M&S is attempting to send this nostalgic festive decoration viral this year with its new Christmas ad – and I already can't stop thinking about it

It’s still the beginning of November but ‘Christmas Starts Here’ – that’s the title of Marks & Spencer’s Christmas ad for 2024 that is dropping today at 10:30am on ITV during This Morning.

I got an exclusive preview of the much-anticipated ad and it put me right in the Christmas spirit, giving me countless Christmas ideas for the upcoming festive season. Not to mention that I now can’t stop thinking about the star of the commercial - by that, I don’t mean 10-year-old Skylar Blu from Britain’s Got Talent season 15 - but the ultimate nostalgic piece of Christmas decor, the snow globe.

And during the early reveal of the ad, Anna Braithwaite, M&S clothing and home marketing director, announced that the brand is set on making snow globes go viral this Christmas season – seems like we have a rising Christmas decor trend on our hands.

‘The festive season instils a sense of hope, wonder and joy and this year, we’re taking a playful approach by adding a little fantasy to our Christmas campaign. We have long been known to deliver the magic and sparkle of Christmas for our customers and this season, through our campaign, we’re showcasing the very best of M&S,’ Anna says.

The plot of the ad

With a running time of 1.5 minutes, the M&S Christmas ad is a whimsical and magical story told through a child’s eyes, the child being Skylar, who’s too bored watching TV with her family so gets hold of a snow globe and as she shakes it and moves it around, so does her family home, causing all sorts of beautiful racket and some impressive dance numbers. But it ultimately brings the whole family together at the Christmas dinner table.

‘The excitement of kids at Christmas is infectious, it reminds us what it felt like and it takes us back – this is a festive flight of fancy through a child’s eyes, a visual spectacle with a playful tone,’ says director of the ad, Elliott Power.

The snow globe theme

The theme of the snow globe is central to the M&S Christmas campaign as not only does it turn the whole house upside down in the ad as dancers do their routine on the ceiling with mid-century modern-style chairs suspended above them, but one of the final shots of the family together at the dinner table is viewed through the window with snow falling.

There are also several lovely snow globes and snow globe-inspired glass cloche baubles available at M&S this season like these Glass Hanging Alphabet Cloche Decorations, with many styles selling out including the snow globe from M&S x Wicked collection.

Additionally, selected M&S stores up and down the country will greet customers with snowfall outside the entrance – much like I (along with the other guests) was greeted with at the early screening of the short film.

And as Marks & Spencer’s ads have reached something of a notorious status, with the products featured in the ads becoming bestsellers that quickly sell out, the retailer made things even easier for shoppers to access the featured pieces by setting up a section on its site where you can shop the ad.

Alternatively, if you want a bespoke snow globe of yourself and your Christmas tree, M&S will also be running a competition during the month of December to win one featuring yourself and your Christmas tree inside of it.

All you’ll need to do is take a picture, upload it and you will get an AI-generated image of a snow globe with you in it. Then by sharing it on social media, you’ll be entered into a draw to win the physical 3D-printed version of your snow globe.

And with that, it really feels like Christmas is upon us!