This year’s John Lewis Christmas ad is the strongest since 2019, according to agency System 1 (1), who has tested every one of their Christmas ads since 2007. And watching the new film, created with Saatchi and Saatchi, you can see why this might be the case. After several years zig-zagging away from what made the John Lewis Christmas ads famous, the brand had remembered the power of fresh consistency.
In this post, we look at the original magic recipe of the early 2010s, how they lost their way and then why the brand looks to be back on track in 2025.
1. THE ORIGINAL MAGIC RECIPE for SUCCESS
I first posted on the John Lewis Christmas campaign 10 years ago, here. “John Lewis is a great example of the power of fresh consistency, the gift that keeps giving,” I wrote at the time. Looking at the campaigns from The Long Wait in 2011 (still my personal favourite) to The Man on the Moon in 2015, I suggested that there were three main sources of consistency:
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Consistent story: the endlines varied slightly from year to year (see below), but the story remained “Give a little more love this Christmas, by shopping at John Lewis for your gifts”
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Consistent target: the focus is on the product/gift and the giver as joint heroes, distinctive versus many Christmas ads that focus the receiver of the gift
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Consistent execution: similar narrative structure, with a focus on the gift giver, building up to a climatic “reveal” at the end. Also, use of acoustic music tracks
There was also plenty of freshness to keep viewers anticipating what the new year’s ad would be like and rewarding them when they discover it. Each year had a different leading character, a new song and a change in executional style, from animation to real life, for example.
2. FORGETTING WHAT MADE THE BRAND FAMOUS
Back in 2018, I suggested here that John Lewis had started to lose consistency, with campaigns starting to zig-zag. Elton John dominated the 2018 ad. We did then have a couple of years with the focus back on the giver. But then we had an alien love story in 2021, a charity ad in 2022 and an over-excited Venus fly trap Christmas tree in 2023. The latter did away completely with the idea of focusing on the gift giver, inviting viewers instead to “Let your traditions grow”.
3. REMEMBERING AND REFRESHING WHAT MADE THE BRAND FAMOUS
The 2024 ad, The Gifting Hour, is the strongest ad since Excitable Edgar in 2019, one of the last times the brand stuck to its recipe for success. In this new execution, a woman shopping in John Lewis to buy her sister a present falls into a flashback of moments with her sister, looking for ideas on what to buy her. Finally, we see her leaving the store to meet her sister, gift in hand.
Here, the brand has remembered what made it famous, re-discovering the three consistency drivers that made the brand famous.
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Consistent story: focus is back on “Give a little more love this Christmas, by shopping at John Lewis for your gifts”
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Consistent target: the focus is back on product/gift and the giver as joint heroes
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Consistent execution: the narrative structure has a focus on the gift giver, building up to a climatic “reveal” at the end
4. THE GIFT OF FRESH CONSISTENCY
The gift of fresh consistency has delivered strong results in the System 1 testing on several fronts, as revealed in their recent Linked In post (1):
1. Long-term effect: viewers feel intensely happy, giving it a 4.6 Stars for long-term effects, the highest since 2019
2. Positive emotion: despite the lengthy 2 minutes, the powerful story, characters and soundtrack hold their attention and create positive emotion
3. Distinctive: the 2nd most distinct John Lewis Christmas ad ever made, with 94% brand recall after one viewing. “The commitment to the “Thoughtful Gifting” platform used overe years clearly pays back. Consistency wins,” System 1 say. Being the first John Lewis Christmas ad for at least 13 years actually based in a store may also help with distinctiveness
4. Short-term effect: 3rd highest “Spike Rating”, predicting huge short-term effects getting people into stores, helped by strong branding upfront
5. Mesaaging: viewers spontaneously recall “shopping”, “gifts”, “friends”, “family” and “Christmas”, all vital memory structures to boost salience
In conclusion, this year’s John Lewis Christmas ad shows the power of fresh consistency, with the brand remembering and refreshing what made it famous.
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