London, UK. As we enter the start of December, the Ipsos Race to Christmas, which analyses the impact of festive campaigns from major supermarkets and retailers, hits its midway point, with week three results now unveiled. This week John Lewis is spontaneously named as the publics’ favourite ad, a title they’ve held for three weeks running.
- Aldi takes the lead as the most recognised Christmas ad: Aldi’s part two advert ‘Kevin the Carrot’s Stag do has Gone Pear-shaped’ is the most recognised, with 55% of respondents recognising it when shown de-branded stills. This is closely followed by Sainsbury’s ‘The Unexpected Guest’ at 52%, and Waitrose’s ‘The Perfect Gift’ at 48%.
- Aldi also maintains its lead on branded recognition: In branded recognition (ads recognised and correctly linked to the brand), Aldi holds the lead with 43%, with Sainsbury’s in second place at 36%.
- Waitrose is gaining momentum with their festive campaign: Waitrose now sits in third place for branded recognition (ads recognised and correctly linked to the brand) at 30%. This is a strong week-on-week increase, up from 21% in week two of the race.
- John Lewis is named the public’s favourite ad for the third week running: 20% of respondents have spontaneously named John Lewis as their favourite festive ad, followed by Waitrose (14%) and M&S (8%).
- Burberry’s ad is landing with its core audience: Whilst Burberry has lower ad recognition vs. some of the other racers, it’s scoring high on brand empathy. When asking respondents if the ad ‘is for people like me’ 62% agree, suggesting it’s landing well with its core audience.
Commenting on the findings, Senior Creative Excellence Director at Ipsos, Samira Brophy said:
“The most interesting aspect of the race at the moment is whether brands have got the right balance of fresh and familiar in their advertising. High creativity is the baseline, and the ads that are pulling ahead have that something extra – empathy & brand fit. In the Ipsos book, Misfits, we proved how high levels of creativity and empathy & fit combined are most strongly correlated to effectiveness outcomes.
Ads that have one without the other have a tendency to regress to the mean. The Ipsos Race to Christmas data shows the ads pulling ahead of the others are those delivering a high-quality audience experience, while tapping into relevant consumer context, all done in a well branded way. Regarding animation vs. live action, while we know brand characters outperform celebrities on average, the growing success of Waitrose and spontaneous recall of John Lewis also shows how effectiveness is not a paint by numbers game. Context matters and if your development and measurement only focus and optimise for one thing, you might miss some important opportunities.”
Technical note:
- For media queries, please contact Alex Allen at alex.allen@ipsos.com
- For the full findings, please visit the Race to Christmas webpage.
- Source: Ipsos Fast Facts. Week 3 data: n= 300, UK Nat rep sample, fielded on 21st November 2025.
- Full charts available upon request – please reach out to MacKenzie to discuss.