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With our towns and villages becoming adorned with sparkly lights and festive fittings, it’s safe to say Christmas season is fast upon us. Whilst many feel that the twinkling of piano keys within the intro of Mariah Carey’s yuletide ear-worm ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ is the sign to deck the halls and unpack those garish festive sweaters, the ad industry knows that Santa Claus won’t be coming to town until the John Lewis Christmas advert has finally hit our TV screen and social media platforms.
Year after year, John Lewis’ seasonal message has amassed public and critical acclaim, becoming synonymous with pulling on the heartstrings of the viewer with it’s fairytale storyline, endearing characters and pseudo-societal observation. From the heart warming to the down right bizarre, the digital marketing experts at Friel have attempted to predict the John Lewis ad using the same format as the previous editions...
“A pride of lions who have had to live separately finally reunite for a game of football on Christmas Day. Throwback to how the Lions (almost) smashed football this year and a throwback to the WW2 camaraderie where Germans and English soldiers played football together on Christmas Day and also shows the power of family reuniting after a long time spent apart.” - Flo Irvine
“My John Lewis prediction is that there will be news reports from last Xmas saying we have to lockdown etc shown on the tv and an old couple will be watching it and they will be messaging their grandchildren saying they miss them etc. Then when the ad ends there will be a knock at their door and it will be their family. This will have Adele singing in the background.” - Nia Friel
“A Macy Grey style vocalist singing twinkle twinkle little star... visuals of sketched stars and then real life family wishing upon a star to reunite the family at Christmas time and everyone all together after last years failed attempt at Christmas.” - Shell Smith
“ I think it will feature a little girl in a yellow mac (John Lewis's version to Greta Thunberg) and have an environmental angle! She will show how Christmas can be sustainable and what John Lewis is doing to be a caring company for our planet. Or it will feature a dog - because who doesn’t like dogs?” - Nai Collett
“I think this year's John Lewis Christmas advert will be a classic animation one, that tells a story about 2 lonely people who happen to cross each other's paths. The story's aesthetics start off grim and dark, and once the 2 people start hanging out together and realising that they are enjoying each other's company, the aesthetics become brighter and lighter. The story shows different scenarios of how they're both having fun and how their lives have turned around ever since they met each other. And so the advert shows how we all have a missing puzzle piece in our hearts that needs to be filled in, and it's only the matter of time until we find it.” - Karolina Kasmauskaite
“According to data from Bronco, the average age of the song used in the John Lewis Christmas ad is 34 years, so I’ve no doubt we’ll be treated to a breathy cover of the 1987 hit (I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, reimagined this time from 2021 Mercury Prize Winner Arlo Parks. 2021 has been a year of new beginnings - a new US president, a new Facebook, a new sense of hope in the England football team. John Lewis love a good anthropomorphic story, so I reckon we’ll see a family of owls move into a new town full of humans. The humans just can’t get used to their owl ways - hooting constantly, sitting in trees, turning their necks a full 180 degrees all of the time - and so they are shunned from the neighbourhood. Santa arrives on Christmas morning, but oh no, his reindeers are tired and he needs to deliver the last few presents! Thank goodness, the owl family step in and pull his sleigh to the remaining homes in the neighbourhood, so everyone can open up their gifts on Christmas morning. Hooray!” - Tom Cox
So there we have it. The Friel team have certainly had their thinking caps on this week and we can't wait to see who is the most accurate...
