Emotional Impact Over Everything: How Format, Rhythm, and
Runtime Shape Christmas Ads That Truly Connect
Not all Christmas ads make us feel the same way, and not all emotion is created equally. Some stories unfold slowly, allowing warmth and nostalgia to build, while others rely on quick moments of joy or spectacle to create impact. What separates truly effective Christmas advertising is not just the story being told, but how it is told — the rhythm of scenes, the timing of emotional peaks, and the space given for feeling to land.
According to Kantar, emotionally charged ads increase future brand demand by up to 61% and engagement by 50% compared to non-emotional counterparts. This season’s festive films remind us that the holidays aren’t just about spectacle; they’re about feeling something real.
In the sections that follow, we look at how emotional impact, format, rhythm, and runtime intersect to create memorable holiday storytelling.
Building Emotion Brick by Brick: When Play Becomes the Story
LEGO — “Hello, If It’s Play You’re Looking For?”
LEGO’s Christmas ad this year is a gentle reminder that imagination doesn’t disappear as we grow up — it just waits to be invited back in. “Hello, Is It Play You’re Looking For?” brings festive magic to life through the lens of childhood creativity, transforming a quiet, screen-filled moment into a joyful explosion of play.
The story unfolds inside a familiar family setting, where LEGO characters burst into song, reworking Lionel Richie’s iconic “Hello” into a playful call to reconnect. The beauty of this ad lies in its simplicity. There’s no marvel display, just an axiom that play has a way of bringing people back together. The moment that stays with you is when the family joins in, and imagination becomes something shared rather than something experienced alone.
Emotional Impact: We ran the ad on C5i Incivus, our Gen AI Ad-tech Platform, and found out that the emotional intensity of the ad is 84, which clearly suggests that the ad builds warmth in viewers. LEGO’s Christmas ad succeeds not by shouting louder, but by feeling truer.
In a season crowded with spectacles, it reminds us that the strongest festive stories are often the ones built from small, human moments, carefully paced, emotionally grounded, and joyfully playful.
When Tradition Turns Theatrical: A Christmas Classic Reimagined
Coca-Cola — “Holidays Are Coming”
Few Christmas ads arrive with as much built-in expectation as Coca-Cola’s Holidays Are Coming. For many, those glowing red trucks rolling through snowy streets once signaled the start of the festive season. This year, Coca-Cola leans into that legacy again, reimagining the classic imagery through a high-polish AI-generated spectacle that prioritizes scale and ritual over intimate storytelling.
The sequence is cinematic and familiar: snowy villages, twinkling lights, excited onlookers, and the iconic Coke trucks. The intent is clear: evoke nostalgia, anchor the moment, and reinforce tradition. But familiarity isn’t the same as feeling, and this tension sits at the heart of this year’s creative experiment.
Last year’s first AI Christmas ads drew heavy criticism from industry experts and social audiences, and this time also, it was accused of “prioritizing efficiency over artistry, arguing that the “Real Magic” campaign misses the warmth that once defined the brand’s holiday storytelling.”
Emotional Impact: This ad’s emotional impact is immediate but diffuses. It doesn’t build a personal connection between characters and audiences. Instead, it relies on shared cultural memory. Coca-Cola’s festive ad delivers brand ritual and visual spectacle — but that’s also its limitation. When tested on C5i Incivus, there was a strong brand compliance score of 91.26, but it somehow feels hollow.
In a year when audiences want authenticity, Coca-Cola’s AI gamble surfaces a simple truth: technology can generate images, but emotion still needs a human touch.
Festive Mischief with a Purpose: A Cheeky Christmas Intervention
Thought we were just for toys? | Argos Christmas Ad
Argos keeps its Christmas sparkle playful and unexpected with “Christmas Special”, a film that feels less like a conventional festive story and more like a holiday caper with heart. Instead of relying on wistful nostalgia, the brand turns humor and personality into its emotional engine, starring comedian Simon Bird alongside beloved brand mascots Connie (a doll) and Trevor (a dinosaur) in their most mischievous outing yet.
