try some spritz.

Adam: Enjoy the spritz. Yeah. I’m gonna pour myself one as well.

Matt: That’s just like Christmas in a cup. 

Adam: Can I ask you a question about the strategy of that John Lewis advert?

Matt: Yes. Do we know what it is?

Adam: I would guess. This is a guess, that the majority of their shoppers are women. And I would guess that the majority of gift giving is done either woman to man or women to children. This is just a guess.

Matt: It’s a fair point,

Adam: But they’ve seem to have targeted men and teenage boys who I think are probably quite low down on the gift giving list.

Matt: Yeah.

Adam: Do you think the emotional connection it builds with the women or the families is enough?

Matt: It’s an interesting take. I saw it more from a point of view of men in general.

Laura: Yes.

Matt: Thinking I can actually, I should be a bit more proactive. And probably they, you could easily segment, look at it and say it’s a challenge. Like there’s an opportunity, there’s a gap, there’s an under trade. We’ll target them. And the downside with that approach is if you do that, there’s fewer of them.

If you target your core audience that’s where there’s more eyeballs, there’s more sales. So you’ve got sort of the one hand they say, alright, well we will keep them anyway. And we are gonna go extra there. And it’s a challenge.

When I worked at Cadbury for several years, we never used to advertise at Christmas. And when I joined them, we started doing effectiveness and measurement. And our Milka brand in other countries had a Christmas ad, which had these distinctive assets, within a one or two seconds you knew it was a Milka ad. It was a lilac cow, was on the hills. It’s sort of Heidi type thing. And then they would have novelty products appearing in it. And it was a similar sort of iteration, but the return on investment at Christmas was great.

So we were sharing this point in the UK and said, why don’t we advertise at Christmas? Oh, well, because we sell lots of chocolate anyway. There’s a natural peak in sales. And we said, yeah, but I think we could probably sell, there’s still discretion going on within that, and there’s still choice. And we had the, did the first campaign, and it’s taken a few years to get it right. And now, you know, Cadbury’s Christmas campaigns, I think most people think, oh, they do them every year. But there was a time where they didn’t.

So I think, when there’s a natural increase in sales or you’re the biggest audience you can reach is probably safer and will drive effectiveness.

Laura: Yes.

Matt: However, you know, reaching the targets that you don’t currently give can also maybe drive longer term growth and is also important. So yeah, it’s a balance.

Adam: And I think there might be an opportunity this year to your point, drive more emotion in the advertising just because of, you know, obviously with Adolescence coming out and it being in the kind of the topic of conversation around teenage boys…

Matt: Exactly.

Adam: And manhood. I mean, I watched the advert in two sittings because the first time I was on the train and I burst into tears and I was like, I started weeping, got to turn this off.

Matt: I’m just so pleased, Adam, because I see you emotionally sometimes just think if you could just connect. And I am so pleased that it’s an advert that has drawn this out of you and it shows the power.

Adam: I cry at a lot of adverts!

Laura: Finally we can see into Adam’s mind.

Matt: Oh good. We can do another thing about that on the really emotional response.

But when it resonates, when it really captures you. We’ve all had those kind of moments. Joking aside, it is very, very powerful and also makes it talkable as well. So that’s also the subtlety about it.

Laura: Yes.

Matt: Which in terms of effectiveness is a grey area for us. It’s sort of like, but this is being talked about more than previous ones. This is getting the message out whether you liked it or not, or you are not sure, it is causing an opinion.

Laura: 100%. I completely agree with you. And I think having spent the year looking at a lot of future trends and a lot of sort of state of the nation, the idea of deeper connections, men’s mental health, and also a kind of sense of finding joy in perhaps things that have been disappointing. You know, I think there is for this generation a sense of, I work and work and work and I’ve got all these responsibilities, but I don’t necessarily have the status, the certain job, you know, the house, the car. I’m not like the sort of man of the house. I’ve seen that in a lot of research.

So I do think it taps into this idea of, let’s just be joyful. Let’s just connect to something meaningful. And I really hope that continues as a kind of spirit.

