For us at The Practice, the festive season means the release of some incredible Christmas marketing campaigns, in time for the upsurge in shopping. In particular, it’s the time when national brands display their Christmas TV ads, prompting us to consider which we like best.

John Lewis’s advert is always a winner, effectively pulling at our heartstrings year after year. This time, the company has gone one step further by launching a new marketable character around its campaign- Monty the penguin, who it now seems is unavoidable when you step foot inside the store. And to compliment this, John Lewis has also released an app telling the story of its new character. The advert itself, created by Adam and Eve/DDB, depicts the story of Monty, who is given a penguin companion for Christmas by his child owner, and also how as a toy penguin, Monty is brought to life in the child’s imagination. It’s a sweet story of Christmas wishes coming true, and one which cements John Lewis as an advertising champion. Indeed, John Lewis outperformed its rivals within the first 24 hours, with 6.9 million online views, and 90,000 mentions of #MontyThePenguin on Twitter.

In fighting spirit, Sainsbury’s released its somewhat controversial Christmas advert in association with The Royal British Legion. The video, created by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, depicts the infamous Christmas Day truce and game of football between the English and Germans during the First World War. At the centre of the advert is a chocolate bar which one of the soldiers receives as part of a care package sent from home. It is this which symbolizes Sainsbury’s #ChristmasIsForSharing message, and the company states underneath its video that the chocolate bar featured will be on sale, with profits going to the efforts of The Royal British Legion. Cleverly, the advert promotes charitable giving at Christmas time, as well as the Sainsbury’s brand. Just 24 hours after the launch, the video’s hash tag was mentioned over 20,000 times on Twitter, and 2.1 million online views in the first day.

But it is Marks and Spencer’s advert that has topped the polls in the best retail Christmas ad this year. In research undertaken by City Numbers, the supermarket chain managed to beat John Lewis (who came second), despite the hype around Monty the penguin. Instead of penguins, M&S focused their advert around fairies, with the advert depicting two fairies, Magic and Sparkle, who fly around London giving gifts and doing other good deeds. Despite the fact that M&S haven’t kept with their tradition of using a cast of celebrity faces, we think that the advert’s success can largely be attributed instead to its extensive social media campaign. Unlike John Lewis, who have yet to fully capitalize on Monty the penguin as a social media tool, M&S have been running a Twitter account for Magic and Sparkle, giving users the chance to nominate friends and family they feel are deserving of a good deed.

Have you enjoyed this year’s Christmas advertising campaigns so far? Which has been your favourite? We’d love to hear your thoughts, so please tweet to us @PracticeDigital, and share your comments on our Facebook page.