The story begins with a relatable moment: Tom grumbling on the phone, dismissing Argos as “only good for toys.” That’s when he spots two unexpected passengers in his rearview mirror – Connie and Trevor. What follows is a Guy Ritchie-style caper as the duo whisk him to a warehouse packed with premium gifts, from high-end tech to stylish homeware. The noirish tension builds until the joyous reveal lands with genuine delight. With over 3.66 million YouTube views, it’s clearly resonating.
Emotional Impact Argos’s emotional pull doesn’t come from gentle tears or quiet nostalgia; it comes from joyful surprise and shared humor. The emotional intensity peaks when the absurdity becomes relatable. With a strong Ad-copy effectiveness of 96.29 suggest that nothing is lost in translation. Admit it, we’ve all been that last-minute shopper, and that laughter mixed with relief feels like its own kind of festive warmth. Here’s the metrics when tested on C5i Incivus:
A Giant Helping Hand: Heart, Humor, and Food on the Table
Sainsbury’s – “The Unexpected Guest”
Sainsbury’s turns festive storytelling into a magical food-centric adventure with “The Unexpected Guest”, bringing back Roald Dahl’s beloved BFG to save the day when a mischievous giant devours a family’s Christmas spread.
This warm, whimsical story isn’t just about food. It’s about being ready for anything at Christmas, whether that’s racing to replace stolen roast potatoes or making room for someone at the table. The narrative blends humor, nostalgia, and Dahl-style fantasy in a way that feels both playful and deeply human.
Emotional Impact: What makes this ad resonate isn’t the spectacle of giants and chaos, but the emotional relief when generosity triumphs over disruption. The high point arrives when Annie invites the BFG to Christmas lunch, reminding us that festive joy lives in togetherness, not perfection. “It pushed all of those buttons in terms of the nostalgia and the emotion……magic you need for a great Christmas ad,”. Here’s the result when tested on C5i Incivus:
When Nostalgia Becomes a Bridge: Quiet, Deep, and Unforgettable
Where Love Lives | John Lewis & Partners
John Lewis is practically a holiday institution in the UK, and this year’s “Where Love Lives” returns to that tradition with a story that feels both personal and universal. At its heart is a father and his son, connected not through words but through a vinyl record that unlocks memory, music, and emotion. Set against the backdrop of Christmas morning, it’s less about spectacle and more about the quiet way love reveals itself.
In the world of fast moments and fleeting visuals, this ad trusts its audience to feel deeply rather than react quickly. It leans into nostalgic rhythm and shared experience, giving space for emotion to settle. With over 2.3 million YouTube views and an outpouring of heartfelt responses, it’s clear the approach is working. For the first time, the brand centers a father-son relationship, and that choice has resonated deeply.
Emotional Impact: John Lewis has always understood that Christmas advertising works best when it makes you feel something real. “Every year John Lewis manages to make us cry, but this year, they’ve made us remember”, it chose to make us feel something important: that fathers and sons can connect, that music carries memory, and that sometimes the right gift says what we can’t. The audience has poured their heartfelt reactions on social media with some recounting personal connections to the story, and many saying they watched multiple times and were brought to tears. Here’s the metric when tested on C5i Incivus:
Wrapping up:
There is something quietly transformative about the way the best festive ads of 2025 make us feel. They don’t just show us holiday scenes; they invite us into lived moments, whether that’s the playful rush of shared imagination or the unexpected joy of kindness and togetherness. The best of ads teaches us that brands are not selling products they are actually taking a break to bring festive connection
This year’s festive films also show that structure matters just as much as sentiment. Format determines who the story belongs to, rhythm dictates how we move with it, and runtime sets when we feel it. In an age of AI experimentation and algorithmic novelty, the most important thing that brands should keep in mind is that AI is used to enhance, rather than replace the core human emotions and creativity.
As cultural conversation around Christmas advertising continues to evolve, so too does the measure of creative success; from views and likes to meaning and memory. That’s why brands should start wearing their creative hat early and if you want to test your creativity, C5i Incivus, is there to check your ads’ holistic creative effectiveness.
For more information, visit our page C5i Incivus. We understand that traditional methods of market research require a lot of time, effort, and are costly. Our goal is to help marketers make quick decisions backed by data and the power of Generative AI.
