A Disney short film about a little girl whose doodle comes to life after Santa mistakes her drawing for a Christmas wish is the most emotionally engaging ad of the festive season. That’s according to analysis from DAIVID, which used its AI-powered creative testing platform to identify the Yuletide campaigns that sparked the most intense positive emotions among viewers.

Best Christmas Ever, directed by Academy Award winner Taika Waititi, finished top of DAIVID’s festive rankings after generating an intense positive emotional response from nearly six in 10 viewers (58.2 per cent) – the highest of any Xmas ad this year.

The ad finished top after generating more than twice the intense feelings of adoration (+169 per cent), nostalgia (+149 per cent), warmth (+125 per cent) and joy (+115 per cent) than the average ad.

That put it just ahead of Waitrose’s rom-com inspired The Perfect Gift, starring Keira Knightly and Joe Wilkinson, and John Lewis’ Where Loves Lives – the most emotionally-engaging festive campaign from the retailer in almost a decade – in second and third places respectively.

Festive spots from Lego and Tesco make up the rest of the top 5 places. Other brands to feature in the top 10 include Gap, Walmart and Barbour. Ads from Asda (11th), Aldi (13th), Sainsbury’s and M&S Food (joint 14th) just missed out.

Ian Forrester, CEO and founder at DAIVID, said: “The festive period is a special time of year – a season of feelings when we are more likely to think with our hearts than our heads. For brands, this means there’s no greater opportunity to make an emotional connection with their audiences, as long as they create the right content. Disney does just that with a beautiful story that proves the holidays are all about heart. Of course, this is something that John Lewis knows all too well. For years, the retailer set the standard for emotional advertising, making it a fixture in the Yuletide calendar and it’s great to see them return this year with their most emotionally engaging ad for over a decade. Where Love Lives is beautifully told and an incredible addition to the John Lewis Christmas canon.”

Other posts by :

1. Musk delays Moon landing until 2027
2. Hughes Satellite facing cash crunch
3. Major banks support AST SpaceMobile
4. Fitch downgrades DirecTV debt
5. BBC: You’ll miss me when I’m gone
6. Some new US Starlink subs face $1,000 start-up fee
7. Project Kuiper beating OneWeb
8. OQ Tech gets Luxembourg 5G-by-Sat concession
9. Roskosmos: Heads roll, launch project scrapped

Categories: Advertising, Articles, Research

Tags: AI, Christmas, david, Disney, Lego