Episode 118 - John Lewis For All Life's Moments Ad Reviewed by All Angles Agency, Uber and AB InBev
This week we’re watching the John Lewis ad “For All Life’s Moments” - an emotional clip about fatherhood, chosen by Contagious. The iconic brand has changed its equally iconic motto and is heralding a shift in marketing strategy, but what do our Advertisers Watching Ads guests make of it?
Is the clip too long and slow to get to the core message? Does it stand out enough or is it too similar to other stories? What did Evangeline Elder (Founder of All Angles Agency), Elizabeth Windram (Global Head of Mobility Marketing, Masterbrand and Membership at Uber) and Michael Codd (Global Martech Director Experiential Marketing at AB InBev) have to say about it?
Watch the latest episode to find out!
Episode 118 - John Lewis For All Life's Moments Ad Reviewed by All Angles Agency, Uber and AB InBev
Transcript - It’s not perfect, but you get the idea!
Tom Ollerton 0:00
Hello, and welcome to Advertisers Watching Ads. This is a weekly show where brands discuss other brands' ads.
My name is Tom Ollerton. I'm the founder of Automated Creative and we are brought to you as ever by our beautiful partners, Contagious, so please go and check those guys out after the show. But before we get to this week's ad, who are our guests?
Evangeline Elder 0:25
Hi, everyone. I'm Evangeline. I'm the founder of All Angles Agency, which is a brand partnerships firm, and I'm excited to be here.
Elizabeth Windram 0:31
Hi, I'm Elizabeth Windram. I lead marketing for Uber.
Michael Codd 0:35
And I'm Michael Codd. I'm Global Marketing Director for AB InBev.
Tom Ollerton 0:39
What more do you want from a panel? This week's ad is from John Lewis, the ancient UK High Street retailer that is bringing the good fight to 2022 with a change in their iconic strapline. Here's an emotional, a beautiful bit of work for the brand.
I would like you to give this out a vote out of five. One, two, three... What's that? A four, a two, and a... That has divided the panel. Right, Elizabeth, what is going on?
Elizabeth Windram 2:13
John Lewis is a major retailer, a department store, as we would say in the States, in the United Kingdom. They had a very famous tagline that was, "Never knowingly undersold." They had this tagline for 97 years, and they have replaced it with this new line that is, "For all life's moments." This is a real reset of not just the brand but of the business. So this idea of selling more things more often, instead of being known for perhaps with John Lewis is very known for... more major life events. They're very famous around Christmas with their beautiful ads, but also larger purchases like furniture. And so this is a complete shift in their strategy. And the marketing is frankly just heralding this new, new way in.
Michael Codd 3:01
They've done a great job in capturing attention in those first couple of seconds. Like the woman with the belly like, and the music is very captivating. And I think it kind of draws you in at a very early stage. And, because you feel the storytelling as the seconds pass, you just kind of want to know what happens at the end, right? It's almost like, a very, very mini movie. And it really pulls you in, which I thought was, was super interesting.
Tom Ollerton 3:25
Evangeline, I'm guessing from your location that you're not a John Lewis regular shopper, what did you think of the ad?
Evangeline Elder 3:31
I'm not, so it was harder for me to kind of put it together towards the end, if there hadn't been a logo or just that end card, I wouldn't have known whose commercial this was. But it was very emotional. I love when people can emote and kind of create like this empathy bubble. I'm not the biggest fan of minute-long ads. But I do think that like, if this is your core John Lewis consumer who you want to come more often, then it's perfect to me. It may not be for, you know, a new person per se.
Tom Ollerton 3:58
So what would have made this better?
Michael Codd 3:59
You have to wait till the very end until you realize what the ad is until you realize what the brand is, the tagline and stuff. So it was, it was very much, probably they're gonna lose some people along the way, who just don't know what this is and leave. But I think, what they were clever at is doing quite a lot of product placements, subtle product placements, along the course of the ad and then do the big reveal as to, as to what it's about.
Evangeline Elder 4:23
I actually thought the product placements could have been a little stronger, in my opinion. I feel like even just kind of showing moments in bed, right? That's a bigger opportunity to not just kind of clip it but to actually kind of give, like two more seconds. It was super emotional and more kind of like moment, life driven. It wasn't necessarily like product driven at any point, in my opinion. Like I don't remember one actual product from that.
Elizabeth Windram 4:45
I think what we're debating is, is this ad truly ownable for John Lewis in a moment that needs to make a very big transformational brand statement. And I don't think that it is. I've seen this ad before. I think Google did it really well, with their Dear Sophie ad around, you know, all the little moments of a child's life. I would have liked to see it extended past just the first five years if you're really talking about every moment in life. I think I would have liked a little bit of a longer range, it may have hit some more heartstrings to see the journey further. I think I've seen it. And I'm just not sure that it lands the message that John Lewis is really trying to land, which is that you can come in and shop at all of these different moments in life, and that it's the new John Lewis. I just think it loses the plot.
Evangeline Elder 5:33
Yeah. And it was so emotional, that I think that I would have loved more of a statement like we're here for you, unnecessarily, for all of life's moments when the product tie-ins weren't that strong throughout the entire thing. I'm not sure what the call to action really is. So...
Michael Codd 5:47
We said earlier that there was, it was not obvious enough the product placement or what they're trying to sell. But I think, if you mentioned the ad where they will be more explicit about what they're selling, we would have had the opposite feedback that they should probably work on the story a bit more and be more emotional. So I think, I think it's, it's hard. And I think they did a great job on telling the story and touching a nerve.
Elizabeth Windram 6:08
It is hard, but we have to walk and chew gum in our business. That's what makes it difficult. We have to sell something but also tap into emotion. And the job to be done has to be both and I'd say where we're netting out on this is that they did one and not necessarily the sell for the brand.
Tom Ollerton 6:25
It's refreshing for me to see a dad, a young dad portrayed in that manner. Because generally in culture, you know, the young dad seems a bit, bit useless. And I'm sure that many dads are but at the same time, do you think there will be any pushback from moms who are like "Dad's taking all the credit here!" Or am I being oversensitive to this?
Evangeline Elder 6:41
I think millennial dads and millennial moms might completely enjoy this, in my opinion. It might resonate with a lot of millennial dads who kind of are... My brother would probably love this commercial. And he's the one who picks my niece up from school majority of the time. He has like 40 out of 45 sign outs. But the mom is super active also but it is nice that they have a moment. I'm just not sure if John Lewis needs to own this conversation, if that makes sense.
Michael Codd 7:06
And you need to tread on eggshells, like in these kinds of things all the time. And I think there's always going to be groups that are criticizing, "Oh, but you didn't talk to me, you didn't talk to me." They've definitely played it safe where the majority of the people will see this as like fresh and new and supported, I would say.
Tom Ollerton 7:23
So, quick question. Would you sign off this ad in its current form?
Evangeline Elder 7:30
No, on my end, it would need another round.
Michael Codd 7:34
You know, 90-95% there but you know, call to action, not clear. I would say, just, just missing it. Yeah.
Elizabeth Windram 7:41
I would. It's a beautiful ad and it introduces the new tagline. And it needs surround sound. So an ad like this can be a hero spot, but they need to do quite a bit of storytelling to bring "For all life's moments" to life. And I would like to see further chapters, all of the surround sound. And I'm not in the UK. So perhaps they did quite a lot of that. And that, that wasn't visible, but hopefully it was highly visible and will continue to be visible and heard and understood and felt by the John Lewis consumer.
Tom Ollerton 8:14
Michael, Elizabeth, Evangeline, thank you so much for your time.
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