John Lewis 2008 Christmas advert featuring the Beatles 1st Hit Song "From me to You"

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http://wwadverts.blogspot.com/ Christmas must be near with this new heart warming advert from favoured UK retailer John Lewis.
The Christmas Advert features Beatles No. 1 chart topping hit song "From me to you," which includes the chorus If there's anything that you want / If there's anything I can do / Just call on me and I'll send it along / With love from me to you. The Ad agency Lowe said: We didn't set out to specifically create an ad based around a Beatles song, but we found that the lyrics summed up the ad's message that a present's value is in its appropriateness, rather than its price.

14 November 2008, by Cayte Finlay http://www.johnlewispartnership.co.uk
All present and correct


Schmaltz is a word that Craig Inglis likes to use. It's a word that describes the over-the-top, saccharine take on Christmas that many retailers favour.

As Head of Brand Communications, Craig has been charged with creating and producing the John Lewis Christmas ad. And what he and the creative team have come up with is something distinctively anti-schmaltz.

The strapline, in an ad campaign that's big on product and low on sleigh bells, is 'If you know the person, you'll find the present'. We see the faces first bored, exhausted, rain-soaked and then we see their perfect gift: a toy, a coffee maker, an umbrella.

The ad (which first aired on 10 November) homes in on ordinary people and is a refreshing antidote to all those celebrity-packed Christmas ads. Flash just isn't John Lewis a message that's all the more relevant during a credit crunch.

'We haven't got a sense that people are going to spend a lot less,' says Craig, 'just that they're going to be careful. They are going to get the right thing for the people they care about.'
Money well spent

The campaign cost £5.57m, including advertising space and production £1.3m less than last year. But when the Partnership is watching the pennies, some might question spending millions on advertising.

'There are two ways to look at marketing,' Craig explains. 'You can either look at it as a cost or as an investment.

'If we aren't out there with our key messages at Christmas, the risk to sales is huge particularly as our competitors will be out there in their droves.'
Buy right

The 18 gifts featured are taken from the Top 100. These are key Christmas products in which buyers have invested heavily.

When work on the campaign began in May, the first question the team asked was: 'How are we going to bring the Top 100 to life?' 'We started with all 100 products spread out in front of us and said, 'Right, what kind of people could you match to these presents?',' says Craig.

Craig and his team worked with buyers to make a shortlist of products. The idea of matching a product with a person came during brainstorming meetings with creative agency Lowe London.
Matthew's gift

The ad, which was shot in August, is not only a showcase for John Lewis products. It also features the voice of Corporate Partner Matthew Spinner on the backing track.

The Systems Manager, a member of the Partnership's Music Society for 14 years, was chosen to sing on the 1960s Beatles classic 'From Me to You' along with several professional singers.

'We were asked to sing in a relaxed way as the track isn't meant to be highly polished,' says Matthew. 'It's nice that my voice will be on television. I'm sure my mum will be proud and it was great to have the opportunity.'
Guessing game

The version of the ad airing now is the main 60-second ad, which will run for six weeks. The next two weeks sees two 40-second ads, with a couple of new characters, says Craig, to 'freshen it up'. At the end of the campaign six 10-second ads will join the 40-second versions to 'top and tail' a commercial break. The 10-second ads will also run on digital escalator panels on the London Underground.

The characters change so that the ads never get predictable. 'It becomes a bit of fun, like a guessing game,' says Craig.

The campaign includes newspaper, magazine and digital advertising (which all start on 17 November), an outdoor presence (from 1 December) and an online campaign, which began on 11 November.

The online campaign features four ads. Viewers can choose the perfect present through an interactive video a first for the Partnership. Click on the gift you want from a choice of three, drag it to a person and see what happens

The ads are going on to websites, such as the online gift pages of national newspapers and search engines Yahoo and MSN, to drive traffic to johnlewis.com. It seems John Lewis has got Christmas advertising covered and in a schmaltz-free way.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Advert
• John
• Lewis
• Christmas
• Beatles
• Joy
• commercial
• advert
• ad
• ads
• 2008
• Xmas
• From
• me
• to
• you

[shadowgamer31]

this is by far the best christmas advert ever, i wish they could do it this year too lol....

[easy77146]

who thinks they shoud make the same advert this christmas

[MarktgInnovation2Day]

simple yet meaningful. GReat!

[VladoPinions]

i'm the guy at 00:10 :P, check out my channel

[goldyn12345]

@LiveForTheReds he always was a bit grumpy though!!

[goldyn12345]

what a brilliant attempt!!! sounds great i think!!

[toniross005]

Does anyone know who the singers are for this verson?

[Bluesteel750]

@LiveForTheReds

Until the money came rolling in...

[rupert1oo]

i love this song so much <3