The best way to spread Christmas cheer, is giving us Buddy in early November

We’ve barely had time to toss the pumpkins away, and the annual Christmas retail advert extravaganza has been slapped in our faces.

But don’t act like you’re not all for it. Unless you’re a super grinch, what better way to warm the cockles than a bit of Christmas cheer? Especially when we’re desperately trying to fend off putting the heating on.

Yes, it’s early (yet still blessedly mild) November and already Sainsbury’s, Lidl and M&S have released their festive ads. There’s much debate around ‘who wins’ each year but, and as mentioned in our latest Pic Quiz, there’s already seemingly a crowned champion for 2022 – and that’s without John Lewis releasing its advert yet.

The beloved Buddy from the 2003 festive hit ‘Elf’ has made a comeback after a 19-year hiatus, this time swapping the bright lights of New York for the aisles of a UK supermarket – ASDA.

Year on year, we’ve seen these behemoth retail brands fight it out to win over our hearts – and money – each winter. From Coca Cola’s ‘Holidays are coming’ in 1995 to Aldi’s Kevin the Carrot in 2017, we’ve been graced with some powerful adverts that play on our emotions, and, more importantly, for those who give us them, get you talking about the brand.

And that’s exactly what ASDA has done this year by giving us a festive sucker punch of nostalgia. I was 11 years old when Elf hit the screens, and it was an instant hit – and still is today. By reprising Will Ferrell’s role in advert form, albeit digitally (but we don’t need to go into that), the supermarket brand has been going viral. Heck, I don’t even know what/who stars in the other retail adverts released at the same time – that’s the power of reintroducing a beloved children’s movie character into a brand’s messaging.

I’m sure (just like every year to be fair), we’ll be sick of Buddy’s antics before we even get to December, but for now, I have to take my hat off to ASDA and its marketing team. They’ve gobbled up the competition from the offset and I’m already betting this will be one of the adverts spoken about in years to come.

In my book, ASDA got it right this year; the best way to spread Christmas cheer is giving us Buddy in early November. Well, that’s what my little tinseled heart thinks anyway.