Aldi inventing a new Christmas ad this year. It’s doing a repeat.

McCann’s Kevin the Carrot is going on another adventure. Last year, in the story with its Night before Christmas-style narration, Kevin trekked across a Christmas table to perhaps meet Santa. And brought a lot more joy to Christmas than he’d bargained for.

Not just joy within the story’s plot, either. Kevin won the hearts of real UK people and helped Aldi’s sales to grow by 15.1% on December. Kevin also helped to bring 1 million new customers to Aldi.

So this year, Kevin is trekking across another Christmas table, which happens to be on a train. There’s a murdered gingerbread man (the movie, Murder on the Orient Express, launched in UK cinemas the weekend Aldi’s story opened on TV), and a love interest for Kevin. A valiant Kevin the heart of this female carrot, Katie, by saving her life.

Kevin’s new 60 second adventure is also running in cinemas, supported by press, social, door drop, in-store and digital. A sequence of shorter 20 and 30 second ads will run in the run-up to Christmas Day to keep consumers engaged with the brand and storyline.

And there will be a selection of Kevin and this year, Katie the Carrot, merchandise – soft toys, reusable bags and books. Part of the profits will be donated to the Teenage Cancer Trust.