Research into how social media users talked about this year’s Christmas ads has put Co-op top of the tree for favourable reception.
Co-op’s "Christmas is better together", created by Forever Beta, only launched on Saturday (1 December), a month after early starters such as Argos and Asda.
According to social media data company 4C, 84% of mentions of the ad were positive – some way ahead of second-placed Lidl, which attracted 79% positive mentions.
Last year, four advertisers scored more than 80% positive mentions (Marks & Spencer, Aldi, Boots and Apple), adding fuel to the theory that audiences are tiring of Christmas advertising.
4C also measured what it called the "social lift" seen by each advertiser – the difference between engagement with the brand in the five minutes before the ad was aired on TV and the five minutes after that.
John Lewis’ "The boy and the piano", by Adam & Eve/DDB, came top in this category, with a 135% rise in engagement. Tesco was second with 115%.
Again, there was a drop from last year, when first-placed Aldi recorded 152%, followed by Boots with 141%.
While Co-op came top for positive sentiment, it did not achieve a top 10 position for social uplift, while John Lewis was outside the top 10 for positive sentiment with only 62%.
Top 10 Christmas ads ranked by proportion of positive mentions
| Rank | Brand | Positive sentiment |
| 1 | Co-op | 84% |
| 2 | Lidl | 79% |
| 3 | Asda | 77% |
| 4 | Marks & Spencer | 77% |
| 5 | Boots | 76% |
| 6 | Morrisons | 75% |
| 7 | Coca-Cola | 74% |
| 8 | Waitrose | 74% |
| 9 | Sainsbury's | 72% |
| 10 | Amazon | 69% |
Top 10 Christmas ads ranked by increase in engagement
| Rank | Brand | Social uplift |
| 1 | John Lewis & Partners | 135% |
| 2 | Tesco | 115% |
| 3 | Aldi | 106% |
| 4 | Morrisons | 99% |
| 5 | Lidl | 95% |
| 6 | Asda | 89% |
| 7 | Argos | 89% |
| 8 | Boots | 84% |
| 9 | Marks & Spencer | 83% |
| 10 | Amazon | 73% |