Aldi’s Christmas campaign recreates Home Alone with Kevin the Carrot

Kevin the Carrot has returned for his seventh Aldi Christmas campaign in a reimaging of the classic 1990 festive film Home Alone. It uses the film’s narrative to highlight its focus on the importance of family being together to celebrate this year.

Created with agency McCann UK, the 90-second ad picks up where Aldi’s teaser ad ‘Feast of Football’ left off earlier this week, with Kevin’s family running to board their flight to Paris for a Christmas holiday. However, Kevin has been left behind playing football with famous faces, as shown in the teaser.

Once seated on the plane, wife Katie – dressed conspicuously like mother Kate in Home Alone – shouts ‘Kevin!’ in alarm as she realises he isn’t with them.

The ad returns to Kevin alone at home, when he hears sounds which suggest an intruder. The animated carrot decides to take a stand and set up traps to defend his home across a table laden with a Christmas feast, reflecting the actions of the character Kevin McCallister in the 90s film.

At the close of the ad it is revealed that the intruder was Santa all along, and Kevin’s family did manage to make it back home to him in time for Christmas.

The narrator closes by calling on viewers to “make Christmas amazing for everyone”.

The ad also highlights Aldi’s partnership with food donation charity Neighbourly, with Kevin’s family stopping to donate to a Neighbourly stand in the airport and have a chat with brand ambassador Marcus Rashford, reimagined for a second year as Marcus Radishford.Aldi crowned 2021’s most effective Christmas ad

Airing for the first time on ITV tonight during I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, the ad will be supported by activity across digital, out of home, print, radio and social.

“It wouldn’t be the festive season without Kevin the Carrot on our TV screens,” says Aldi UK’s marketing director Adam Zavalis.

“Christmas celebrates the joy of being with loved ones and this year more than ever we all need a bit of light entertainment as we celebrate the season together.”

Aldi launched its 50-second teaser film on social media over the weekend, a recreation of the classic Nike ad for the 1998 World Cup in a nod to the unprecedented clash this year between Christmas and the first winter World Cup. The spot sees Kevin lament the clash of timing, before accidentally starting a kickabout in the airport with various famous footballers reimagined as fruit and vegetables.

According to marketing effectiveness research company System1, the teaser scored its top five star rating, indicating that the ad has strong potential to be effective over the short and long term. Aldi has become the first brand to achieve five star scores for four Christmases in a row, with Kevin the Carrot playing the lead role in each.

Last year’s ‘A Christmas Carrot’ was one of only two ads to score five stars. The supermarket subsequently reported its “best ever” festive sales result, up 0.4% in December compared to the same month in 2020, when grocery spending was unusually high due to pandemic lockdowns and bars and restaurants remaining closed.