Aldi's new toy Kevin the Carrot character will go on sale this Sunday, and the supermarket chain is expecting to be inundated with orders, so much so it has set up a Glastonbury-style queuing system.
This year, Aldi's Christmas advert features hugely popular Kevin the Carrot flying a plane, and this year's toy is Pilot Kevin.
The Queue-It system was installed after the brand's Christmas advert dropped on Friday and became one of the top 50 viewed videos at the weekend – it got five million views on YouTube, plus a further 1.6 million views for the teaser advert, also starring Kevin’s fighter jet co-pilot Lieutenant Turkey.
"Aldi is anticipating such demand for its upcoming Christmas advert plush toys featuring Kevin the Carrot, that it has employed the same online queuing technology as Glastonbury to manage the clamour on its website when the toys are released," said Aldi in a statement.
Also to keep up with the demand, the German supermarket chain has partnered with food delivery service Deliveroo. It will be possible to pre-order the plush toy on the Deliveroo platform as well as on Aldi's website, from 8am on 15 November.
Fans can collect the whole set of related characters this year, including Wingman Turkey, Harry the Hedgehog, Grate Grandma and Grate Grandad.
There's also Kevin and Katie the Carrot and a family of Chantenay, Jasper and Baby and a giant Kevin available, plus you can wear Kevin the Carrot.
Themed Christmas pyjamas are also available (£4.99-£9.99), and cover the house in Kevin the Carrot Christmas tree decorations (£2.99 each).
The Aldi plush toys start from £3.99 each or £19.95 for a bundle (online-only), Giant Kevin is £19.99. Customers are restricted to two types of the toys each.
First debuted in 2016, this marks Kevin the Carrot's fifth consecutive Christmas advert with Aldi. "His fanbase has become huge," said Aldi in a statement. This year’s Aldi Christmas ad gives nods to E.T. and Home Alone, and stars Jim Broadbent as Father Christmas.
Kevin is seen flying a plane with his co-pilot friend, before being accidentally ejected from the plane and landing in a lonely woodland and tackling the fierce the elements to get home to his family for Christmas.
Which? announced on Tuesday that Aldi remained the cheapest supermarket in the UK for the fourth month in a row.