Matt: I think you’re right in this in driving a positive and good emotional response to issues that happen. But there’s always these people saying, I don’t wanna be reminded of that at Christmas.

I just, I want to, I don’t wanna have to think about all the stuff that’s bad or the difficult things, I just want the joy. The Tesco one is sort of just sort of talking about all things that go wrong and the argument, it was just like, well, I think you haven’t given the payoff as much to cheer everybody up at the end.

Laura: Yeah.

Matt: So I think, yeah, it’s gonna be an interesting response to see, and I would love to understand obviously from their perspective, how they would see the results and on what metrics or which people they’re trying to reach.

Laura: And as you said, perhaps not the clear through line as we move into Christmas present…

Matt: Yeah.

Laura: …that we might see in something like an M&S ad.

Matt: Yeah

Laura: Where I think, you know, we can all see there are very tangible links to products you can buy and store. Tell us your thoughts on that one.

Matt: When you’re looking at the M&S ad, or any ad that is to say, if it can’t be beautifully creative and emotional and everything else, it can still be effective.

And we’ve had a lot of campaigns and I’ve worked on a lot of campaigns in the past that we all sort of agree this isn’t great work, but you know, the media team did an incredible job in how they bought the media and where we’ve put it and so on. And you know, if we just imagine we have some great creative, we could be even better.

But you can still have stuff that’s very effective. M&S I think, I think it’s a nice story. There’s a bit of truth about driving home, the Chris Rear reference and Dawn French are very, very familiar. There’s some nice box sort of ticking. I think the, and then sort of even getting over the thing about having Christmas dinner in the back of a van, and so I can be quite literal, I think okay, I’ll sub on to Christmas. It’s fine.

But I was, I was still sort of, I was probably emotionally kind of, I had it right at the beginning and stuff, and then I’m sort of lost a bit, but a great thing for me is they say, oh, there’s this tiger prawn paella bite thing. Oh, and I’m me because I’m a foodie, so I’m thinking, oh, I wonder what that’s like. Oh, and then there’s a salt and vinegar batter. Just these little references.

Adam: And Tom Kerridge as well.

Matt: And Tom Kerridge’s pate. And I know it’s, someone else will say, well we had this great comms and then someone’s told us to put in some lines that are jarring a bit. But in terms of effect, that might not necessarily be the most emotional response ad, but I think it will be one of the most effective.

Laura: Yeah.

Matt: Because of that link for to very specific products that you could probably only get at M&S

Laura: Do they have like a special trick that they do that makes those moments memorable? Like is there something in the way that they describe and show the product? Because I feel like I remember.

Adam: M&S Food?

Laura: Really well. I’m like, well yeah. The fish and chip canapés and I’m like how did that happen?

Matt: I think M&S, there is a whole science around shooting from everything else.

And if you go back to when M&S did their first ever, this is not just a chicken, this is an M&S chicken, and everything else, and it’s a really simple. Here’s a roast chicken, there’s some roasted potatoes and veg and gravy and stuff. And we all watched that and we all thought, I want to have a roast chicken now. I might as well go and get it from M&S.

All the other retailers responded to that, started doing their own ones, pushing their kind of more premium private label ranges. And obviously all of M&S is premium technically. So they’ve always, I think, been the best at knowing how to shoot food to make it look so appetising.

Adam: I can still picture the back of the van going up and it just gleaming with all of that amazing food.

Matt: Yeah just clear cuts, clear moments. Signposting into this. And now this is happening. Whereas if you think most of them, the retailer ones will have a table laid out with Christmas dinner. But sometimes it felt like, oh, it’s sort of like, well now here comes, like the L’Oreal ads, now here comes the science. They used to sort of say, this is the science bit. It’s like, here comes the Christmas table.

Laura: Right. Yeah.

Matt: And I think they all think they need to do that, but I think there’s something about what M&S do that, as I said, makes it, and maybe it’s describing it. I don’t know.

