And the Christmas adverts begin…

Is it just me or does it only seem a couple of months since last Christmas? Oh well got to love Christmas. All the extra time seeing friends and family, the food, fairy lights and of course the Christmas adverts. One of the most competitive times of years for brands and marketers. Everyone wants their advert to be the one everyone is talking about and if you remember my post about last years Christmas adverts there was a lot to talk about.

After last year good or bad we were bound to talk about Aldi and John Lewis’ Christmas adverts. With the return of Kevin the Carrot on a new adventure and the introduction to Excitable Edgar, there has been a lot of chatter on the internet.

There was a lot of praise for Aldi when Kevin came back to our screens. However, there were quite a few that were debating how much clothing Kevin and his family wear. To be honest I think people are just taking it a little bit too seriously. Aldi’s ads are just family fun, it’s just silly discussing that they are naked half the time. It’s not as if we see anything more than we would looking at a normal carrot.

This post isn’t about discussing whether Kevin the carrot and family are naked or not and if that’s even an issue though. I’m more interested in the clever banter that Aldi and John Lewis have had recently. Even if it is all in aid of marketing it’s nice seeing them have a little fun.

The witty Twitter exchange

The Twitter exchanged sparked after the release of John Lewis’ Christmas advert starring Excitable Edgar. Aldi who had already released their latest of Kevin the Carrot adventures was quick to pipe up with John Lewis’ use of a carrot.

At first, this could seem like Aldi was overreacting quite a bit. In truth, they were cleverly mocking the recent exchange between Tesco and Mel B.

The use of Mel B’s image seemed to have been blown way out of proportion by this demand posted on social media when she quickly backtracked.

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For the record, I just want to let everyone know about my Tesco Clubcard Plus involvement because there has been soo much fuss about it and soo many unfounded rumours. There was NEVER any issue about me being unhappy with my image being used and there was NEVER any issue about Tesco being given permission to use the image. I did this campaign for Women’s Aid to raise awareness and to raise funds. There was a miscommunication between some of the parties dealing with it but luckily Tesco has been amazing. Women’s Aid sadly lost funding a few weeks ago which was why I decided to do this campaign. I’m really pleased that Tesco understands how important Women’s Aid is to me, and has agreed to match my fee in donation to the charity. This money is a game-changer for them. It will keep their live chat line running for the next six months and all over Christmas. This service literally saves lives. One in four women are affected by domestic violence. I am never going to stop trying to help. Thank you Tesco. @womens_aid @tescofood

A post shared by Scary Spice Mel b (@officialmelb) on

John Lewis was clearly game for this mocking interaction with their response not only from themselves but encouraging Waitrose to join in.

Of course, Waitrose was happy to oblige and explained how Edgar has Kevin’s back.

The Twitter exchange certainly got everyone talking and very happy they are both friends. After all, we all love a happy ending.

Brief verdict

What is there to say really? As said by many already it’s a brilliant exchange to get everyone talking and it’s nice to see the retailers working together at such a competitive time of year. Personally I love a bit of good banter especially when it’s all in good taste although I’m not sure what Tesco and Mel B think to the retailers mocking their exchange. I suppose that’s the risk in airing your exchanges so publicly on social media.

I’ll be honest I don’t fully understand the exchange between Mel B and Tesco as it sounds quite fake. Like they did it for the publicity. If that is the case I think it’s even better than Aldi and John Lewis have teamed up to mock them.

I hope you have enjoyed my brief look into John Lewis and Aldi’s twitter banter. As always, I would love to see your comments below and I’m always up for a discussion on any of my blog topics if you want to drop me a message via LinkedIn or Instagram. What do you think of the way they’ve done this? Did you like the banter between the two brands?

Featured image courtesy of Manchester Evening News.

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