Aldi's Kevin slices through opposition as top ad of 2023

Cannes Lions judges might be cringing all the way to the Côte D’Azur but Aldi’s latest TV ad, Kevin & the Christmas Factory, has been revealed as the UK’s top-performing commercial of 2023, meaning the seemingly irresistible root vegetable character has now scored 5-stars for the past five years.

That is according to an analysis by System1 and ITV, using System1’s Test Your Ad platform, which measures viewers’ second-by-second emotional responses to advertising and features a database of nearly 30,000 ads aired in the UK.

In fact, the analysis shows this year’s crop of festive ads dominate the top 10, taking six places, including spots from Amazon, Lindt, The Works, TUI, and Coca-Cola’s long-running Holidays are Coming.

In total, there were 87 5-star ads last year (slightly down from 92 in 2022, but up from 52 in 2021), with retail and food/beverage ads responsible for over 60%. Typically, only 1% of ads gets the top 5-Star score. The average star rating for 2023 was 2.6, compared to 2.7 in 2022.

The top 10 are ranked according to star rating (long-term brand-building potential) and then spike rating (short-term sales potential):

1 Aldi – Kevin & the Christmas Factory – 5.9-stars; 1.80 spike
2 Coca-Cola – Holidays are Coming – 5.9-stars; 1.74 spike
3 Amazon – Joy is Shared – 5.9-stars; 1.73 spike
4 Lindt – Introducing the Choco Wafer – 5.9-stars; 1.71 spike
5 Lindt – Enjoy the Magic of Festive Figures – 5.9-stars; 1.67 spike
6 The Works – Unwrap Real Value Gifts – 5.9-stars; 1.66 spike
7 Netflix – Dawn of the Nugget: Trailer – 5.9-stars; 1.55 spike
8 Hotel Chocolat – Velvetiser – 5.9-stars; 1.53 spike
9 TUI – Happy Holidays. Live Happy – 5.9-stars; 1.51 spike
10 Cadbury – Garage – 5.9-stars; 1.45 spike

With six of the top 10 ads being Christmas themed, festive ads are the gift that keeps on giving. This year, Aldi took back back its crown with a top-scoring riff on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, featuring a mix of familiar characters, feasting and joy, cultural references and cheeky jokes.

Not everyone was quite so enamoured, however, with Decision Marketing columnist Jonathan Spooner saying: “The craft skills on display are astonishingly accomplished but the whole thing is desperately sad, though not as sad as the fact that squishy, plushy Kevins sell out faster than they can be manufactured. A true vision of Xmas Hell.”

Last year also witnessed ads in which everyday items got the character treatment – including Morrisons’ singing and dancing oven gloves, M&S Food’s talking mittens and Bake-Off’s cupboard of ingredients.

And, as brands look more and more to make ads which work across multilingual and global markets, System1 reckons it is no surprise that dialogue-heavy spots are giving way to wordless storytelling in which looks, glances, facial expressions, and non-verbal communication are all important.

There has also been a heavy dose of nostalgia, with do Ben & Jerry’s using Windows cursors, Barbour adopting Shaun the Sheep, and Häagen-Dazs’ reworking a Chemical Brothers classic. They are all drawing on cultural references from the 2000s, a decade that is finally coming into marketers’ sights as a source of nostalgia and imagery.

Meanwhile, Cadbury’s innovation, which features in its “glass and a half in everyone” activity, has been to ditch special effects and music in favour of a documentary style, in which people’s real conversations and voices can be heard.

Cadbury typically stood alone in doing this but this year other brands have embraced the same kind of slice-of-life approach. Get it right and this down-to-earth approach feels ultra-authentic and creates a truly powerful emotional connection, the report claims.

System1 chief customer officer Jon Evans said: “2023 was another bumper year for effectiveness and creativity, with many brands and agencies producing their best work during the festive season. We’ve seen ads that both drive short term sales and deliver long-term build branding, effectively tapping into both seasonal moments and the everyday.”

ITV director of client strategy and planning Kate Waters added: “From Aldi to Cadbury to Amazon, this year’s nation’s favourites provide a wonderful showcase for the creativity and craft that are so critical to the effectiveness and therefore the impact of the industry.”