Adam: This goes back to what, Richard Chatham was saying about concreteness, doesn’t it? You know, like everybody has got an abstract idea of a Christmas table with wine and turkeys and sprouts and potatoes.

Matt: Yeah.

Adam: But if you are describing yours as the Tom Kerridge…

Matt: Exactly.

Adam: You’ve anchored it in something that’s just easy to remember.

Matt: Do you remember there was, was it Waitrose? They did a Heston Blumenthal…

Laura: Yes.

Matt: Christmas pudding with a tangerine.

Laura: Had tangerines on it yeah.

Matt: And it went viral. They don’t do that anymore, but it just absolutely flew and everyone kind of wanted it. And people were talking about having their Christmas dinner, like going by the way, we got one, we got the Christmas pudding.

Laura: It was tough!

Adam: We secured one.

Matt: It’s a Christmas pudding with a piece of fruit in it.

Adam: Had to meet someone down a dark alley to get it.

Matt: Exactly! As I said in the Waitrose ad, they just happened to mention with Joe meets Keira, that they both asked for Sussex charm, which is a very nice sort of cheese.

I’ll be fascinated to know, you know, how well that happens to do, because they’ve just picked that out as a product.

Laura: Can I just ask you about that one as a point of contrast?

Matt: You can.

Laura: I think it’s a really interesting point about remembering the retailer because actually that’s probably one of the ads where you see people in a supermarket.

Matt: Yes.

Laura: And it shows the deli counter and in a way you sort of think, well, it’s showing me a lot of distinctive brand assets. So what’s your thoughts on that one as an effect?

Matt: I think it’s, so I’ve probably made the error of watching the four minute version. I think from an effectiveness point of view, absolutely into a store mentioning that thing creates a bit of a memory about that. But I think it’s possible because that’s just one part, and it depends on the edit on the small one, because in that one, you think, one of the main food reps says, oh, I’m gonna make the turkey pie. And so you know, Joe’s making this Turkey pie, that’s the mother’s recipe of Keira Knightley’s mum.

And you think, well, I can’t remember seeing, was that Waitrose flour, was that Waitrose this? Was this a part of it? What was about this that linked this back to Waitrose?

So by the end, when they have the kind of it all ends happily ever after, for me it’s drifted a bit. It’s just a very, very nice kind of funny story. I think there was a better opportunity in that to link more stuff. I think if like the M&S thing, you could have him just picking up a thing saying, oh, it’s the Tom Kerridge…that will be good.

Adam: So, and finally I’d love to talk about, I mean, we’re calling this Christmases future, aren’t we? And I think we’re calling it Christmas’ future because it’s doing something very, very different.

Matt: Yeah. 

Adam: So this is a JD Sports ad.

Matt: Interesting.

Adam: And I think to understand the current year’s ad you kind of have to see 2024’s ad.

Matt: Yeah.

Adam: Which has an amazing, just an amazing depiction of Christmas celebrated in lots and lots of different ways, you know, by their target audience. And it’s kind of all about the family and bringing them together. Now this year’s ad feels like it has exactly the same aesthetic. Feels kind of similar, but there doesn’t really seem to be a narrative or almost anything to do with Christmas in there.

It just feels like they’ve decided Christmas is the time when gifts are bought and people go shopping. Let’s just get into people’s, you know, memories at this point in time.

Matt: From my point of view, the conversation we’ve had around the target audience and stuff, and putting yourself in that position. So objectively, let’s say we were all working on that, I think we’ve nailed it here. This is all kind of our impression of that generation, of what they’re interested in, what they’re doing. So I’d need to sort of reflect and say, is this authentic? Is this going to resonate with them? Because it’s quite nuanced and this generation kind of will spot stuff where they think it’s kind of contrived. But it looks to me like it’s, it’s very well done and it’s not contrived. It’s exactly what it is, loads of user created content and it’s thrown together.

