John Lewis are slowly but surely becoming the company to watch for Christmas advertising. Coca-cola have their truck and Starbucks have their red cups but over the past few years, the laudable company have consistently produced the most memorable festive advert, from melting snowmen to an old guy who lives on the moon. This year, mercifully, their approach was a tad less emotionally galling, but no less effective.
Here it is, our 2016 Christmas ad. Introducing #BusterTheBoxer > https://t.co/GjCdP6avFl pic.twitter.com/GRMLvoHVAc— John Lewis (@johnlewisretail) 10 November 2016
If you haven't seen the ad yet, check it out above, but in summary, it involves a trampoline (for Christmas? Really?), some CGI foxes and a very excitable boxer. Boxers are, I think we can all agree, the best dogs in the world, so deciding to make one central to a Christmas ad was always going to go down well, but Buster the Boxer's paws reach even further than that.
JL have partnered up with Snapchat to produce an official Buster lens.
Now, I know what you're probably thinking, the dog face lens is already
far and away the most heavily used lens on all of Snapchat, so how is
this any different? Well, once you've morphed into Buster, a raised
eyebrow will prompt a squirrel to hop across his head.
That's not exactly a massive distinction, granted, but the real aim is to keep the advert firmly lodged in people's heads,
and give that currently the ad is falling into second place behind
M&S' more polished, lengthier offering, an advert which extends
beyond the screen might be the best way to give them the edge.
That being said, JL aren't the only company intent on moving their
advert 'beyond' an advert. Waitrose are planning on turning their
upcoming ad into both a book and a video game, and numerous people (including starring actress Lily James) have expressed their desire for the staggeringly high concept Burberry ad to be turned into an actual full length feature.
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