John Lewis has become synonymous with Christmas advertising

Although it is not a global brand, it can be said that the British retail chain John Lewis is one of, if not the most successful brand on earth during this pre-holiday season, at least when it comes to marketing campaigns. Regardless of whether consumers are in a position to buy gifts in its stores or not, they eagerly await the launch of the Christmas campaign, which seems to announce the official start of the marketing race for customers ahead of the holidays for the eighth consecutive year.

Some British media outlets, such as The Guardian, report that the announcement of the campaign has overshadowed news about their favorite royal couple on the front pages of leading portals (which is no easy feat), and internet commentators have begun speculating about which song will play in Lewis’s irresistible ad or whether the brand, together with the agency Adam&EveDDB, will continue to play on the emotional card or perhaps turn the story in a more humorous tone.
Given how ‘hyped’ the global public has been, it is no surprise that almost all relevant professional and traditional media have covered its new work ‘Man on the Moon’, which, according to the latest data, has broken all previous records. It seems that John Lewis, with its story about a little girl who decides to cheer up a lonely old man living on the Moon for Christmas, has once again hit the mark and managed to touch not only British customers but also a global audience.

Broken records According to the Daily Mail, the two-minute advertisement for which the company spent one million pounds (and is expected to spend another six million on media buying) was mentioned 23,000 times on social media just two hours after its release. The fact that this is indeed an incredible record is evidenced by the data that last year’s (then most successful) animated advertisement about the bear who misses Christmas joy during its winter sleep was mentioned 14,000 times within 24 hours of its release. Just one hour after the story about the man on the Moon was released, there were 16,396 posts on YouTube with the hashtags #manonthemoon and #onthemoon. According to a survey conducted by the PR agency Hotwire the day after the release, 11 percent of consumers reported that the advertisement evokes positive emotions, 87 percent neutral, and two percent negative (referring to the fact that the advertisement made them cry). Last year’s ‘bear’ increased the company’s sales by 13 percent, so it is expected that this year’s sales will grow at least at the same level, if not higher.

High bar The thesis that John Lewis has become a brand synonymous with, and even a model for, Christmas advertising worldwide has also been analyzed by Marketing Magazine. According to them, the first reason for such success lies in the fact that it decided to ‘sell’ in a completely different way than retail chains usually do during this pre-holiday time. Before John Lewis, Christmas advertisements from supermarkets and stores showcased their product offerings (ideas for Christmas gifts), and those a bit more imaginative played on the theme of family gatherings with turkey, decorating the tree, and kisses under the mistletoe. Simplified, the advertisements resembled each other, and without an ‘end credits’, it was difficult to understand which retail or any other brand it was about.
The team at John Lewis decided to view the Christmas fairy tale from a different angle, that is, to utilize emotions specific to the holiday season. As Marketing Magazine writes, its advertisements do not preach, offer nothing, and no one explains what is happening on the screen. Consumers are turned into viewers who follow a classic dramatic arc. Furthermore, the team at Marketing Magazine believes that the brand has managed to build a strong identity with these advertisements. Although all their campaigns differ from each other, consumers can easily recognize that it is a John Lewis production, not only because of the tone but also because of the message behind each campaign, which is that Christmas is a time of togetherness, empathy, and humanity. It should not be forgotten that the team at John Lewis skillfully (and consistently) uses the advantages of music in marketing, which not only further stimulates emotion but also serves as a differentiating element from the competition in this case.

‘Bold’ emotion In its Christmas campaigns, usually popular female vocals reinterpret British pop classics, and although some consumers consider this sacrilege, the music from John Lewis is sought after, listened to, and recognizable, and, most importantly for the brand, it manages to ‘bold’ the emotion it seeks to convey through an unpretentious, touching story.
This year, they engaged 19-year-old star Aurora, who covered Oasis’s song ‘Half the World Away’, while in previous campaigns stars like Ellie Goulding or Gabrielle Aplin performed hits by Elton John, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, or The Smiths in a somewhat slower, ‘ethereal’ tone. As Mark Fairbanks from Marketing Magazine beautifully explained, it seems that what John Lewis does is hard to reproduce, but, in fact, the truth is that marketers are so concerned about doing something wrong that they have forgotten how to do something really good; something different, something bold, something that becomes part of popular culture. Besides John Lewis, such were once the campaigns of brands like Guinness (‘Good things come to those who wait’) or Levi’s (early works of the agency BBH), which consumers eagerly anticipated just like the Christmas campaigns of the British retail chain.
This year, John Lewis has also taken a step further in interpreting the Christmas spirit and has partnered with the charity Age UK, which cares for the elderly population, often lonely like the old man on the Moon. They have committed to donating certain funds to the charity and conducting indoor campaigns that should familiarize the wider public with the work of the mentioned charity. Although the essence of every advertising is financial benefit for brands, John Lewis does it in a less intrusive and less (at least it seems so) commercial way, which consumers evidently appreciate. This British brand is already a definitive winner of the pre-holiday advertising ‘battle’. The question remains whether it will manage to exceed consumer expectations next year or if it has set the bar too high.