What a gem of December commercials came by last month! Beautiful images with people who care about each other, laughter, conviviality and tears. Dutch TV viewers have chosen: what were the best December commercials of 2020? Every year this is a big battle and the panel on commercialreview.nl can choose what the best and most striking commercials are. This year, 19 commercials were registered and almost 8,000 reviews were received with many interesting and educational responses. In this column we discuss the best December commercials.

The winner: Staatsloterij with New Year's Eve draw – Frummel, designed by TBWANEBOKO with a beautiful score of 8.6. This commercial stood head and shoulders above the rest this year and really appealed to viewers. In the commercial we see an old man who buys a black kitten, which in this case actually brings good luck. The beautiful outcome is that the old man shares the happiness and grants it to a young couple who are expecting a child soon. This message caused a lump in the throat of many viewers and went down very well. These words from one of our reviewers sum up the commercial very well: “Love, happiness, friendship and taking other people into account.” We congratulate the Staatsloterij and TBWANEBOKO on the wonderful result and first place!

This year, Kruidvat finished at number two with the Christmas gift commercial, designed by DDB Unlimited, with a score of 8.2. This commercial from Kruidvat is very much appreciated by viewers in which a young girl gives her old neighbor a merry Christmas by wanting to help him, Santa Claus. What is most appreciated in this commercial is its alignment with the current times when distance must be kept and that two generations are clearly shown who encounter and help each other. Kruidvat responds to this with this commercial and shows that this does not have to stop you from caring about others. In addition to this almost exclusively positive feedback, it is often stated that viewers had missed the fact that this commercial is from Kruidvat. There is a strong link missing with Kruidvat, which means that many people may not link these beautiful thoughts to Kruidvat. This is a possible area for improvement.

The Etos commercial came in a nice third place. This commercial with the title 'Beautiful what something small can do' was designed by TBWANEBOKO in collaboration with production company PlusOne Amsterdam and scores an 8.1. In this beautiful animation video we see a creative solution from a young girl to have a gift purchased at Etos delivered to an older woman with a wish balloon. This allows her to keep her distance and adhere to the Corona measures while looking out for other lonely people. This commercial also responds well to the current times, reflects the concern for each other well and is appreciated because it is somewhat different from most other commercials since this is an animation video. These words from one of the reviewers sum it up well: “Loneliness: with a small gesture you can make someone happy, take care of each other”

In the supermarket category, the participating commercials finished very close to each other and almost all scored very well. We would like to compliment all supermarkets with this, as rarely are all commercials rated so well! Yet there is a close winner: the commercial “Good food is eating together” from PLUS scored an 8.1. This commercial was designed by Wunderman Thompson and received many positive reviews. This is mainly because many things come together in this commercial: cultural differences, generational differences, people who have to continue working during the holidays and looking out for each other. These words summarize the commercial and the message well: “Beautiful bright spots in these dark days and pay attention to the people who continue to work during the holidays.”

This is followed by Albert Heijn's commercials with “At Albert Heijn you will find everything for a special Christmas.”, designed by TBWANEBOKO, and those of Jumbo with “A beautiful Christmas for everyone”, designed by Alfred International. Both commercials score an 8 and are therefore on the same level, just behind the winner. These commercials are also highly appreciated by many viewers because of the beautiful messages of looking out for each other, fun and good food during the Corona crisis.

Right behind these two commercials comes Lidl's December commercial, designed by Joe Public Amsterdam, with a 7.7. This is followed by the Coop commercial, designed by GUC Agency. This commercial scores a 7.5.

We congratulate the winners and really enjoyed the beautiful December commercials. Many of the other participating commercials also received positive feedback. For example, the promotion organized by Aviko and announced in the commercial was well appreciated, the typical Bol.com humor was very successful and Praxis also did well with the now well-known characters. We hope that this new year will offer many new perspectives and that the creative industry will also be able to make many wonderful commercials again. We are ready and looking forward to lots of creativity! Best wishes to you all!