Lindt, M&S and Cadbury lead Easter ad rankings

System1 has released its annual ranking of UK Easter advertising, with Lindt, Marks & Spencer and Cadbury emerging as the top performers based on emotional impact and brand recognition.

The results highlight how evolving HFSS restrictions continue to shape creative approaches, with effectiveness increasingly driven by memorability rather than product visibility alone.

Creative strategies move beyond product focus

While many advertisers still rely on food-led visuals, the highest-ranking campaigns combine emotional engagement with strong brand recognition. System1’s methodology evaluates both elements through its Star Rating, which predicts long-term brand growth, and Fluency, which measures how easily audiences identify a brand.

The leading campaigns performed strongly across both metrics, underlining the importance of distinctive brand assets in driving effectiveness.

Top-performing Easter campaigns revealed

Lindt’s Make your Easter sparkle with the Lindt Gold Bunny secured the highest score at 5.9 Stars, followed by Marks & Spencer’s M&S Luxury Fruited Hot Cross Bun at 5.7 Stars and Cadbury’s Better the Hide, Better the Hunt at 5.6 Stars.

Further down the ranking, Tesco, Aldi, Lidl and Asda also featured, though with lower scores, reflecting varying levels of emotional response and brand clarity.

Storytelling sets Cadbury apart

Cadbury’s campaign stood out for moving away from traditional product-led creative. Instead, the ad uses storytelling to reinforce brand identity, featuring a Cadbury-purple egg timer as the central character in an Easter hunt narrative.

The campaign achieved a Fluency score of 95 percent, placing it joint highest in the category and demonstrating the impact of consistent brand cues combined with emotional storytelling.

Andrew Tindall, Chief Growth Officer at System1: "Easter is one of those rare moments where the category does a lot of the work for you. People want chocolate. They want hot cross buns. So simply showing the product isn't enough to stand out.

The winners are the brands that go beyond appetite appeal and lean into what makes them distinctive. M&S uses its signature sultry, ASMR-style voiceover to elevate the product into something more sensorial and indulgent. Lindt leans on the GOLD BUNNY, one of the most recognisable seasonal assets in the category. And Cadbury continues to compound the strength of its Easter hunt platform, building memory year after year.

As HFSS rules continue to reshape the category, the brands that stand the test of time will be those that move beyond temptation and invest in the assets that make them memorable."

www.system1group.com

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