By now we’re sure you’ve heard of Kevin the Carrot.
If you haven’t, where have you been?
Aldi’s loveable carrot is back this Christmas with another fun-filled adventure, ‘Kevin and the Christmas Factory’.
Jemma Townsend, Marketing Director at Aldi UK, said: “It wouldn’t be the festive season without Kevin the Carrot on our TV screens; we know our shoppers will love seeing him getting into the Christmas spirit as we welcome him back for his eighth year with us.”
According to System1’s Test Your Ad platform, ‘Kevin and the Christmas Factory’ is this year’s most effective UK Christmas advert.
Kevin has become synonymous with Christmas in the UK and continues to boost Aldi’s brand awareness and visibility.
So what lessons can we learn from Aldi’s Kevin the Carrot Christmas marketing campaign?
Adapt to what your audience want
Kevin is an anthropomorphic carrot voiced by Clive Davis.
In 2016, Kevin burst onto our TV screens as he made his way across a jam-packed Christmas dining table before clinging onto Santa’s sleigh.
This advert resulted in a 15.1% increase in sales and over 1 million new customers!
Initially, Aldi had no intention of bringing Kevin back. After seeing how much audiences liked and responded to Kevin (and his escapades), Aldi couldn’t miss the opportunity.
Eight years later, Aldi’s decision and consistency has led to –
- Boost in brand awareness and visibility
- Improved brand reputation
- New customers
- Increased sales
- A loyal fanbase
And, every year audiences can’t wait to see what trouble Kevin gets himself into.
Tell stories
As marketers, we know storytelling can make your brand and its marketing easier to digest and more memorable.
92% of consumers prefer an advert that makes product promotion feel like a story – so no wonder we love Kevin!
Aldi combines fantastic storytelling with product placement in adverts that showcase their products without feeling like a hard sell. Whatever Kevin’s up to, Aldi’s delicious Christmas range is in sight but doesn’t take away from the magic!
To keep Kevin’s story fresh and exciting, Aldi creates new adventures every year. These stories are lighthearted, full of seasonal spirit, and suitable for the whole family to bring everyone together at Christmas.
Kevin’s extended story keeps audiences engaged year on year. From stumbling onto the midnight express to fighting a wicked parsnip, Kevin’s done it all.
Aldi have even put their own twist on Christmas classics and family favourites like The Greatest Showman, Home Alone, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Over time, audiences have developed an emotional connection to Kevin and watched his story evolve – he’s gone from a lonesome carrot to a husband and father!
Take your marketing on and offline
Aldi’s cheeky social media strategy is one that we love, it helps the supermarket stay relevant and spark conversation.
On Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Twitter, Aldi shares hysterical Kevin related content to create anticipation in the run up to the campaign and generate buzz after its release.
This year on TikTok, Aldi partnered with viral hooded dancing duo Brooke and Jessie to get the campaign in front of a younger, Gen Z audience.
In a video that’s hit 3.8 million views, Brooke and Jessie are joined by a flash mob of Plumty Dumpty’s as they dance to ‘The Plumty Dumpty Song’.
Don’t we all look forward to our Spotify Wrapped? We’ve seen more and more businesses creating their own customised versions to share with their audiences and Aldi haven’t missed a trick.
On Facebook, Aldi shared a daring Plumty Dumpty themed Wrapped. The post wracked up thousands of ‘Haha’ reactions, hundreds of shares, praise for Aldi’s hilarious content, and requests to see Kevin’s Wrapped.
Having proven extremely popular, Aldi took Kevin offline and into stores.
In 2022, over 70,000 fans queued online and hundreds outside stores to get their hands on Kevin the Carrot toys and merchandise.
As well as increasing revenue, the merchandise generated a huge amount of user-generated content (UGC) as fans took to social media to share pictures of their merchandise.
Have some festive fun
Whilst there’s no doubt that it’s important to shine a light on more serious issues at Christmas, it’s okay to have fun too!
Kevin captures our hearts because he’s fun and playful. With fairytale-esque adventures and adorable characters, Aldi have positioned themselves as a friendly brand that’s suitable for the whole family.
What’s Kevin up to this year?
On November 6th, Aldi launched ‘Kevin and the Christmas Factory’.
In the advert, five lucky winners enter William Conker’s Magical Christmas Factory.
Accompanied by Grate Grandpa, Kevin ventures into the factory and encounters mischievous characters including Spoilt Little Sprout, Greedy Gluttonous Grape, and Plumty-Dumptys’.
Humorous and charming, this Willy Wonka inspired advert echoes the importance of coming together at Christmas with the concluding message: ‘Seasonal goodwill was truly in the air as Christmas is a time that’s sweeter when you share.’
Want to hear more about some of our favourite Christmas campaigns?
In a festive special of The Girls in Marketing Podcast, we sit down to discuss some of the team’s favourite Christmas marketing adverts of 2023.
From heartfelt charitable ads to light-hearted supermarket skits, we cover a broad range of Christmas ads! So grab a cosy cup of something warm and listen to this exclusive edition of The Girls in Marketing Podcast.
We’ll be back with a brand-new season in January with a new episode every week and some guests you won’t want to miss!
All rights reserved to © Aldi Stores Limited 2023 who own the idea and concept of Kevin The Carrot and surrounding ads.
