Christmas Ads 2025: Why Nostalgia, Realism and Early Launches Are Transforming Festive Marketing

by Josh Paterson

It’s that time of the year again when we all begin to wonder how we’ve reached the end of the year so quickly, and the Christmas festivities begin. Without fail, the big season players have already hit hard with their Christmas ads, but this year, things seem different. 2025 marks a turning point where brands are finally letting go of glossy fantasy and embracing nostalgia, realism and more fragmented storytelling. But what’s really driving this change?

Timing is everything

Back in October, pre-Halloween, I was caught off-guard by a split ad spot from M&S, offering up two short clips across one break. First, an autumnal offering with pumpkins, and the latter (to my horror), folks in their full festive best reminding us that Christmas is on the horizon. Fragmented advertising like this is something we’ve seen more of these days, and one could argue it’s (sadly) down to shorter attention spans, with most people tuning out and onto their second screens during ad breaks. But brands getting ahead in October have already beaten the ‘Christmas clutter’ and caught the attention of those early-shoppers - especially at a time when more consumers are splitting the cost of their shopping across multiple pay days to keep the December bank balance in the green.

And timing isn’t the only thing that’s shifted, the audience focus has too. This year, we’ve also seen a variety of teaser clips in a build up to a big ad drop, and big moves across multi-platform campaigns, with brands accepting that attention is not only fragmented, but scattered across TV, streaming, TikTok, YouTube, and everywhere in between. Not to sound like Scrooge, but it now feels impossible to escape Christmas advertising regardless of the screen you’re looking at!

A Play on the Past to Sell the Future

Every year, the launch of the John Lewis advert is a national moment and the pinnacle of the festive ad juggernauts. This year was no different, dividing opinion with its unconventional style, seeing a dad taken back to his raving days from the gift of a classic vinyl from his son of 90s club track "Where Love Lives" by Alison Limerick.

Love it or hate it, it’s effective, and John Lewis has certainly achieved its goal of causing a stir and getting the nation talking. More and more brands are changing tact, and not aiming solely at children or the family at Christmas, they’re hitting consumers ‘in the feels’ by playing on nostalgia, club culture, vinyl and music, targeting the grown-ups, Millennials and Gen X; the generations with arguably the most spending power.

Festive reworkings of iconic songs and music are not new when it comes to Christmas ads, but the clever play this year is seeing brands utilise iconic tunes as a wider power play. As part of their Christmas campaign, John Lewis is also selling limited edition vinyls of "Where Love Lives", with profits going to their ‘Building Happier Futures’ charity, helping those who have grown up in care. This charity link opens up new monetisation options, offers Christmas shoppers a ‘feel good’ moment among the madness of present buying, and maintains a cultural talking point all in one.

Cost of Living at Christmas

If we’ve learned anything in our industry from the past 12 months alone, it's that authenticity matters. Consumers are spending more cautiously and expect brands to reflect real life, not just idealised versions of it. Across this year's Christmas ads, we of course see the return of festive icons like Aldi’s Kevin the Carrot, and Asda pulling The Grinch out of retirement, but look closer and you’ll spot the shift.

With economic pressures affecting all of us more than ever before, practical, emotional storytelling is paramount and cost-of-living hasn’t been ignored in this season's conveyor belt of campaigns. Fantastical living rooms at Christmas have been dialled down, and instead, we’ve seen real life kitchens, markets, farmers, grounding the big budget ads with the real people behind the festive supply chain. Tesco has gone one step further by filming 11 different ad spots, celebrating the messy, imperfect realities of a British Christmas across all kinds of households.

A Season That’s Finally Grown Up

The Christmas ad arena is more diversified than ever this festive season. In the big budget ads, brands haven’t abandoned the snow and sparkle, but they’ve rooted them in something far more familiar and relatable. This year's festive campaigns highlight that emotional storytelling matters, and as budgets, attention spans and consumer attitudes continue to shift, the brands that will win Christmas in the future won’t be the ones that shout the loudest or spend the most budget, but the ones who tell the most authentic and honest story.

Want to start 2026 with a bang in your brand PR & comms? Drop the Visible PR team a line today - hello@visiblepr.co.uk