Top 5 themes from holiday ads in 2025

Holiday advertising has long been a proving ground for brands, setting the tone for how they show up at one of the most competitive times of the year.

This year was no exception, with clear creative patterns emerging across categories, offering insight into the techniques brands leaned on to connect with audiences during the festive season.

This year, we researched ads from brands that are well known for their Christmas ads in the UK as well as some of the biggest and most buzzworthy US ads to uncover what made their ads a success and any similarities we saw throughout.

Read on to uncover the top 5 themes we saw in this year’s lineup of holiday ads.

Kicking off the themes from this year’s ads, music has played a big role this year.  

An ad's music choice can play a pivotal role in grabbing attention, setting the scene, evoking emotions and ultimately creating a more immersive experience for the audience. 

By adding to the overall experience, music helps make an ad more memorable.

That said, it’s no surprise that many of the great holiday ads had a great soundtrack. Many used recognizable Christmas tunes to establish the festive vibes, like “March” from “The Nutcracker” in Planters’ “Nuts About the Holidays.” And Asda used a completely rewritten version of “Let It Snow” to tell the whole story of “A Very Merry Grinchmas”!  

Many used instrumental music to underscore the action, like Sainsbury’s use of upbeat music or Ocean Spray’s dramatic music throughout the whole ad. 

And others used classic songs — but not holiday songs — to set the tone and establish that feeling of nostalgia, like John Lewis’ use of “Where Love Lives” by Alison Limerick or Starbucks’ use of The Proclaimers’ “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles).”

There was a lot of great storytelling in this year’s holiday ads — which is a lot easier said than done. 30, 60 or 90 seconds isn’t much time, but some of the best ads this year used their time effectively to tell an engaging story. 

Sainsbury’s “Unexpected Guest” was like a short movie with a protagonist and antagonist, where the good guys save the day and the bad guy is caught and Christmas is saved. 

John Lewis’ “Where Love Lives” told a quiet story about a father and teenage son brought closer with a thoughtful gift. 

And Starbucks’ “Drawn Together” depicts two drawings on Starbucks cups finding their way back to each other. 

Each one does an excellent job at telling a unique story that audiences are eager to see resolved in a satisfying way.

Love is a common theme found within holiday ads, and this year’s lineup was filled with it! People tend to love the festive season, and Christmas ads tap into that love by dialing up the emotional connection and delivering heartwarming stories.

So it’s no surprise this year’s Christmas ads did just that. Nearly every ad we looked at evoked more love than the average UK or US ad by a considerable margin.

That doesn’t mean that all the ads were tearjerkers — many of them had some very funny moments! But with the combination of recognizable characters, nostalgic references, great music choices and compelling stories, love wins the day.

Each year we see holiday ads tugging at our heartstrings by reminding us of our childhoods or Christmases of the past. 

And just like what we saw with love, this year was no different, as nostalgia was a key element of so many of the best ads this year.

Many ads sparked nostalgia by bringing in classic, familiar characters like the BFG, Puss in Boots and fairytale characters like Cinderella and Snow White. 

John Lewis evoked 90’s nostalgia with a song from the era and a flashback to the 90’s club scene. Coca-Cola used two different forms of nostalgia — nostalgia for its classic “Holidays Are Coming” ad and nostalgia for traditional family moments of our past. LEGO reminded us of the magic of playing as a child. And so many more examples! 

In fact, it was hard to find an example of any Christmas ad this year that didn’t rely on nostalgia in some way!

Last but not least, we also saw several classic characters across the ads this year!

Asda used the Grinch and Walmart had the Whos, both from How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Coca-Cola featured Santa and Ocean Spray used Krampus — St. Nicholas’ dark counterpart who punishes naughty children. 

But we saw even more brands use classic characters not associated with the holidays as well. Sainsbury brought back the BFG, Boots used Puss in Boots and many fairy tale characters and LEGO used some familiar characters in LEGO form like Darth Vader, Batman and Glinda and Elphaba. 

And finally, we saw many classic brand characters. Kevin the Carrot, Trevor & Connie, the M&S fairy and Mr. Peanut to name a few!

Looking across this year’s holiday ads, the takeaway is less about any single execution and more about the emotional direction brands chose to go in. The strongest campaigns focused on creating familiarity and feeling — using music, emotion, storytelling and well-loved cues to make people feel something quickly and effortlessly. 

For marketers, it’s a useful reminder that holiday advertising isn’t just about standing out, but showing up in a way that feels emotionally intuitive. When brands get that right, they don’t just win attention — they earn a place in seasonal rituals people already care about.