These are the best Christmas spots in Germany

Lidl is the winner of the Brand Monitor 2024 and has made it to the top this year, according to an evaluation of the best Christmas commercials by We Communications. The discounter has produced an emotional, high-quality Christmas ad that not only entertains but also touches the heart. This is followed by Edeka's Christmas campaign - a different kind of idea that focuses on humor and lightness instead of a contemplative Christmas mood. With this campaign, Edeka is hot on the heels of first place, but purpose and emotion surpass Edeka's humorous approach.

As part of the Christmas Brand Monitor, the communications agency We Communications analyzed and evaluated the creativity and purpose of the Christmas ads as well as the overall implementation of the campaign via the companies' own digital channels. The conclusion: with their creative and emotional Christmas campaigns, supermarkets and discounters are focusing on diversity, social relevance and innovative storytelling this year. Lidl, Edeka, Aldi, Kaufland, Rewe and Penny combine current trends with emotional productions that are thought-provoking and touch the hearts of viewers.

These are the top 5:

Lidl

With its lavishly produced Hollywood-quality Christmas film, Lidl shows that the magic of Christmas is even more beautiful when you can share it with others. The campaign shows a little girl who helps an elderly lady and receives magic bells that make wishes come true at Christmas dinner. However, when she wishes that people in need could celebrate Christmas, the miracles disappear from her family and instead bring joy to those in need - an emotional lesson in compassion. The campaign video touched the community and received a lot of encouragement. The comments show that many are moved to tears after watching the video. The Christmas campaign is played out on all of Lidl's social media channels to suit the target group and can be considered very successful according to We Communications. Conclusion: An emotional campaign that is full of purpose and conveys a deeper message.

Edeka

After coming fifth last year, Edeka is delighted to be in second place in this year's Brand Monitor: the Christmas campaign is a refreshing change from the usual melancholy Christmas commercials. Under the motto "Celebrate Christmas however you want!" Edeka brings lightness and humor to the festive season. The commercial shows actor Marc Hosemann in his role as Thorsten from the series "Die Discounter", who provides plenty of laughs as "Christmas support" in an Edeka store. His unconventional and obviously wrong ideas, assumptions and actions contrast with Edeka's tried-and-tested perfectionism, which leads to numerous humorous moments. While the community is divided in its opinion - many are happy about Marc Hosemann's presence, but some find the commercial not emotional enough - the campaign won over the agency with its humor and the message that everyone should celebrate Christmas the way he or she wants to.

Penny

After Penny was the winner of our Christmas Brand Monitor last year, this year's campaign only makes it to third place. "Wonderful World" emphasizes the power of solidarity and support by telling touching stories of people who are seriously ill, affected by a disability, socially excluded or discriminated against - as well as their volunteer helpers. The focus is on emotions and the joy that arises from shared commitment. The spot is accompanied musically by a reinterpretation of "What a Wonderful World". As last year, the campaign is part of the "Förderpenny" initiative, which supports local projects for children and young people. Penny is emotionally convincing across the board this year. However, the campaign fails to play out on Penny's social media channels. There you only see advertisements for Christmas trees, chocolate bars etc. The lack of effective distribution on various social media platforms means that the audience is not reached sufficiently. Unfortunately, Penny was therefore unable to keep up with the other Christmas campaigns this year and achieved a good third place.

Aldi

Our fourth place this year goes to Aldi with this year's Christmas campaign "Feel the festivities?". The campaign video shows people in various everyday situations that are usually perceived as unpleasant, such as visiting the authorities, at university or at a police checkpoint. In each scenario, there is a person snacking on products from the Aldi Christmas range, such as speculoos or chocolate pralines, and shortly afterwards - despite a more than inappropriate situation - starts singing Christmas carols at the top of their voice. After a brief moment of awkward silence, those around them are usually infected by the emerging Christmas spirit. Despite the cheerful mood, however, there is no real emotion or purpose to be found in this commercial. The campaign is played extensively on social media, with the community reacting to the video with mixed feelings. From We Communications' point of view, the campaign was not convincing across the board and was therefore awarded fourth place.

Rewe

Just behind Aldi this year is Rewe's campaign. The supermarket is ringing in the Christmas season with a colorful campaign under the motto "Let's celebrate!". In it, Rewe celebrates the culinary delights of the entire (pre-)Christmas season: from the first cookie baking to the Advent brunch and the big feast. Catchy singing in the background: "Laughing with friends, baking delicious cookies...". In this year's campaign, Rewe deliberately opted for a cheerful and light-hearted video instead of an emotional commercial. However, the commercial is not very surprising or profound overall. No emotion or purpose. The agency's conclusion: the campaign has potential, but lacks creative and original accents that would have given it more purpose and recognition value.