Marks & Spencer has chosen James Norton, known for his roles in "Grantchester" and "Happy Valley," to be the face of its Christmas 2026 advertising campaign. This decision marks a departure from the previous year's strategy.
Norton, who recently stated he felt too old to be considered for the role of James Bond, reportedly signed the contract with M&S approximately one week ago. Filming for the festive campaign, featuring Norton in a holiday sweater, is expected to commence in the coming weeks. Sources indicate that Norton received a substantial payment for his involvement, potentially nearing £1 million, following his successful campaign for Giorgio Armani in 2023.
The retailer's approach for the 2025 festive season was a product-focused campaign utilizing a social media-first strategy with "influencer content-drops." The resulting advert featured dancers on a snowy street to the song "Rhythm Is A Dancer."
M&S previously collaborated with Hannah Waddingham, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, and Zawe Ashton for its 2023 Christmas campaign, with Holly Willoughby and David Gandy also having appeared in past years. The retailer also runs a separate Christmas food campaign featuring Dawn French as a fairy, the return of which is not yet confirmed.
In January, M&S reported that strong demand for its Christmas food offerings helped offset declining fashion sales during the festive period. Food sales increased by 6.6 percent in the 13 weeks leading up to December 27, while fashion, home, and beauty sales experienced a 2.5 percent decrease. The company attributed some of this decline to the lingering effects of a cyberattack that disrupted its online operations for six weeks in the spring of 2025.
Last Christmas saw generally low High Street spending, influenced by food inflation and the high cost of living.
Regarding last year's campaign, an M&S spokesperson stated, "We really enjoyed working with Aimee Lou Wood during the early stages of this year's Christmas campaign – she brought great energy and creativity to the process. As the campaign evolved, we started to embed a new product-focused strategy under new leadership. So, rather than a single-hero advert, the campaign was reshaped around a series of festive films and influencer content-drops aligned to key seasonal shopping moments – from gifting and hosting to partywear – delivered through a social-first, multi-channel approach across social media, digital, out-of-home and print."
Aimee Lou Wood, who starred in the Netflix comedy-drama "Sex Education" and the third series of "The White Lotus," had signed a deal to lead the previous year's campaign before the strategic shift.