LONDON – November 18, 2025 – Waitrose’s romantic-comedy inspired Christmas ad starring Keira Knightly and comedian Joe Wilkinson is the most emotionally engaging retail ad of the festive season.
That’s according to new analysis from DAIVID, which used its AI-powered creative testing platform to identify the Yuletide campaigns from retailers that sparked the most intense positive emotions among viewers.
“The Perfect Gift”, created by Wonderhood Studios, finished top of DAIVID’s festive rankings after generating an intense positive emotional response from nearly six in 10 viewers (56.1%) – the highest of any Xmas ad from retailers this year.
As well as being almost six times more romantic than the average ad, the campaign was also twice as likely to make viewers feel intense warmth (+111%), adoration (+104%) and joy (+100%).
That puts it just ahead of John Lewis’ “Where Love Lives”, a heartwarming story of a teenage boy who uses music to reconnect with his father, in second spot. Created by Saatchi & Saatchi, the ad generated intense positive emotions from 55.8% of viewers, making it 15% more likely to generate positive emotions than the average ad – and the most emotionally engaging John Lewis Xmas ad since 2016’s “Buster The Boxer”.
Lego’s “Is It Play You’re Looking For”, Gap’s “Give Your Gift” and Tesco’s “That’s What Makes It Christmas” make up the rest of the top 5. Other brands to feature in the top 10 include Walmart, Burberry, Barbour and Asda. Ads from Aldi, Sainsbury’s and M&S Food just missed out.
Top 10 Most Emotionally Engaging Christmas ads from retailers 2025
Rank | Brand | Campaign | % of viewers likely to feel intense positive emotions |
|---|---|---|---|
1. | Waitrose | 56.1% | |
2. | John Lewis | 55.8% | |
3. | Lego | 55.0% | |
4. | Tesco | 54.4% | |
5. | Gap | 53.7% | |
6. | Walmart | 53.5% | |
7. | Crayola | 53.4% | |
8. | Burberry | 53.1% | |
9. | Barbour | 53.0% | |
10. | Asda | 52.7% |
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 retail brands, this means there’s no greater opportunity to make an emotional connection with their audiences, as long as they create the right content. Waitrose captured that perfectly this year with ‘The Perfect Gift’ – a beautifully crafted, romantic story that resonates deeply with audiences.
“It’s also great to see John Lewis in second place. 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.”