Christmas Spirit in the Year's Last "Reklamebørs" – The Christmas "Reklamebørsen"

In recent years, the final Ad Exchange of the year has been a dedicated Christmas Ad Exchange, and this year was no exception. Eight new Christmas commercials were joined by two comeback commercials to see who could deliver best on efficiency, branding, liking, and overall score. And as it should be in a Christmas Ad Exchange, we made room for a question about who delivered the most Christmas spirit 

As we often see in the Christmas Ad Exchange, there was a lot of good cheer this year too, and after a couple of months of positive trends and rising liking for Norwegian commercials, the advertising year 2025 ended with a bang! Not since the Christmas Ad Exchange in 2020 have we seen a higher average liking score in a round of The Ad Exchange. Merry Christmas!

Results from The Ad Exchange for December 2025 The following commercials were tested in The Ad Exchange for December:

Round's overall winner – Positive Brand Awareness  - Obs Bosse Jul

Obs secured victories in both awareness and overall score when they launched Bosse in November. In their second attempt, they take it a step further, and with the highest (and most efficient) awareness and second places in both branding and liking, Obs and Bosse secure their second overall victory in two attempts.

With 29 percent positive brand awareness, Obs simultaneously secures first place in the overall score for the advertising year 2025 with the year's strongest positive brand awareness.

Congratulations!

Round's winner – Advertising Awareness Obs - Bosse Jul 

Despite significantly lower media pressure than at its launch, a full 68 percent remember noticing this commercial, which is 6 percentage points MORE than at

its launch in November. Bosse and Obs thus secure their second awareness victory in two attempts, while Coca-Cola's latest (AI) version of "Holidays are coming" ensures Christmas spirit with a strong second place and 66 percent awareness.

Round's winner – Efficiency Obs - Bosse Jul 

Obs not only delivers high awareness, but it also delivers exceptionally efficient awareness relative to TV exposure. In fact, more people believe they have seen Obs’ Christmas commercial than those who have actually been exposed to the commercial on TV in December.

The commercial has undoubtedly delivered very effectively, even with strong support from other channels, and even if some of it might be spillover from the launch commercial in November. Simply put, very strong results for Obs and Bosse.

Round's winner – Branding Coca-Cola - Holidays are coming 

Never have more people found it VERY easy to remember the sender than for Coca-Cola's Christmas commercial!

Coca-Cola undoubtedly holds a special position concerning Christmas advertising, and various versions of "Holidays are coming" with the Christmas truck have been an (almost) fixed Christmas tradition on Norwegian TV screens in the weeks leading up to Christmas since 1995 (first measured in The Ad Exchange in 2007). Thus, it is perhaps not surprising that a full 77% believe it was VERY easy to remember who this advertisement was for.

Round's winner – Liking Tine - The Barn Santa main commercial 

When Tine launched The Barn Santa in 2017, they not only delivered the most liked commercial that year; the launch of The Barn Santa still stands as the most liked Christmas commercial in The Ad Exchange's almost 20-year history.

When Tine this year gave us a reunion with The Barn Santa, it was in a heavily cut 30s version (vs. 60s for the full version in 2017). Whether a less emotional format causes the commercial to score somewhat (8 percentage points) weaker than in 2017 is unknown, but it still secures a very strong liking victory in this year's Christmas Ad Exchange, by a relatively solid margin.

Round's winner – Most Christmas Spirit Coca-Cola - Holidays are coming 

No one creates Christmas spirit like Coca-Cola! Christmas is about traditions, and this year, like last year, it's Coca-Cola and an AI version of "Holidays are coming" that clearly creates the most Christmas spirit in Norwegian homes.

Among both men and women, there is no doubt, and among the population aged 15+, a full 43 percent believe it is Coca-Cola's commercial that creates the most Christmas spirit. The Barn Santa comes closest, and perhaps he would have created even more Christmas spirit if he had been allowed to visit every Christmas in the same way as the Coca-Cola truck?

(Other) commercials deserving special mention: Coca-Cola – Holidays are coming 

That many appreciate "Holidays are coming" became clear both when the decision was made NOT to run the commercial on Norwegian TV screens in 2021 and not least when Coca-Cola created a new version using AI in 2024. This move garnered much criticism, but the commercial was nevertheless very well received among "the general public." With 36 percent positive liking, the commercial scored significantly stronger than all tested versions of "Holidays are coming" in The Ad Exchange. And: It created the most Christmas spirit.

This year, Coca-Cola has listened to feedback from last year and dropped AI-generated people and faces in favor of more AI-generated animals. The result? Exactly the same number of people like this year's commercial as last year's, while the proportion who liked it less than other advertising increased somewhat. But perhaps most importantly:

This year, like last year, it is Coca-Cola that creates the most Christmas spirit among this year's Christmas commercials. And it does so supremely. Christmas is about traditions, and what is more traditionally Christmassy than a decorated Christmas truck?

Posten – When Harry met Santa 

Similar to Tine (The Barn Santa), Posten also brought out a commercial from the archives to generate positive attention for the brand during the pre-Christmas season.

Christmas is peak season for parcel post, and Posten has created several "major" Christmas commercials to remind Norwegians of their important role in recent years. "When Harry met Santa" was created for Christmas 2021, and although it is not the most liked of Posten's Christmas commercials (the commercials from 2020 and 2023 scored even stronger), it secured second places in awareness, liking, and overall score that year.

Now that the commercial has been brought out again, the proportion who like it better than other advertising has fallen somewhat, from 35 percent in 2021 to 30 percent this year. As before, the commercial is liked much better among women than men, but it is among women that liking has fallen over the past 4 years, from 45 percent in 2021 to 35 percent this year. And while liking is largely unchanged among those 40+, it has clearly fallen among those under 40, and by a full 19 percentage points from 47% to 28% if we isolate those under 30 years old.