UK 2024 Christmas campaign tracker

It’s that time of year – again. Many companies, from grocery stores to tech retailers to high street fashion outlets, are counting on Christmas to drive brand awareness, sales, and financial good cheer. YouGov’s Christmas campaign tracker explores how these businesses have been performing since the beginning of November.

We’re kicking off our coverage with a look at grocery brands – many having released their festive ads already. And there’s a clear frontrunner: Marks & Spencer. The high street staple’s food brand has seen Ad Awareness rise from 28.4 to 44.6 since November 1: an increase of 16.2 points. Releasing its festive ad near the beginning of the month (November 4) won’t have hurt, but its success so far suggests that the ad is cutting through.

Tesco records the second-highest Ad Awareness so far, although it has actually fallen slightly over the course of the month, from 38.4 to 37.4 (-1.0). Its Big Rival Sainsbury’s comes in fourth, having risen from 23.1 to 36.5 over November so far (+13.4) – suggesting that its BFG-starring spot has earned the notice of the UK public. Aldi’s Ad Awareness has remained relatively stable, going from 30.5 to 30.9 (+0.4), while Asda rounds out the top five with scores jumping from 18.8 to 29.5 (+10.7). Sixth-ranked Morrisons – which brought back its singing oven gloves for its 2024 campaign – has seen a similar jump from 18.2 to 26.8 (+8.6). Lidl comes in seventh, having seen its scores decline from 27.3 to 23.0 (-4.3), while Waitrose’s Ad Awareness jumped from 12.2 to 17.9 (+5.7). Iceland’s scores saw a similar improvement, rising from 11.6 to 17.1 (+5.5), while Ocado – who have not released a Christmas ad so far this year – saw scores slide from 8.4 to 6.7

Next time we’ll focus on the general retail sector – including a look at how the long-awaited John Lewis ad is going down with the general public.

The John Lewis ad is a bona fide commercial Christmas tradition in the UK. This year’s spot – which unusually featured the department store itself – launched on November 14th.

But it is not so far the top ranked general retail brand in terms of Ad Awareness. That honour goes to Amazon, whose Midnight Opus spot launched towards the beginning of November. Since the start of the month, Ad Awareness has risen from 38.3 to 40.9 (2 December): an improvement of 1.6 that nonetheless leaves it with the highest Ad Awareness overall.

That said, John Lewis has seen the highest uplift. Ad Awareness was at 19.7 at the start of November; as of our most recent data, it is at 38.5.: an improvement of 18.8 points. Looking at the graph, there has been a marked improvement since it launched its Christmas ad on the 14th of November.

Other brands have maintained high scores despite not demonstrating much improvement. For example, Apple, which recently launched its iPhone 16 lineup, saw Ad Awareness deteriorate from 35.2 to 32.0 (-2.8), but this still leaves it with the third highest Ad Awareness overall.

Argos has seen solid improvement: scores have risen from 20.9 to 26.2 since the beginning of November (+5.3), leaving it with the fourth highest Ad Awareness of brands in this sector. Currys PC World, who cross over with Argos in some key areas, have seen scores increase from 22.4 to 24.8 (+2.4) over the festive campaign.

Christmas campaign tracker update 3#: Who’s the festive fashion frontrunner?

Our last pre-Christmas update focuses on the fashion & beauty sector. The clear winner in terms of Ad Awareness is M&S, who – as of our most recent data – boast a score of 37.4. This is a +3.3 improvement on their score of 34.1 recorded on 1 November 2024. 

But the biggest improver over the festive period (with little in the way of competition) is Boots. Ad Awareness has grown from 17.9 to 31.4 (+13.5) thanks to their #MakeMagic ad which debuted on 6 November 2024. 

No other brand came close to the top two. TK Maxx saw Ad Awareness rise from 8.2 to 12.6 (+4.4), while Tu Clothing saw a slight deterioration from 12.8 to 10.1 (-2.7). Matalan saw a modest improvement from 8.1 to 9.5 (+1.4), but F&F Clothing declined from 9.4 to 7.5 (-1.9), and Superdrug’s scores fell from 5.2 to 4.6 (-0.6).