Christmas Spotlight on John Lewis: The Good, The Meh and The Silly Festive Ads

The Good 

The Bear and The Hare – 2013 

This advert is a classic example of how the story-based Christmas ads that lean into the feeling of gift-giving rather than simply listing the products a brand has, work the best. It told the story of two friends (a bear and a hare) making preparations for the Christmas season before the bear has to leave for his hibernation, leaving his friend and missing Christmas. However, his hare friend delivered a present of an alarm clock so the bear wouldn’t miss Christmas day, being able to spend it with his friend for the first time. 

Lily Allen covered Keane’s ‘Somewhere Only We Know’ for the advert, changing it to a slower, piano version that won her third number 1 single. The beautiful cover alongside the heartwarming story is testament to what John Lewis can achieve when they play to their strengths.

Monty the Penguin – 2014 

Another heartwarming classic that consistently tops the ratings of John Lewis Christmas adverts. The story followed a young boy and his penguin friend as they play and spend time together. However, the penguin kept getting distracted by couples, obviously longing for a partner of his own. The boy surprised his friend on Christmas day with a companion, before the twist is revealed that all along the real life penguin was actually a stuffed toy that the boy was imagining was real. 

Alongside this ad is another cover, this time being ‘Real Love’ performed by Tom Odell. It followed the trend of slowing the original down to an acoustic version to match the heartfelt story of the ad. It was also the first year where John Lewis created a mascot in their ad that could also be bought in-store, proving to be a successful move as many customers wished to bring a part of the iconic Christmas ad home with them.  

The Man on the Moon – 2015 

For the third year in a row, John Lewis kept to the format of telling a touching story, this time following a young girl who discovered an old man living on the moon when looking through her telescope. After spending some time watching him, she decided to try to communicate with him by trying to send him letters, although with little luck. Eventually she manages to get a Christmas gift to him: his own telescope so he can see her, showing he isn’t as alone as he thinks. 

For this ad, Aurora covers ‘Half The World Away’ by Oasis, once again slowing down the original to an acoustic rendition to fit the theme of the story. 

“I love this one for the way the story is told through the collection of shots between the old man and the little girl. Nothing is said, but we understand the story fully.” comments Chris, Distract’s resident Videographer.

The Journey – 2012

Arguably, this ad was the first hard-hitter of the John Lewis Christmas adverts, sharing the journey of a snow man as he travelled through the countryside to the city in search of a gift for the snow woman he was built with. 

The accompanying soundtrack of ‘The Power of Love’ covered by Gabrielle Alpin earned a top of the charts spot for the stripped-back cover.

The Beginner – 2022 

We think this ad is one of the better submissions John Lewis has put forward in recent years, featuring a man, his commitment to learning how to skateboard, and his quite comical failings. His injuries caused some issues in the Christmas decorating and earned a few laughs from friends, but the lighthearted ad takes a heartfelt twist when it’s revealed at the end that all his efforts were to have something in common with his new foster child.

This ad was created in partnership with charities Acclaim for Children and Who Cares? Scotland. Blink-182 also received the John Lewis treatment with a cover of ‘All The Small Things’ performed by Postmodern Jukebox.

The Meh

Clue – 2008 

The early days of John Lewis Christmas advertising is unrecognisable compared to what we expect today, with the ads having a much more simplistic approach, showing clips of people followed by their ideal gift and ending with the tagline ‘If you know the person, you’ll find the present’. 

However, one thing that has remained consistent in the John Lewis Christmas ad format, is the classic song cover to accompany it. 2008’s was the Beatles classic ‘From Me To You’ performed by unnamed John Lewis employees. 

Shadows – 2007 

Once again, an early ad using a format unrecognisable compared to the ones we now know, expect and love, although this one does have a creative flair as random items such as computer monitors and lamps came together to cast a shadow that looks like a woman walking a dog in the snow. 

The Feeling – 2009 

While this ad doesn’t top any of the leader boards (often coming close to the bottom) it does show the start of John Lewis changing their advert storytelling into something more like what we see today. 

The ad showed multiple children opening gifts with delight, although they are presents you’d expect to be given to an adult such as slippers or a coffee maker. The tagline made the intention clear, stating: ‘Remember how Christmas used to feel? Give someone that feeling’. 

