'Tis The Season
The best Christmas ADs we've in 2025
Our favourite Christmas campaigns didn’t try to outdo each other with bigger budgets, louder stories or cinematic spectacle.
They did something much simpler, and much harder. They centred community.
Not “community” as a buzzword, but as something lived-in, recognisable and specific. People like us. Moments that already exist.
Here’s what caught our eye and why it worked.
JD Sports’ Where Are You Going?
JD Sports did not try to define or speak about Christmas at all. It asked a question instead.
Where are you going?
JD shot this project with 286 young people, told entirely through their eyes and on their own terms. The work brought together names like Skye Newman, Cole Palmer, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Nemzz and Jeremie Frimpong.
The question at the centre of the campaign already lives in real life. Said by parents, friends, coaches and partners. Sometimes encouraging. Sometimes challenging. Sometimes both at once.
By grounding the campaign in real voices and real ambition, JD made it feel current and lived in. The community here shows young people in motion and being trusted to tell their own stories without over-polishing it.
Sports Direct’s Just Getting Started
Sports Direct leaned into something very human this year. The idea that progress does not start with a big transformation, but with deciding to begin, cutting through the noise of “new year, new me” promises, 2026 resolutions, full life rebrands and 75 Hard routines flooding our timelines.
The campaign brought together a mix of old and new sports stars, including Conor Benn and Lioness Lauren James, alongside England footballer Michelle Agyemang, boxer and YouTuber and creator SV2.
But the most telling casting choice was not the athletes. It was the everyday heroes. Characters like “Sports Direct Nan”, in her Nike tech tracksuit and Everlast boxing gloves.
That’s community-building at its most honest. No polished transformation arc. Just shared experience. The kind that makes people feel seen rather than sold to.
Uber’s Close
Uber’s campaign worked because it understood something very real. Christmas is not joyful for everyone. For some people, it is exciting. For others, it comes with nerves, history and complicated feelings.
Close, Uber’s first national holiday film, follows a young woman on her way home from the airport to see her father. As she rides through the familiar streets of her hometown, it becomes clear that this trip carries more weight than a typical Christmas visit.
The campaign perfectly captures that in-between feeling. The mix of anticipation and uncertainty that comes with reconnecting, especially with a loved one. Uber stays in the background, quietly doing its job, letting the emotional moment take centre stage.
It is a simple reminder that getting home at Christmas can mean very different things to different people, and that being close is not always easy, but it still matters.
John Lewis’ Where Love Lives
John Lewis did exactly what it does best this year. Helping people say something they struggle to put into words.
The 2025 Christmas ad launched the new campaign Where Love Lives, built around a simple idea. If you cannot find the words, find the gift.
The film centres on a teenage son and his dad, with music becoming the language between them. A way of saying “I’m here”, “thank you”, and “I love you”, without having to say it out loud.
It felt new, but unmistakably John Lewis, they always smash Christmas Ads and this is no different.
Wingstop’s Gift Card Launch
So someone has clearly told Wingstop that we all want a black ‘flavour’ card so now they’ve given it to us…kinda.
For Christmas, Wingstop has launched a gift card for your loved ones. It’s so simple, but hinges on something we have all spoken about in our group chats.
“I need an 8 piece lemon pepper combo for the low", well now you have it.
The Pattern We Keep Seeing
Across every good campaign, the formula was surprisingly consistent:
One clear emotional insight
One recognisable visual, character or truth
Video content, rather than static images
No clutter. No trying to speak to everyone. No AI-generated people pretending to be human.
And that’s the lesson.
If you’re thinking about a Christmas campaign next year:
You don’t need a huge budget. You need clarity.
Pick one thing your audience actually feels. Build around it. Let them see themselves, authentically, and they’ll do the rest for you.
And this is not just a Christmas thing. It is simply good marketing.
If you loved this story, you’ll find more like it over on Instagram and LinkedIn, where we spotlight the campaigns and creatives driving change across industries.
Brillaint breakdown of what actually worked this year. The JD Sports campaign flipping the question back to the audience instead of telling them what to feel is such a subtle but powerfull move. I've run campaigns where we tried to script every emotion and they always fell flat compared to when we just let real moments breathe. That 286 person approach isnt scalable for most brands but the principle of trusting the subject to tell their own story absolutely is.