Kevin the Carrot Scores Strong Summer Debut

He may have scored a maximum Star Rating of 5.9 over the last four Christmases and scooped first place in System1’s rankings of the best adverts of 2023, but the question remained: could Kevin the Carrot repeat his remarkable success outside of his traditional Christmas advertising context?

System1’s analysis of Aldi’s new Olympics advert – the first to feature Kevin outside of the Christmas period – shows the nation’s favourite root vegetable has made a superb summer debut, with a Star Rating (which predicts an ad’s potential to drive long-term brand growth) of 4.7. The score places the creative in the top 8% of UK supermarket adverts in the past year.

Furthermore, Kevin also scored an exceptional Spike Rating (indicating short-term sales potential) of 1.65, and a strong Fluency Rating (indicating strength of brand recognition) of 94.

The success of Kevin’s summer debut highlights Aldi’s achievement in developing the character as an effective fluent device, a term coined by Orlando Wood. A fluent device is a longstanding, recurring campaign element that sticks in the mind and delivers brand building impact, with the M&Ms characters another example. Fluent devices are able to show up during mass cultural events to drive emotional engagement and quickly signal the brand, ensuring it doesn’t get lost amongst the many other advertisers competing for viewers’ attention.

Jon Evans, chief customer officer, System1 said, “Kevin (or should I say Kévin) is back and hats off to Aldi for another strong creative. The little carrot perfectly exemplifies the power of a fluent device, driving strong brand recognition even in an unfamiliar summer environment. The success of the creative also reminds us why, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”