The other interesting thing about it for me is there’s lots of references to the brand within it, in case anyone watching is a bit old and confused by the amount of stuff that’s happening. And the other part which will be interesting is, as you said, it’s very different from everything else that we’re probably going to see.

And there’s an old thing, if everyone else is going in this emotional rollercoaster, here’s a plate of food, here’s some hero products, da da, do something. Go the other way because then you’ll stand out.

Adam: I live very close to a JD Sports, and I think aesthetic wise, it does really match the brands you see, the people you see in the pictures.

So they’ve got like some famous faces in there, which you will also see on the posters and the billboards and stuff…

Matt: Yeah.

Adam:…around JD Sports when you visit. So I think, probably enough there to make you – I felt it looked like a JD Sports advert.

Matt: Yeah.

Adam: Even though I’m not even the direct demographic.

Matt: Yeah and that’s, well, we talked about distinctive assets. I think Cole Palmer was in there as well. Which is such a resonating figure. So actually, this is a bit like the old sort of fashioned kind of approach of, so the TV is maybe the core of the campaign.

There’s a number of assets we’re creating out of this that we can then use in store, we can use something else. I would hope it’s part of a broader campaign to get that message, to make those kind of conversations and links.

Laura: Well, I’m wondering based on what we were saying earlier, where you said, actually maybe we can stretch to a slightly different demographic.

I wonder if that’s what they’ve done from a media perspective where they’ve said, you know, yes, we know this is our core audience, but actually this is a time of gifting. This is a time kids are gonna ask for things from family. Like if we are top of mind as a, you know, being seen to like ‘get’ a generation, perhaps people who are a bit older might reach out to that brand, even if they know it’s not for them.

Matt: And it could easily be because of the vertical aspects, like actually, we’re gonna be serving this on mobile.

Adam:Absolutely.

And the fact it’s little micro segments means you can make that a six second ad or a 15 second ad, or you know, a pre-roll.

Laura: It’s very well branded, isn’t it?

Matt: It is, yeah. Yeah. So, the fact that it is so different and, and could well stand out versus the other stuff that we are seeing could make it very, very effective.

Laura: Fantastic. So, Matt, if you were to give us your top pick in terms of effectiveness this year, where does your judgment lie?

Matt: I think the most effective ad is gonna be the M&S one because it has the most clear references to specific products and there’s already a lot of love and you know, M&S have had a difficult kind of year one way or another, and bits and pieces. So it’s sort of, I think for a lot of people, probably there’s a lot of love for that brand and there’s a lot of love and everyone knows about the quality, so they don’t have to remind people about that sort of thing. And so if they just need reminding, and by the way we sell stuff that’s really good and interesting, I mean, it’s bang on the target audience, and I’m the target audience.

Laura: We kind of see it as our civic duty to eat these canapés now.

Matt: I know. I really need to get some sort of ciabatta you know. So I think, simply because it has the most of a product link into an action in store.

Laura: Lovely. Well, what a great note to end on. We really enjoyed chatting to you about this.

Matt: It’s been great fun.

Adam: Yeah, that’s been brilliantly revealing. Thank you very much for joining us, Matt. Thank you.

Laura: So I absolutely love that as a way to end the year, thoughtful, fun, and really great reflections.

Adam: Absolutely brilliant. Yeah, I learned a lot. You know, it’s quite easy to watch these ads and just kind of give your own personal take on them, but it’s quite nice to have someone there with you to unpick them and understand like what’s been going on behind the kind of creative idea.

Laura: And lots more to come in 2026!

Adam: Yeah, absolutely. See you next year!

And if you enjoyed that episode, we recommend that you listen to the conversation that we had with Fiona Hughes all about creative marketing.

Why should brands care about this attention economy and what’s in it for them?

Fiona: I’ve been in the industry for about 10, 12 years, and the size and scale of it is honestly unprecedented.

So, stats now from the likes of Goldman Sachs and Business Insider say that the creator economy globally is worth about 250 billion right now. That’s set to almost double in just the next two years alone. So marketing spend, in creator marketing is increasing even when other marketing spends are going down.