McCann Manchester’s Smyths ad tops YouTube ranking for most engaging Christmas campaign

smyths

McCann Manchester’s festive campaign for Smyths Toys has topped YouTube’s Christmas Ads Leaderboard, with John Lewis missing out on the top spot for the first time since 2016.

The campaign, ‘If the World Were a Toy’, transforms iconic landmarks into toys and is intended to show that despite a difficult year, Christmas is not cancelled.

Directed by Chris Balmond through Outsider, it was created by McCann Manchester and set to the tune of Beyonce’s If I Were a Boy. Media planning and buying was handled by Universal McCann in Manchester.

It’s chalked up 23million views on YouTube so far.

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Watch Smyths’ ad here


Bury-headquartered JD Sports came second on the list with its #JDWonderland ad, produced in-house, which features celebrities including Anthony Joshua, Rita Ora and Maya Jama.

And McCann UK’s latest Kevin the Carrot ad made Aldi the highest-ranked supermarket on the leaderboard, which measures the most engaging ads on the platform according to an algorithm based on watch time, organic views and audience retention.

Sports Direct’s “Sports starts here” ad, featuring Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson, was fourth, ahead of John Lewis’s  “Give a little love” effort.

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