The Christmas 2016 advertising battle begins

The battle of the Christmas adverts has begun, with retailers hoping shoppers will jingle all the way to the tills. But how will they capture our hearts and open our wallets this year and which will become our favourite?

In the run up to Christmas, UK retailers are expected to spend £5.6bn on advertising, according to Advertising Association and WarcData.

John Lewis, which launched its advert on Thursday, said it had spent a "broadly similar" amount to the £7m it spent on last year's somewhat melancholy "Man on the Moon" advert.

This year, the retail giant said it thought the public needed something more upbeat.

Animal magic

A cast of CGI wildlife animals, including Hallie the hedgehog, feature in the advert

John Lewis's customer director Craig Inglis said: "2016 has certainly been quite a year, so we hope our advert will make people smile. It really embraces a sense of fun and magic, reminding everyone what it feels to give the perfect gift at Christmas".

The two-minute advert tells the story of Bridget, a little girl who loves to jump, and her dog, Buster the boxer.

After her parents hide a trampoline for her in their garden on Christmas Eve, a magical night time world comes to life with a cast of CGI wildlife animals - including Hallie the hedgehog, Sid the squirrel, Betsey the badger and foxes Olivia and Otto.

Gathering thousands of views on YouTube, the advert was met with mixed reactions. Linda Holden commented: "Anyone lucky enough to have had a Boxer in their lives will just love this", while the more wary PersianPkmn said: "I would not want to be on a trampoline with a hedgehog just saying :/".

On Twitter, Barry O'Reilly's photo of his "Welsh version" of the advert - showing a cow on a trampoline - certainly did make people smile.

But not everyone is happy, with some asking why Bridget's parents - and not Father Christmas - are seen putting up the trampoline.

A spokesman for John Lewis said that Bridget's parents wanted to give her something special, that they knew she'd like, adding: "We're sure Santa visited Bridget earlier in the night."

John Lewis, a computer science teacher from Virginia, US, whose Twitter handle @johnlewis is often understandably confused with the retail store's, suggested Santa may have been running late, dropped off the trampoline and asked Dad for a little help.

Meanwhile, bookmakers Coral are already tipping the ad's theme song, a cover version of Randy Crawford's One Day I'll Fly Away performed by British band Vaults, for the Christmas number one. Lead singer Blythe Pepino said it was a "truly incredible experience" recording the song with a 70 piece choir and 66 piece orchestra.

The advert is not to be confused with a video which went viral last week featuring an A-Level student's homage to the John Lewis Christmas advert.

Smooth talkers

An overnight bag, with the voice of Ewan McGregor, lures shoppers with his 'masculine physique'

For a third year, Debenhams is sticking with its Found It campaign - relying on the voices of a slew of celebrities, including Ewan McGregor, Billie Piper and Jennifer Saunders, to help people find the perfect present for their loved ones.

McGregor, the voice of an overnight bag, waxes lyrical about his "strong, masculine physique", while Piper poses as a bra who has "got it all".

Feel good

Boots filmed the makeover of Christmas workers, such as this nurse, which it pampered as a 'thank you'

Real people take the centre stage for Boots. The chemist filmed the makeover of 45 women, whom it picked to pamper because they usually work over Christmas.

About half a million women sacrifice their Christmas Day to support their communities, whether as paramedics, firefighters or nurses, according to the TUC union.

Boots says "as a big thank you", it wanted to give some of them an early Christmas present.

Though the ad is set to Kylie Minogue's version of Rozalla's Everybody's Free (To Feel Good), not everybody is thrilled the advert focuses on women workers only. TUC figures show that more than 900,000 people overall worked on Christmas Day last year.

Christmas chuckles

Asda's adverts show a series of humorous Christmas dilemmas

Asda's line of attack is on all fronts - with not one advert, but a series of short adverts by advertising giants Saatchi and Saatchi showcasing its food, wine and clothing lines.

Showing a series of Christmas dilemmas with gentle humour, the supermarket chain says it can offer "Christmas made better".

In one, a young girl dressed in white tights and sparkly shoes hovers over a tempting puddle but dodges it after a "don't you dare" look from her mother. "Toys worth behaving for," says the voiceover.

Twitter user Chantelle says it's her favourite so far, but it hasn't resonated with everyone. Tina tweets: "Not splashing in a puddle to be rewarded by a toy. Implying puddles are naughty. That's sad."

In another tweet, Claire Underwood points out: "Why do you think Santa wears boots!?!"

Another spotted an omission in the ad series. "Only 1 person says #Please. Come on asda please set an example #Manners," pleads Ruth Parrot.

Racing heartbeats

Argos dispatches speed skating yetis for those who 'just can't wait' for Christmas

In a bid to set heartbeats racing, rather than to tug at heartstrings, Argos's upbeat advert features 8ft-tall, furry, colourful, ice skating yetis who race to deliver presents.

The advert stars five semi-professional ice skaters, including Peter Hallam (in orange), twice British figure skating champion and holder of five international gold medals. It was shot on a purpose-built skating track in the centre of Warsaw in Poland.

Special effects experts from Animated Extras, who have previously worked on James Bond films, developed the state-of-the-art costumes which each cost £30,000 to create.

Showcasing its fast-track, same-day delivery, Argos is catering for those who "just can't wait" for Christmas.

They were certainly first off the blocks for Twitter user Adam Raymont who said on Sunday: "I've just watched my first Christmas advert of 2016 .. well done @argos you are the winner".