Lidl emphasises power of sharing in 2024 Christmas ad

Lidl has launched its 2024 Christmas ad, which emphasises the power of sharing festive joy as the retailer reopens its Toy Bank charity scheme.

The ad opens with scenes of children sledging, except for one little boy who is on the sidelines, appearing cold without a hat. One of the sledging girls (kitted out in Lidl’s brand colours of blue and yellow) is shown looking at him with concern.

In the next scene, the same little girl is shown helping an elderly woman who drops her bags. The woman gives the girl a set of bells and tells her to make a wish when they ring.

A family Christmas dinner scene is then shown, with all of the family making wishes. A plate of Brussels sprouts turn into biscuits, a giant gingerbread man arrives at the door, and a toy raccoon comes alive (eagle-eyed viewers will spot it’s the same raccoon that starred in the 2023 Lidl Christmas advert).

When it comes to the little girl, she makes a wish to share the Christmas spirit, and send her present of a new Lidl-branded Christmas hat to the little boy she had seen earlier in the day.

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The ad, created by Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper, is designed to celebrate sharing and the true spirit of Christmas, as Lidl opens its Toy Bank scheme for 2024.

From now until the 16 December, Lidl shoppers can drop off new and unopened toys to be distributed locally to children of all ages who may not have otherwise received a gift at Christmas. This year, Lidl is aiming to donate 100,000 toys to these children. The supermarket has been running the scheme since 2022.

While the raccoon from last year’s ad makes a brief reappearance in this year’s ad, the supermarket has opted not to go all out in reusing the character, unlike some other brands. So far, Argos has brought back brand characters from last year and TK Maxx has relaunched its 2023 ad featuring festive farm characters.

Rival discounter Aldi, which is yet to release its Christmas ad, rolled out its Kevin the Carrot character for a seventh time last year.

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Lidl will be looking to match, if not beat, its previous ad from last year. According to System1’s ad testing platform, the brand’s 2023 effort scored an “exceptional” 5.8 stars. The star rating predicts the long-term brand building potential of an ad.

While, ordinarily, 5.8 stars would put any ad significantly above its competition, the score put Lidl in ninth place in System1’s ranking of 2023 Christmas campaigns. Aldi took first place with the return of Kevin the Carrot.

The festive season has become the most competitive time for UK advertising. Equally, it is just as competitive in the supermarket sector, with the last few cost of living-marred years providing boosts to the discount retailers, Lidl and Aldi.

For some time now, Aldi has sat as the UK’s fourth biggest supermarket, with Lidl remaining in sixth. However, according to the most recent Kantar supermarket sales data, Lidl is now growing its sales significantly quicker than Aldi.

Lidl grew its total sales by 8.8% year-over-year in the 12 weeks to 29 September, while Aldi saw its sales grow by 1.8% in the same period. Lidl achieved record market share earlier this year. Both discounters will be hoping they can win this festive season.

Lidl’s 2024 Christmas ad premieres today (3 November) on ITV1 during primetime TV.