S4 Ep29: A Red Star Christmas 2025 - The Best Christmas Ads of 2025

Which Christmas ads did Irish viewers love in 2025?

In this special Christmas edition of That’s What I Call Marketing, Conor Byrne is joined by Ciara Reilly from Red C Research, Linda Bradley (Head of Planning, Diageo Ireland), and Marc Smith (Global Director of Insights & Analytics, Mark Anthony Brands) to reveal the Top 20 Christmas Ads in Ireland, as ranked by real consumers on the Red Star testing platform.

We analyse the biggest festive campaigns of the season, including:

Tesco, SuperValu, Lidl, Spar, Sky Mobile, An Post, Vodafone, Boots, Dunnes Stores, Home Store + More, M&S, Woodie’s, Eason, Aldi, Amazon, and Coca-Cola.

Across the episode we explore:

• Why some Irish Christmas ads performed far better than expected

• The surprising gap between marketer opinion vs consumer reaction

• What emotional storytelling gets right and wrong at Christmas

• How branding, memory structures and fluent devices shaped the rankings

• Why consistency helped brands stand out

• The role of humour, reality, nostalgia and AI in this year’s festive campaigns

Whether you work in marketing, advertising, strategy, media, or creative, this deep dive into the best Christmas ads of the year reveals what truly resonates with audiences and what doesn’t.

🎄 Brands discussed: Tesco, SuperValu, Lidl, Spar, Sky Mobile, An Post, Vodafone, Boots, Dunnes Stores, Woodie’s, Home Store + More, M&S, Eason, Aldi, Amazon, Coca-Cola.

📍 CHAPTERS

03:03 The lowest ranked ads

05:18 John Lewis debate emotional truth vs emotional fit

07:41 Functional ads & the problem of “sameness”

13:28 Sea Swim: why it keeps winning hearts

15:27 Sky Mobile & the Roy Keane effect

17:23 National Lottery: a new less fun direction

21:25 An Post Tin: Man does the story need a new chapter?

23:33 M&S Food: when style overtakes substance

26:20 Home Store + More the surprise hit

27:56 Coca-Cola Holidays Are Coming (AI version)

30:56 Dunnes Stores Shine Bright: the craft that endures

32:50 Aldi & Kevin the Carrot: did they need a 3 parter?

36:00 Eason: an emotional standout

38:56 Amazon: a global festive story returns

41:54 Woodie’s crowned #1 in Ireland https://www.youtube.com/shorts/22prv5XcpSM

44:50 The panel’s all-time favourite Christmas ads

Check out the Red Star Testing Platform https://redcresearch.com/product/red-star/

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