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Lego’s festive spot “And I think to myself” is the UK’s most emotionally engaging Christmas ad of 2020 so far, according to Unruly.

The video adtech business is ranking the UK’s most captivating major Christmas ads, based on the emotional responses of 640 global consumers.

The toy brand’s winter campaign (created in-house by Lego’s creative team), which showcases Lego’s ability to encourage creativity to the tune of What a Wonderful World, gained an “intense emotional reaction” from 39% of viewers.

Amazon scored second spot with “The show must go on”, which pulled at the heartstrings of 38% of viewers, followed by Argos’ “An evening with AbracaDaisy & The Incredible Lucy” at 36%.

WWF’s elephant-starring spot “Elephant trail” ranked fourth (32%), while TK Maxx’s “The lil’ goat” and Very trailed behind at 31% and 30% respectively.

Pepsi Max snagged second-to-last with “Refresh your Christmas”, scoring 24%, followed by Facebook at 23%. All eight ads tested so far outpeformed the regional norm of 20%, however.

“Lego's ad is not only the most emotive Christmas ad of 2020 so far, but one of the most emotive Christmas ads we've ever tested in the UK,” Rebecca Waring, global VP of insights at Unruly, said.

“The most remarkable thing about Lego's ad is that it achieves such a strong response without any hint of ‘sadvertising’."

Waring continued: “This is completely in line with Lego's brand and with what UK consumers are looking for – our research shows that despite (or perhaps because of) mixed feelings about Christmas itself this year, people want ads that make them feel warm, happy, nostalgic and inspired. “ 

Waring noted that the ad to beat in terms of engagement is John Lewis’ 2013 spot “The bear and the hare”, which scored 48% among viewers.

Waring added: “We can already see that the emotional response to ads is significantly higher than usual this year (14% uplift versus last year). 

“Therefore, I have a feeling that some even more outstanding results could be around the corner when the next batch of ads is released.”

Unruly will update its rankings in the coming weeks with further ads released recently, such as Disney and Boots, and those yet to launch, including spots from John Lewis & Partners/Waitrose & Partners, Sainsbury's and Tesco.