2013 holiday ad extravaganza: Part 1

We don't do a 'secret santa' exchange here at Campaign Asia-Pacific. But we do exchange links to Christmas ads. This year we have such a large collection that we'll give you half today and half tomorrow. 

There's no overarching theme here. These ads or videos come from all over the world and take all kinds of approaches to capturing—or lampooning—the Christmas spirit. If you have favourites we missed, please let us know in the comments below, by tweeting @CampaignAsia, or commenting on Facebook. We'll include them tomorrow.

Let's kick things off Broadway style, shall we? Here's an over-the-top ad singing the praises of shopping for Christmas gifts at Duty Free in the Philippines. How can you resist?

Delta Airlines may be seen as a little less of a humourless corporate behemoth after this holiday-themed flight-safety video. It might not be up to the level of an Air New Zealand effort, but it rewards the attentive viewer with several good sight gags (can you spot the reindeer legs?), as well as a cameo by Alex Trebek and a funny reference to the second-best holiday movie ever made (after this one, of course).

Christmas falls in the midst of summer in Australia, which seems wrong for those of us from northern climes. But as this work for Bonds Australia shows, warm weather has its advantages. Where do we sign up for a visit from this group of carolers?

No one here in the office speaks Tagalog. But we don't have to in order to be moved by this ad for Jolibee.

Here's an effective piece of work for the Salvation Army in Australia, with a great contrast between the normalcy of the holiday meal set against the tragic backstories of some of the revelers. Even better is the way the biographies drop away partway through, allowing us to focus on the people as just that: people.  

We didn't know macaroni salad was a Christmas tradition, but after this ad we're all in on the idea. Not so sure about that antiquated "Lady's Choice" brand name though. 

You've probably seen this ad for Joe Boxer and Kmart in the US, but 16 million views is a ringing endorsement (see what we did there?), so we couldn't fail to include it here.

Harvey Nichols is not known for pulling punches when it comes to ads, and this year's commercial 'Sorry, I spent it on myself' is no exception. But you have to admit the retailer knows its audience.

We'll wrap things up for today with KFC's 2013 Christmas ad from the US. It's not only hilarious but also carries a challenging and appropriate message wrapped up in its dark humour.

Tune in tomorrow for even more holiday ads (and again, please ping us with any we may have missed, especially from Asia-Pacific).