Aldi Christmas advert 2026: Kevin the Carrot returns for an 11th year to find Cauli Dog

Kevin the Carrot is back for an 11th Christmas. Aldi released its 2026 Christmas advert today, a 50-second film from McCann Manchester in which Kevin and his daughter Chantenay go looking for their lost dog, Cauli Dog. Aldi’s key art titles it Kevin the Carrot and the Christmas Wish, and it sticks with the narrated storybook style the series has used since 2016.

The work

A ten-second teaser went up on Aldi UK’s YouTube channel on Monday, with Chantenay wishing for nothing more than Cauli Dog, and it had passed two million views there by Thursday. In the full film the pair follow a trail of paw prints through a snowy forest, past a Santa scarecrow, and it leads them back home. Cauli Dog turns up inside a Christmas cracker on a crowded dinner table, as Marketing Week reported, before the brand line “All you want for Christmas”.

Kristin Sonfield, marketing director at Aldi UK, said Kevin had become “a much-loved part of Christmas for so many families”. Aldi has posted a 30-second cut alongside the full film, and the campaign keeps the Christmas range at the centre through that final table.

The bigger story sits behind the camera. Aldi said in October that it was ending its 21-year relationship with McCann Manchester after a creative review, and will move to a new agency next year, though no end date has been confirmed. Dave Price, McCann Manchester’s chief creative officer, admitted he once thought the agency would “get 2 or 3 years out of him at best”.

Why it matters

Kevin is the clearest case in British Christmas advertising for sticking with a character. Our review of ten years of Kevin the Carrot called it the most effective Christmas campaign of the past decade on published evidence, and last year’s wedding film came third in our Christmas adverts 2025 ranking. Decision Marketing noted that most retailers are following the same logic this year, building on recurring characters and assets.

This year’s film plays it safe, with a simple quest, a warm ending and no new twist on the format. The cracker reveal is the smartest touch, landing the lost dog and the Christmas food in the same shot. That caution makes sense for what may be McCann Manchester’s last Kevin film.

The real question is 2027. Aldi owns the carrot, but a new agency will want to put its own stamp on the brand, and Kevin works because nobody has tampered with him. Watch whether Aldi tells its next agency to keep the carrot or to find the next one.

See every UK Christmas advert of 2026 so far, with the films, updated as each one launches.