Seasonal Marketing Lessons from Aldi’s Christmas Ad

Aldi didn’t win Christmas advertising in 2025 by doing something “new”. It won by doing something recognisable.

Ipsos’ ‘Race to Christmas’ data (reported 19 Dec 2025) put Aldi back on top for ad recognition: 55% of the public recognised the latest instalment of its Kevin the Carrot trilogy from de-branded stills (so, no logo prompts), edging Waitrose on 53%. That’s not a creative trivia point. For UK small businesses, it’s a reminder that the ads people remember are usually the ones that repeat a clear idea across time.

This matters because January is when most small businesses set (or reset) their digital marketing plans. You’re staring at budgets, a content calendar, and the reality that you can’t outspend national brands. The good news: you don’t need to. Seasonal marketing works when you build memory, not when you chase novelty.

Below are the practical lessons worth stealing from Aldi’s festive strategy—translated into what a local service business, independent retailer, café, salon, trades business, or B2B provider can do with a realistic UK small business marketing budget.

What Aldi’s “most recognised” ad really signals

Ad recognition is a proxy for brand memory. If people recognise your campaign without seeing your name, your creative is doing its job—because it’s creating distinctive cues (characters, colours, tone, format) that stick.

Aldi’s tenth year of Kevin the Carrot is the point. It’s not just that the character is cute. It’s that Aldi has trained the market to connect a recurring cue (Kevin) with a seasonal moment (Christmas) and a brand promise (value and fun).

For small businesses, the equivalent isn’t a CGI carrot. It’s more like:

• The same visual style every season (consistent lighting, colours, templates)
• A recurring series format (weekly “Winter Warmers” posts, “12 Days of…” offers)
• A recognisable voice (the tone people quote back to you)
• A repeated promise tied to a seasonal need (last-minute gifting, emergency callouts, January resets)

If your marketing changes its personality every month, you’ll stay forgettable no matter how “busy” you are on social.

Branded vs de-branded recognition: the small business takeaway

Ipsos separates:

• De-branded recognition: “I’ve seen this ad before.”
• Branded recognition: “I’ve seen this ad and I know who it’s from.”

Aldi also topped branded recognition for a second week with 40%.

Your version of this: aim for customers to recognise your posts before they read your handle. That comes from repeating a few assets consistently:

• 1–2 brand fonts
• 2–3 brand colours
• A repeatable photo style (same corner of your shop, same backdrop, same angle)
• A single headline format (e.g., “This week’s [offer]”, “Before/After”, “3 things to know”)

It’s boring to create. It’s powerful in the market.

The “episodic” trick: why series-style campaigns outperform one-offs

Aldi ran a three-part festive trilogy. That’s episodic storytelling: not one big bang, but a sequence that keeps the audience oriented and builds familiarity week after week.

Small business seasonal advertising often fails because it’s a one-post wonder:

• “Merry Christmas!” on 20 December
• A discount graphic
• Silence until February

Instead, run a simple series customers can follow.

A small business seasonal campaign framework (steal this)

Pick one seasonal theme and execute it in three waves:

1. Awareness (2–3 weeks): Show the problem you solve in that season
2. Consideration (1–2 weeks): Demonstrate proof (reviews, before/after, behind the scenes)
3. Conversion (final 7–10 days): Clear offer + deadline + simple booking/buying steps

Examples:

• Independent café: “Winter Specials” (awareness), “Meet the baker” + ingredient story (consideration), “Pre-order collection slots” (conversion)
• Electrician/plumber: “Cold-weather callouts we see every January” (awareness), “Safety checklist + testimonials” (consideration), “Book your boiler service week” (conversion)
• Salon: “Party season hair prep” (awareness), “Client transformations” (consideration), “Last appointment blocks + deposits” (conversion)

The reality? A series is easier to plan than random content because you’re not reinventing the wheel every week.

“Good creative wears in” (and that’s a good thing)

The Ipsos commentary in the reporting points to ad refresh and reuse as a factor in effectiveness—brands are leaning into consistency and creative that “wears in”.

Small business translation: reuse your winners.

If a Reel performed well in November, don’t be precious. Re-cut it. Post a shorter version. Turn it into a carousel. Use it in email. Pin it to your profile. Make it an ad with a modest local radius.

If you only post something once, you’re behaving like the algorithm is your audience. Your audience is people—busy people—who miss most of what you publish.

