Although only November, the run up to Christmas has well and truly begun. As is an annual tradition, we at The Practice are rounding up the best video ad campaigns this season.

Always the most eagerly awaited, John Lewis’s Christmas ad never fails to disappoint. And this year was no different, with “Man on the Moon” again living up to our expectations. The campaign, created once again by Adam & Eve DDB, reveals the story of a young girl who brings the gift of Christmas to a lonely old man living on the moon. In a heart-warming rendering, the video shows the girl spotting the man through a telescope, before attempting to send him several written messages. Finally, she succeeds in sending him a telescope too, which he looks through, spotting her back on earth. As usual, John Lewis have depicted a beautiful message, with the story’s caption- “Show someone they’re loved this Christmas.” Social media predictably erupted after the ad’s release, with over 40,000 tweet mentions in just two hours following its Twitter unveiling. Furthermore, the campaign’s hash tag, #ManOnTheMoon, was once again a trending topic across all platforms too.

Once again, the nation’s favourite supermarkets impressed us with their seasonal offerings. M&S’s was particularly impressive, with a show-stopper of an ad focused on, “The Art of Christmas.” This stylish video, created by renowned production designer, Joseph Bennett, (who incidentally was also the creative director behind Alexander McQueen’s Savage Beauty exhibition), conveys the decadence of the season to full effect. We’re shown how gift giving conveys “the art of surprise”, how party planning depicts “the art of the night before”, and how putting on a lavish spread portrays “the art of the feast,” amongst other aspects.  We also loved Waitrose’s campaign, “What Makes Your Christmas?” for its classically festive scenes displaying mouth watering seasonal food, and friends and family bonding over the supermarket’s offerings, from Heston Blumenthal’s Christmas puddings, to an array of other traditional goods.

Amongst this year’s successful ads, one slightly more perplexing came from Curry’s PC World. This year, the retailer revealed its first ever Christmas campaign, with a series of ads featuring cameos from actor Jeff Goldblum. Created by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, the title of this was “Spare the Act”, showing Christmas scenarios in which various activities, such as gift-giving, fail to impress. For instance, one scene shows a recipient’s less than enthusiastic response upon receiving a jigsaw puzzle as a present, while another shows a family pretending to enjoy a terrible Christmas dinner. In each, Jeff Goldblum then makes his appearance, instructing each member on how to act as if they are having a good time, and slipping in which Curry’s tech products would have rectified the situation. We’re not sure just how we feel about these, although the slightly bizarre concept and appearance from Jeff Goldblum have certainly got us talking!

Which Christmas video ads have been your favourite this year? Are there any past campaigns you feel are especially memorable? We’d love to hear your thoughts as always, so please tweet to us @PracticeDigital and share your comments on our Facebook page.