Give A Little Love – 2020

Following a difficult year of Covid and lockdowns, this ad combined real life actors and multiple animation styles to follow people doing good deeds to cheer others up. While the ad had to get creative with probable restrictions due to lockdown rules, it still had a heartwarming sentiment, especially considering it was also a charitable effort to support Home Start and Fair Share. 

However good its sentiment, this ad is unfortunately forgettable and doesn’t pack the same punch as some of the more iconic ones we’ve seen from John Lewis, especially considering this is a more recent addition at a time where these adverts have became highly anticipated. 

A Tribute To Givers – 2010

This ad explored multiple people spending their time wrapping gifts for their loved ones, with many showing the same frustrations we all feel at the wrapping process, occasionally failing in their efforts. 

It features an Ellie Goulding cover of ‘Your Song’ by Elton John, which he replicated in his 2018 Christmas advert.

The Silly

Buster The Boxer – 2016

After four straight years of tear-jerkers, Buster the Boxer was a welcome reprieve which brought a humorous light to Christmas, following a dog who watches foxes, badgers and hedgehogs enjoy the recently assembled trampoline in his yard on Christmas Eve. The next morning, Buster barges past the little girl (who the present is really for) so he can finally have his turn on the trampoline. 

“I really enjoyed Buster the Boxer, it was silly and fun – plus there was potential for viewers to create copycat videos at home with their own dogs and share them online, thereby extending the ad reach and engagement“, says Debbie, our Paid Social Manager.

Edgar the Eager Dragon – 2019

The village dragon Edgar can’t control his excitable fire-breathing, causing chaos around town by melting snowmen and an ice skating rink, before ultimately setting fire to the village’s Christmas tree. Feeling ashamed of his habit, he shuts himself away, but a young girl cheers him up with a simple gift: a Christmas pudding Edgar sets alight (on purpose and to rapturous applause) on the big day. 

Although the story had comedic effect, the ad blended the humorous with the heartwarming by showing everyone has a place at Christmas time and welcoming people in even when they feel alone. 

Snapper: The Perfect Tree – 2023 

This year’s ad followed a young boy who grows a venus flytrap from a seed as the ‘perfect Christmas tree’. As the ad progresses, the flytrap gets bigger and proves to cause more mayhem in the house until the parents have enough and take the venus outside to swap it for a more traditional fir tree. The young boy then feels bad for the flytrap and on Christmas day brings his present outside to place beneath it, soon followed by the rest of the family.

“I think the tagline ‘let your traditions grow’ was a great move for John Lewis as it allowed people to post online about their own weird and wonderful Christmas traditions, allowing engagement to increase organically, leading to more widespread coverage” says our Social & Content Executive Amanda. 

The Evaluation

When John Lewis first started producing their iconic Christmas ads, they weren’t the heavy hitters of the Christmas advertising season we’re used to seeing now. Instead they played it a it more traditional, like a catalog of products you can buy in their stores with only a slight inclusion of Christmas sentimentality. However, from the very beginning, John Lewis did include festive covers of songs, some of which managed to top the charts in the year they were released.

It wasn’t until the retailers pivoted their tactics to focus on more heartwarming stories that focused more on the feeling Christmas evokes that the tradition of the John Lewis Christmas advert started to take shape. This change in structure can be seen in 2009 and 2010, and while these ads are not the most memorable, they clearly show the change in tactic to more sentimental storytelling being a key feature. It wasn’t until 2012 with ‘The Journey’ that these John Lewis found their niche and became an iconic part of Christmas we all look forward to.

Looking at all the John Lewis Christmas adverts over the years, there appear to be three key factors that go into the most successful of them: 

1. A cover of a well known song which is usually re-worked into a stripped-back acoustic version.
2. A heart-warming story that has the potential to be a tear jerker.
3. A tagline that fits with the theme explored in the advert’s story and brings the whole thing together.

Lauren, our PR Executive says: “Personally, I believe the best era of John Lewis ads were 2012 to 2015 where we saw year after year of tear-jerkers with beautiful covers of songs, producing the most iconic ones in the timeline that we still remember to this day. While there have been some memorable moments since then, this was truly the peak of John Lewis.”