Episode 173 - John Lewis The Gifting Hour Reviewed by Forest, Pierre Fabre and Decathlon
Nothing says Christmas like the John Lewis festive ad and this year, The Gifting Hour marks a departure from the recent fantasy-filled clips. It depicts a very human sisterly experience, full of nostalgia, and showcasing the brick-and-mortar store, unusually.
Our panel made up of Charlie Pepperell (Campaign Manager at Forest), Hoda Abdulla (Associate Director - Digital Content at Pierre Fabre Group), and Nendra van Wielink-Mohamed (Global Media Lead, Operations & Transformation at Decathlon) debate the effectiveness of this nostalgic approach for John Lewis’ bottom line and ask whether there really is a trend of pushing back on online-only shopping. Tune in to see how it makes you feel.
Thanks to Contagious for choosing ads for us this year!
Episode 173 - John Lewis The Gifting Hour Reviewed by Forest, Pierre Fabre and Decathlon
Transcript
This is automatically generated, so it’s not 100% accurate.
Tom Ollerton 0:00
Hello and welcome to Advertisers Watching Ads. My name is Tom Ollerton. I'm the founder of Automated Creative, the creative effectiveness adtech platform. And this is a show where brands watch other brands’ ads.
But before we get to this week's Christmas ad, let's meet this week's guests.
Charlie Pepperell 0:42
Hi, I'm Charlie Pepperell, and I'm the Campaign Manager at Forest in London.
Hoda Abdulla 0:46
Hi, everyone. My name is Hoda Abdulla. I oversee digital content for Avène and all of our Pierre Fabre brands.
Nendra van Wielink-Mohamed 0:53
Hi everyone, I'm Nendra, I'm the Global Media Lead Operations and Transformation, and I work for Decathlon, based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Tom Ollerton 1:01
Brilliant. What a panel! Right... Okay, so let's see this month's ad.
If you're going to get this ad a score out of five... for how many points you want to give it. One, two, three... Oh, look at that. Five and two fours. I think that probably makes it “Ad of the Year.” So, Charlie, help everyone outside of the UK understand what's going on with the John Lewis Christmas ad.
Charlie Pepperell 3:24
So the John Lewis Christmas ad has for years been sort of the pinnacle of Christmas advertising. So every year it's something personally, I really look forward to... It’s kind of seeing what the sort of big retailers are going to come out with, and I think John Lewis has been doing it since as far back as like 2007, 2008, which people genuinely really look forward to. And traditionally, you know, something really tugs on the heart strings. It's about family. It's about love, and community, and support, and it's a bit of an event.
Hoda Abdulla 3:24
I thought it was so beautifully done. You know, I was completely unfamiliar with John Lewis, but right away I understood that it was a retailer that was really trying to push the gift giving feeling during the holiday season. I mean, it really spoke to me because I am just someone who's obsessed with my sister and who is a mother to two sisters, you know? And I think it just means so much to me to see that relationship and how it kind of evolves from when you're so young to adulthood. And so it's such a special relationship. Sorry to all the brothers out there, especially mine, but I think just the relationship between two sisters is the most magical thing. So I think it really evoked that so well.
Speaker 1 4:33
Funny thing is, what caught to me was the song. To me, that was a song I recognized because I grew up with it in my younger days, and that was something that feels special to me. Otherwise, I'm not... I'm not that familiar with John Lewis itself because, well, I'm based in the Netherlands. I'm not really a UK citizen and all that, but when I saw the ad, the music, and everything that surrounds it, there is actually that emotional appeal to it. The song is nostalgic, it's very heartfelt and something that I thought was a very nice culmination of relationship, of sisters. You know, how they grew up through the years. There's that emotional connection. I guess it's what John Lewis does pretty well over the years, right?
Charlie Pepperell 5:14
I loved it. I think I always love it, so I'm probably a little bit biased in that sense. It did feel like a little bit of a departure from their sort of usual, vibe, I guess. In previous years it's been more of like a fictional story, you know, there's quite a lot of animals, aliens, that kind of thing, which... but this felt very human, like a very lived experience, that kind of like female relationship, I thought came across really, really well. And the sort of like difficulties you have with growing up with siblings and family challenges, especially around Christmas time, I thought came across really nicely, but it was different to what we've seen from John Lewis before. And one thing I did really like about it was that it centered the shop, which again, it hasn't really done before. You know, the whole point of an advert is that you want to know what this brand is about, right? So actually having the John Lewis store there is something they've not done. And that's what it's about, right? To get people into store to find that perfect gift. And that I thought was a very interesting pivot for them, and makes a lot of sense from a, from a brand perspective. They want people to go to the store.
Nendra van Wielink-Mohamed 6:18
It does draw you in though, right? And every bits and pieces, every single image brings that, that bit of... And it's sweet. It's nostalgic. It's kind. I think that's what, that's what I like about it, even though I don't have a sister.
Hoda Abdulla 6:32
Yeah. The part that I love most, where she sees her mom and her sister kind of dancing in the kitchen. And it's just it's just one of those things when you're growing up, you don't know that you're going to miss those moments so much. And she just, like, hangs on that scene just a little bit longer because she's like, “Oh my gosh, what a moment in my history that I'm witnessing again.” Because as you're living them, you don't really realize how it's so special. Like you're never going to live in the same house with all your family ever again. You know, when you grow up, you move out of your house, you have your own family. So it's just how special would it be to, like, see a scene from your childhood once more? It's just so magical.
Tom Ollerton 7:15
What is the purpose of this ad, right? It's definitely not to entertain us marketing people, but from an like an outcome perspective, how is this going to drive some form of revenue at this Christmas that they wouldn't get if they didn't run it?
Hoda Abdulla 7:28
I mean, personally, I think people are... the push back to brick and mortar is already happening like that's happening outside of this ad. So I think that they're just really leaning into that a bit. And I think that, you know, there is a desire not to buy gifts online anymore. There's a desire to, like, have that in-store experience, feel something, see something in real life. And then I also think that what they're ultimately trying to do is, is really push the nostalgia. And I think that's really the goal of the ad, in my opinion. And for me, not having seen any of the other ads before, it did work. I felt all the feelings I was meant to feel by seeing this piece of content.
Nendra van Wielink-Mohamed 8:10
The ad, it's not going to make me run to London and go to John Lewis store. But what it does is from somebody who's not familiar with it, if you were thinking about Christmas and doing something, perhaps this is somewhere that you might go, that's the first thing, you might want to think about. And that's bringing the, the top of mind awareness of the brand in this case, right? And knowing that it is something that's special for John Lewis during this special time, I bet it resonates more to other people, than me so I can't really speak for, for other people in this case. The only one thing I thought about and I put on a media hat here, was it's two minutes, it's a bit long. How much does it cost to air this?
Tom Ollerton 8:52
It's all quite tense. It's almost a bit of surrealness and panic. So I'm curious to know, what's going on there? It's a bit tense at times. What do you think's going on there?
Charlie Pepperell 9:01
I think that does reflect a lot of people's experience of Christmas though, like it's not always a particularly happy joyful time for everyone and families can be, can be difficult. It's not always plain sailing, but yeah, I mean, Christmas shopping can get pretty stressful.
Tom Ollerton 9:19
Would you sign off this ad in its current form? Yes or no? One, two, three... thumbs up. Nendra, Hoda, Charlie, thank you so much.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Listen to our ‘Shiny New Object’ Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and Soundcloud.