MORE than mulled wine and maybe even tinsel, the John Lewis Christmas ad is now one of the biggest festive traditions in the UK. A closely-guarded secret almost until the day of release, it’s the thing we look forward to just as much as our advent calendars. Last year’s John Lewis ad had much of the nation in tears But what we can hope for from the retail giant this year? And, more importantly, when is the advert released? We make our predictions and look back on our favourites. The ad is usually released long before Christmas, to allow time for children to fall in love with the associated merchandise and put in on their Christmas lists. Last year’s advert, The Man on the Moon, was released on Friday 6th November on Channel 4, with a teaser during the advert break of ITV’s X Factor the weekend before. This year, that ad is released on Thursday 10th November – that’s today! The ad launches on the retailer’s social media channels including Facebook and Twitter at 8am.
It will also be available to watch on demand on Sky. The first terrestrial TV screening will at around 9:15PM on ITV in the first ad break during the final installment of thriller Paranoid. We’ve all grown used to the concept by now – they take a pop song in a minor key and choose an artist with a breathy voice to sing it. Previous years have included Lily Allen singing a Keane song and Ellie Goulding covering the Elton John classic ‘Your Song’. The songs tend to provoke more of a love/hate response than the actual adverts, though most have had commercial success. Last year’s cover of ‘Half The World Away’ by Oasis, sung by Norwegian solo artist Aurora, reached No 11 in the UK chart. The year before, Tom Odell’s cover of ‘Real Love’ by the Beatles reached No 7. However, Lily Allen topped the charts with her cover of ‘Somewhere Only We Know’ in 2013, getting the No 1 spot for three weeks. The only other John Lewis Christmas ad song to hit the top spot was Gabrielle Aplin’s The Power of Love in 2012.
This year the advert will feature English electronica trio Vaults performing a cover of Randy Crawford’s One Day I’ll Fly Away. The song has previously been covered by Nicole Kidman in the film Moulin Rouge, Girls Aloud star Kimberley Walsh and British soprano Sarah Brightman. We’ve had snowmen, cartoon and CGI animals, even a man on the moon. Now it seems like the latest cast to tug on our heartstrings includes a little girl and an adorable boxer dog called Buster. A teaser trailer posted on Twitter of a dog watching a girl bounce on a red space hopper sent users into a frenzy, many speculating that this could be the retailer’s Christmas advert for 2016. — Bounce (@bouncing2016) November 7, 2016 This initial teaser, posted from the ‘Bounce’ Twitter account with the hashtag #BounceBounce, has been followed by two others. In one, the dog watches the girl bounce on a sofa. And the third trailer, released the day before the advert’s release, follows the same pattern – this time the little girl is jumping up and down on a bed.
Rachel Swift, head of brand marketing at John Lewis, said: “The creative idea changes every year but the heart of our Christmas strategy remains the same: it’s all about thoughtful gifting, because at John Lewis we feel that people can go the extra mile to find the perfect present for the one they love. “We connect that idea with emotional storytelling to create a really powerful campaign.” In John Lewis’ first Christmas ad, we see employees piling up all sorts of random items. Together, the pile creates a shadow resembling a woman walking her dog in the snow. Back when Christmas adverts were still about selling actual products, this one points out there’s a perfect gift for everyone – including a hairdryer for a shaggy dog. Focusing on the ‘feeling’ of Christmas, we see children opening adults’ presents like slippers and a coffee machine. Then it simply reads: "Remember how Christmas used to feel? Give someone that feeling." This one is ‘for those who care about showing they care’ and documents the lengths we will go to in order to find the perfect present – even, yet again, for the dog.
