The best 2014 Christmas Campaigns: M&S vs John Lewis

The battle for the best Christmas Campaign for 2014 has kicked off, as
a number of UK retailers have launched their advertorial holiday
campaigns in the hopes of winning over consumers in time for the
holiday rush. FashionUnited brings together the top Christmas
Campaigns for 2014 to see which retailers are most likely to have
tapped into their customers hearts, and purses.

First up is department store group Marks & Spencer, the UK’s biggest
clothing retailer and their advert ‘Follow the Fairies.’ Unlike its
previous adverts, the group decided to try a new tactic and launch its
2014 holiday campaign without a leading celebrity starring in the main
role. Last year saw a roster of celebrities including models Rosie
Huntington-Whiteley, David Gandy and actress Helena Bonham Carter in a
fantastical themed campaign.

Marks & Spencer uses a little ‘Magic and Sparkle’ in its 2014 ad

However, seeing as the enchanted Christmas ad did little to help boost
the group’s holiday sales last year, M&S has decided to tap into the
power of social media this year and is aiming to lift holiday moral
across the country by carrying out “random acts of kindness.” M&S did
reuse its slogan from last year, “Magic and Sparkle,” a play on the
name Marks & Spencer, which refers to the name of the adverts two
fairies, played by models Claire Chust and Chloé François.

In the ad, the duo fly around the city of London at night performing
good deeds, such as changing a boyfriend’s boring gift of an alarm
clock to a glamorous bra, helping a woman find her lost cat and
causing an power outage, whilst making it snow so children inside
playing video games go out and play in the snow. The campaign was
first launch online via social media Friday night and then televised
advert debuted during the first advert of ITV’s X Factor on Saturday.

Although M&S refused to reveal the cost of its Christmas advert, the
group stated that the absence of celebrities meant there was more
budget to push its campaign online via social media platforms, such as
Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. Prior to the launch of its advert, M&S
was sharing “random acts of kindness” across the UK, such as
delivering chocolates to a hospital ward, making it snow outside of a
primary school in Cornwall and flying fairy lights over Newcastle’s
Tyne Bridge.

However instead of linking the acts of kindness directly to the
department store group, M&S created a separate Twitter account
@thetwofairies, which had over 13,000 followers before the advert
officially aired. “We wanted to capture that feeling and bring Magic
and Sparkle to life in a fun and light-hearted way that spreads a
little cheer,” commented Patrick Bousquet-Chavanne, executive director
of marketing and international at M&S.

“This Christmas will be the biggest online Christmas ever in the UK
and the most social Christmas, fuelled by an unprecedented surge in
the use of mobile phones and tablet computers.”

Next up is upscale department store chain, John Lewis, who has held
the gauntlet for best Christmas advert for the past few years. Last
year’s animated ad, which highlighted the unlikely friendship between
a hare and a bear seems to have been the source for this year’s
campaign, which features a little boy named Sam and his best friend,
Monty the Penguin. The two minute short film was once more made by
Adam&Eve/DDB, the creative agency behind a number of UK retailer’s top
Christmas adverts.

However, unlike its previous advert, which was animated cartoon, John
Lewis decided to use CGI animation to bring Monty the Penguin to life.
In the ad, Sam and Monty are seen playing together, going sledging,
playing football and jumping on a trampoline as best friends do before
Monty begins to noticed couples kissing and appears to want the same,
without a single word being spoken. As the Penguin seems to fill with
longing, Sam makes a decision and for Christmas gives Monty the
ultimate gift, a female penguin companion named Mabel.

At the end of the ad, Sam’s mother walks in the room and sees her son
playing with his two penguin soft toys with a smile on his face to a
version of ‘Real Love’ by John Lennon covered by Tom Odell and the
strapline “Give someone the Christmas they’ve been dreaming of”
flashes across the screen before the John Lewis logo is shown and the
connection is made. The advert was designed to evoke “the magic of
make-believe at Christmas through a child’s eyes,” commented the
department store group.

The advert first aired on social media platforms last Thursday, before
airing on television during Friday night’s episode of Gogglebox on
Channel 4, after a week of unbranded teasers with the hashtag
#MontythePenguin. The new Christmas advert which cost 1 million pounds
to make and is part of John Lewis’s overall 7 million pound investment
in its Christmas campaign, received over 4 million views on Youtube
within 24 hours.

John Lewis hopes to give consumers ‘the Christmas they’ve been
dreaming of’

Much like M&S, John Lewis has also tapped into the power of social
media and linked its Christmas ad to a Twitter campaign, which
promises to light up all its followers’ home pages and send out a
tweet to all their friends simultaneously as the Oxford Street
Christmas lights, sponsored by the department store turn on in London.
John Lewis is also supporting its Christmas advert in its stores, with
the launch of a space called Monty’s Den, which is said to use
technology to enable children to bring their favorite toys to life.
The department store group has also created cuddly toys based on Monty
and Mabel, and a children’s book named ‘Monty’s 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,” commented Craig Inglis,
marketing director at John Lewis.

Both adverts convey a similar message, that the holiday season is a
time to share the gift kindness with your loved ones and give them the
best possible Christmas. Both use a narrative basis to tell a story of
Christmas, without directly presenting facts or making claims. The
adverts try to tap into their viewers emotions that are linked to
love, friendship, giving and sharing through the art of story-telling
before connecting the idea to their own brands. However, one of the
adverts clearly seems to have moved its viewers more than the
other.

Last year John Lewis reported record breaking Christmas sales and its
Christmas advert ranked third place in the top three most global
shared films of 2013. In comparison, Marks & Spencer’s ad was listed
in eleventh place and the group one of the few UK retailers to report
a “difficult” festive trading period. Since its launch last week,
Monty the Penguin has over 11 million views on YouTube and nearly
36,000 shares. On the other hand, Follow the Fairies has 2.6 million
views on YouTube and 450 shares.

However, instead of only posting its Christmas ad to YouTube, both
department store groups have also posted them on Facebook, where the
majority of the adverts shares come from. John Lewis’s ad has been
shared over 152,600 thousand times so far, and M&S’s advert 25,800
thousand times. If the link between views, shares and Christmas sales
stands to be true again this holiday season, then John Lewis has yet
again managed to win over its consumers with its heartwarming advert
which will undoubtedly lead to customers opening their wallets.

Many already seem to be doing so, as the ‘Monty’ and Mabel’ soft toys
have already sold out in store and a number have found their way onto
eBay, with large and medium plush sizes selling for more than double
their retail price.

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