The Holiday Ads That Won Christmas

Each year, U.S. retailers make an effort to capture the attention of the public with a holiday ad campaign designed to make shoppers think of their brand when they're out shopping. While humor tends to go over well on social media during other times of the year, this holiday season most ads appeared to be focused on connecting emotionally with consumers.

One important metric for holiday advertisers is the amount of sharing the campaign receives on social media. By posting their ads on YouTube, retailers give consumers a chance to watch their ads multiple times as well as sharing their favorites with friends. This year,

from Socialbakers showed that

produced the most watchable ad, with its "The Wish Writer" commercial receiving 8.1 million views. However,

arguably won in this category as four of its commercials made it into the top ten, garnering more than 15 million views.

While view count and sharing is an important part of holiday ad campaigns' success, ads that have a favorable impact on consumers could be even more essential. Ad research firm Ace Metrix

377 of this year's holiday ads to see how they were received by a sample audience of over 500 people. The firm used criteria like attention, information and likability to rank the ads from most effective to least effective. The firm found that Toys R Us' "Exactly What You Wish For" was the most attention grabbing while discount retailer Kmart's "The Giving Hat" was most informative. TJX Companies

'

"Bring Back The Holidays" came in at most relevant while the most liked ad was

's

Grandma's Cookies brand with "Santa & Grandma's Cookies Deliver Holiday Magic."