The year they really made a name for themselves, we see a little boy impatiently awaiting Christmas morning. When it finally arrives, he ignores his own presents and rushes into his parents’ bedroom to give them a big shiny parcel. A loved-up snowman braves the harsh weather and travels for miles and miles, all so he can buy his snow-girlfriend a red scarf. A hibernating bear misses Christmas every year, so his hare friend buys him an alarm clock. On Christmas morning, we see the bear stumbling across the beautiful scene as all the animals celebrate together. A boy’s pet penguin (actually a stuffed toy) looks for love in the run-up to Christmas. On the morning itself, under the tree is a female penguin toy as a companion. In partnership with Age UK, the advert showed a cute little girl trying to contact an old man who lived all alone on the moon. You could even buy the telescope in John Lewis for £79, though it sold out within minutes of the advert being released.
When is the Sainsbury’s Christmas advert released and where can I see it first? When is the Marks & Spencer Christmas advert released and where can I see it first? Best chocolate advent calendars for Christmas 2016 When is the Strictly Come Dancing 2016 Christmas special and how can I get tickets? Top 10 Christmas markets around the UK and in EuropeTurn away now if any remote hint at the upcoming festive season has you punching a wall, because we're going shamelessly Christmassy. Forget the Coca-Cola truck and all those selection boxes sneaking on to supermarket shelves as early as September, the countdown to Christmas arguably ONLY begins once the John Lewis advert airs for the first time. More hotly anticipated than a visit from Father Christmas himself, while it has its detractors and spawns countless parodies, the John Lewis Christmas advert has become a British instituion. Like anything which captures the imagination, it also generates a lot of buzz - and that most wonderful time of the year is approaching fast.
So, with questions flying and speculation in Twitter mounting when and what can we expect from this year's offering? Every year since 2009, John Lewis and the brains behind its agency Adam & EveDDB have come up with increasingly rousing and polished adverts. Last year's Man on the Moon had viewers either weeping dramatically, or coming up with less, kinder theories about the elderly gentleman. With the second teaser of this year's advert released , it looks like we have a premiere date of either TOMORROW or Friday evening. Last year's debuted on our screens on November 6 - a Friday - meaning the corresponding Friday this year is November 4. It followed the same pattern as The Bear and the Hare, which was unveiled on Friday November 8. Rumours suggesting the next John Lewis advert will be unveiled on Friday 11 November to get people in the spirit of Christmas this year have been circulating. But more recently, other whispers have suggested it may be released as early as 8am tomorrow morning.
Since Adam & EveDDB began collaborating with John Lewis, whether you find it a little saccharine or absolutely love it, it's clear to see the adverts' narratives have grown in terms of emotiveness. With Bounce the dog looking like the star of the advert, sure to steal hearts across the nation, two 10-second clips have now been leaked via Twitter from an account named @bouncing2016. John Lewis is yet to confirm if Bounce is in fact the star of its new advertising campaign, but a host of Twitter users have been quick to comment on the clips, claiming to recognise the font of the lettering on the advert, and concluding that this must be the ad we’ve all been waiting for. At the heart of their ads tends to be a message or theme. Last year's Man in the Moon put the spotlight on the loneliness and isolation felt by many elderly people in this country, as John Lewis teamed up with Age UK. Other themes have been friendship - who can forget the Bear and the Hare's inter-special bond - as well as the joy gift-giving can bring.
From excited young boys to lovesick snowpeople and lonesome penguins, a fair amount of whimsy also goes into the adverts. So it's unlikely they'll be deviating from formulas which tug at the heartstrings. Once again, they may choose to lend their powerful star-power to another worthy cause. Each campaign has been beautifully accompanied by an often paired-down version of a well-known song. The Long Wait, featured a cover of The Smiths' 'Please Please Let Me Get What I Want'; 2012's snowpeople love story had a cover of Frankie Goes to Hollywood's 'The Power of Love'; Lily Allen covered Keane's 'Somewhere Only We Know' for The Bear and the Hare and Tom Odell sang John Lennon's 'Real Love' for Monty the Penguin. The simple acoustic covers have become a hallmark - can we expect the same again? Needless to say, speculation is rife as to whether the music of one of the musician's we've lost in 2016 will play a part. Filming tends to take place in July, so this year's campaign should be done and dusted - and with a huge budget (last year's its Man On The Moon advert cost £1 million to make, and a further £6 million was spent buying slots on television, the internet and press).