UNITED KINGDOM – Last year’s John Lewis Christmas spot set the bar pretty high, hitting the general public right in the feels with a hare giving his bear friend a Christmas he’s never had, all to the tune of Lily Allen’s evocative cover of Somewhere Only We Know.
In the brand’s new Christmas ad, the tradition of cuddly creatures and sweet music continues with ‘Monty’s Christmas’, which evokes the magic of make-believe through a child’s eyes.
Created by adamandeveDDB and set to the track ‘Real Love’, sung by Tom Odell and originally written and recorded by John Lennon, the heartwarming advert tells the tale of an unlikely friendship between a little boy, Sam, and his penguin friend, Monty.
Monty and Sam do everything together and the advert follows them playing happily through the year, from hide and seek to football. However as the winter months draw in, Sam begins to notice that Monty is sad and realizes that he is longing for a companion. Knowing his friend so well, on Christmas Day Sam gives Monty the gift he has been dreaming of – a new penguin friend called Mabel.
Featuring the strapline ‘Give someone the Christmas they’ve been dreaming of’, Monty and Mabel have been created using complex CGI technology to look and behave exactly like real life Adélie penguins.
The advert launched on the retailer’s social media channels on November 6 and it will then feature on TV for the first time on November 7 during the first advert break in Gogglebox on Channel 4. This follows a teaser campaign using #MontyThePenguin, on digital outdoor advertising sites and on Channel 4, where the broadcaster’s iconic ‘idents’ have been transformed to feature Monty.
Craig Inglis, Marketing Director at John Lewis, said: “At John Lewis, this time of year is all about helping our customers create their dream Christmas. We hope this uplifting tale of Sam’s love for his friend Monty will remind people of the magic of Christmas through a child’s eyes and inspire them to think how they can make the festive season extra special for their friends and loved ones.”
This message will be amplified beyond the TV campaign through an in-store space called Monty’s Den. In partnership with Samsung, Monty’s Den uses a series of technology-firsts to harness the power of children’s imagination. This includes ‘Monty’s Magical Toy Machine’ which enables children to bring their favourite toys to life through innovative Microsoft technology and ‘Monty’s Goggles’, which use Google Cardboard to allow children to enter a 360-degree virtual world and interact with Sam and Monty.
Merchandise inspired by Monty and Mabel will also be available, including a children’s book called ‘Monty’s Christmas’ of which a proportion of the proceeds will go to Barnardo’s, John Lewis’s 150th anniversary charity. An audio app version of the book narrated by Dermot O’Leary will also be available on iTunes from today, along with the Real Love single by Tom Odell.
Inglis added: “We hope our customers will love Monty and Mabel and they will have more chances than ever to interact with them through some genuinely exciting technology firsts.”
The campaign with media planning and buying by Manning Gottlieb OMD begins with a 120-second TV advert on the November 7 and is supported by a combination of three shorter versions for six weeks. The advert cost 1 million pounds to make and is part of John Lewis’s overall 7 million pound investment in its Christmas campaign.
