Dear partner,

“Tis the season, it's always the real thing
Holidays are coming
Holidays are coming...”

It’s 25 years since Coca-Cola’s trail of iconic twinkling delivery trucks were first seen on screen, bringing the magic of Christmas to the crowd-lined streets of snowy American towns. And since crossing the Atlantic, Coke’s “Holidays are coming” creative has been announcing the arrival of Christmas to British families for many years too.

In an unreal year, it’s encouraging to see Coke’s campaign for “the real thing” become the UK’s favourite Christmas ad of 2020, as judged by System 1’s creative effectiveness tracker this week. In fact, the majority of their top 10 list (which also included Disney+, DFS with Wallace & Gromit, and Aldi’s Kevin the Carrot) avoided the troubles of Covid altogether. Instead, they focused on messages of comfort and joy in the form of nostalgia, togetherness and Christmas magic.

It’s interesting that Coca-Cola’s star rating increased from 4.9 in 2017 to an exceptional 5.9 this year. It suggests that consumers not only turn to TV to wrap themselves in the emotional warmth of Christmas escapism, but they’re also hungry for a taste of the OLD normal. As the vaccines roll out, 2021’s path is lit by real hope, so we're looking forward to helping you bring some of that much needed normality back into consumers' lives.

Many thanks for bringing us into your plans this year and for your continued investment; we never take it for granted. We’ve aimed to be a good and supportive partner in 2020, and I hope we can be even more valuable by making 2021 a year of growth and re-ignition.

Holidays are indeed coming, so have a happy and restful break, and we’ll see you in January for a happier and healthier new year!

Kelly Williams,

MD, ITV Commercial