The strategy that actually fits a small budget: subvert the season (slightly)

Ipsos’ take was that the most effective festive ads “subvert Christmas traditions without falling out of step with the festive spirit.” That’s a useful creative constraint for small businesses.

Don’t try to out-sentiment John Lewis. You’ll spend weeks chasing a cinematic vibe you can’t afford.

Instead, do a small, brand-right twist:

• A local shop: “Gifts under £15 that don’t feel like under £15” (value twist)
• A dog groomer: “Your dog’s Christmas photo won’t forgive you” (humour twist)
• A bookkeeper: “The ‘January panic’ prevention plan” (relief twist)
• A builder: “No, you can’t ‘just’ knock that wall through before Boxing Day” (truth-telling twist)

Subversion works when it’s anchored in something real your customers experience.

Practical idea: make one “signature seasonal asset” and repeat it

Big brands have characters. You can have a signature asset too:

• A consistent “staff pick” photo format
• A recurring mascot (even a simple illustrated icon)
• A signature shot (your product on the same table every time)
• A recurring phrase you own (not cringe—just consistent)

Then repeat it across:

• Instagram + Facebook
• Google Business Profile posts
• Email newsletter
• Your website homepage banner
• A paid social retargeting ad (even £3–£10/day)

That’s how you get recognition without national budgets.

Recognition isn’t the same as being the “favourite” (and your KPI should reflect that)

A key nuance in the Ipsos reporting: Waitrose remained the public’s favourite ad for weeks, even as Aldi led on recognition. Those are different jobs.

For small business digital marketing, map this to two different KPI sets:

• Recognition metrics: reach, video views, branded search lift, direct traffic, repeat views
• Response metrics: enquiries, calls, bookings, add-to-cart, quote requests

Most companies get this wrong: they run “brand” creative but judge it like a direct-response ad after 48 hours. Or they run a discount ad and expect it to build long-term memory.

Do both—just be honest about what each piece is meant to achieve.

A simple measurement plan you can run in January

You don’t need a data team. Track this weekly:

1. Google Business Profile: calls, direction requests, website clicks
2. Website: top landing pages + conversion actions (forms, bookings)
3. Paid ads (if used): cost per lead, frequency (are people seeing it enough?)
4. Branded search proxy: are more people searching your business name?

If recognition rises but leads don’t, your next fix is usually the offer and the path to purchase, not the creative.

How to apply this to your 2026 UK small business marketing calendar

January in the UK isn’t just “quiet season” for everyone. It’s a behaviour shift:

• People want resets (health, finances, home projects)
• Households feel cost pressure
• Attention moves from gifting to planning

So here’s the stance I’ll take: seasonal marketing isn’t a December tactic. It’s a year-round system.

Build your “seasonal engine” (4 steps)

1. Choose 6–8 seasonal moments that genuinely fit your business

   • Example set: Valentine’s, Easter, early summer, back-to-school, autumn, Black Friday (if relevant), Christmas, January reset

2. Create one repeatable campaign format

   • Example: “3-part series” (Awareness → Proof → Offer)

3. Reuse your distinctive cues

   • Same templates, same intro, same filming style, same hook structure

4. Plan distribution before you plan production

   • Where will it appear? Social, email, Google Business Profile, website, local partners?

When you do this, you stop relying on last-minute creativity and start building momentum—exactly what the big brands are doing, just at a different scale.

Snippet-worthy rule: If you want customers to remember you, repeat the same idea in more places, more often, for longer.

A quick “Kevin the Carrot” checklist for small business campaigns

Use this before you publish your next seasonal push:

1. Can someone recognise this as yours without reading your name?
2. Is this part of a series (or does it die as a one-off)?
3. Does the message match a real seasonal need (not just a date)?
4. Is the next step obvious in under 5 seconds? (Call, book, buy, DM, click)
5. Have you planned to repost/re-cut it at least twice?

If you can tick 4 out of 5, you’re ahead of most local competitors.

What to do next

If Aldi’s 55% de-branded recognition tells small businesses anything, it’s that consistency beats complexity. A recognisable seasonal campaign isn’t about bigger production. It’s about repeating a simple, brand-right idea until customers can spot it instantly.

As part of this British Small Business Digital Marketing series, I’d push you to treat seasonal marketing as an always-on capability: build a repeatable campaign format now, and by next Christmas you won’t be scrambling—you’ll be compounding.

What seasonal moment in your business calendar could you “own” this year with a simple three-part series—and what distinctive cue would you repeat until it becomes familiar?