Richard Walker, managing director of Iceland Foods, remains bemused at how he created the most-watched Christmas ad of all time.

“It was a genuine case of serendipity,” he says about the supermarket chain’s “Rang-tan” ad in 2018 — an animated video of an orangutan, voiced by actress Emma Thompson, who pleaded for people to stop using palm oil because of its negative environmental impact. The ad coincided with the announcement that Iceland had removed palm oil as an ingredient from its own-label products.