Consumer awareness of supermarket Christmas advertising campaigns is down year on year, Kantar data shared exclusively with The Grocer has revealed.
The number of Brits who recall having seen, heard or read advertising for supermarket brands when prompted during the festive period has dropped each year since 2022, the data shows.
“The golden quarter is an incredibly tricky time for brands to stand out against the festive noise,” said Helen Rowe, brand guidance consultant at Kantar.
Asda, Aldi, Lidl, Waitrose, M&S have all seen awareness of their seasonal ads diminish each year, while Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Co-op and Morrisons have seen awareness fluctuate year to year. All are tracking to hit lower levels of awareness this Christmas period than last.
“We’ve seen more businesses this year reusing or adapting existing Christmas ads to stick in people’s minds, which can be really powerful,” Rowe said. “But driving awareness is about where people interact with a campaign too and, with audiences fragmenting, non-TV channels are growing in importance.”
The Kantar data shows social media, the printed press, and radio were “now carrying more of the load as audiences fragment”, with consumers more likely to recall experiencing supermarket Christmas advertising campaigns on the channels this December compared with last December.
“While television is still incredibly important for landing a central idea and making it famous, non-traditional media formats are doing more of the heavy lifting in terms of magnifying and extending the impact of campaigns,” Rowe said.
“Understandably, social media’s role is increasing – our latest data shows that socials are contributing as much as 13% cut-through with consumers. Surprisingly, more traditional media like the press is also having a greater impact than a year ago,” Rowe told The Grocer.
“To keep up in the fight for eyeballs – and wallets – retailers must deliver connected, consistent, yet tailored brand messaging and storytelling across different channels,” she added.
Some supermarkets are securing eyeballs online more effectively than others, with M&S Food clocking up more views of its Christmas advert on YouTube than any other, according to separate data shared with The Grocer by the video platform.
M&S this week hit 220.2 million views of its various Christmas campaign videos on YouTube, close to three times as many video views than the second-highest reach supermarket Waitrose (75.7 million views).
Sainsbury’s (61.1 million), Tesco (36 million), and Aldi (13.9 million) rounded out the top five in the most viewed ranking.
YouTube said many supermarkets were dedicating a considerable portion of their ads to the shorter form Shorts format this year. Nearly half of M&S’s ad views originate from Shorts, “proof that creativity is alive and sleighing” YouTube said.
“Christmas advertising isn’t just an industry moment any more, it’s a cultural one,” said Sophie Neary, UK managing director of retail & consumer packaged goods, at YouTube owner Google.
“YouTube has become the epicentre of Christmas culture in the UK, where people come not just to watch, but to talk about, share, and celebrate the ads that define the season,” she added.
According to Google, 47 million people in the UK tune into YouTube each month, with 51% of UK adults watching YouTube videos on a TV screen. They watch for an average of 36 minutes per day, making YouTube the most popular commercial platform for connected TV watchtime.
While supermarkets channel huge resource into Christmas campaigns, a survey of 2,000 consumers, commissioned by customer engagement platform Braze, found nearly one in three (29.8%) say Christmas ad campaigns make them “feel nothing at all”, while just one in five (21.6%) feel inspired or excited to shop by them.
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