“Would it even be Christmas without Kevin the Carrot on our screens?”

Jemma Townsend, Marketing Director at Aldi UK, poses this festive question as the budget retailer brings back Kevin the Carrot for the ninth consecutive year ahead of the key festive trading period.

The campaign, which launched on Monday 4th November, was created by McCann complete with a teaser campaign promising that ‘the Christmas spirit is here!’ The retailer subsequently removed Kevin from outdoor ads and released spoof footage showing humbug characters stealing the spirit of Christmas. A tease designed to urge shoppers to ask: “Where is Kevin?”.

A question answered by the new campaign, which opens in a festive snowy village on Christmas Eve, but it soon transpires something is going on as a black and white van screeches into view. A series of humbug characters appear to capture the ‘Christmas Spirit’ before zooming off leaving the once glowing village in darkness.

Luckily, Santa has Kevin the Carrot on speed dial. He wakes him to give him his assignment: break into the Humbug Headquarters and outsmart Dr Humbug and her humbug minions to get the ‘Spirit of Christmas’ back.

Using cunning disguises and a case with a ‘false bottom’, Kevin and his wife Katie carefully avoid a series of dangerous situations to save the day. Culminating in the lesson learned by the humbugs: ‘Christmas is better when goodwill is returned’.

Kyrsten Halley, Marketing Director at Aldi UK, explained: “While the ad is packed with the light-hearted entertainment our shoppers have come to know and love, the message behind the campaign is a more serious one — we want to make sure everyone can have the best Christmas possible. It’s why we have a big focus on quality this Christmas, while making sure our prices continue to be unbeatable.”

Dave Price, Chief Creative Officer at McCann, added: “Wow, year 9 for Kevin the Carrot! I remember when he was just a little leafy shoot in the McCann veg plot! How he’s grown. This year’s ad is a bit of a blockbuster, as Kevin goes on a quest to rescue the Christmas Spirit. Once again Todd and Kylie, and all the team at Psyop have done an incredible job in bringing this story to life. 9 years have flown! But we think Kevin’s got a good few assignments to crack yet.”

Nine years in and Kevin is still showing no signs of that ‘difficult second album’ syndrome that plagues so many creative icons. The consistency and longevity of the supermarket’s unexpected icon underlines the ability of brands to utilise creative storytelling to build nostalgia, trust and festive buzz.