In a year where the Netflix TV show Adolescence shone a light on teenage boys and their family relationships, hurrah to John Lewis for being brave and making it the subject of their Christmas ad, writes Simon Burch.
True, it’s not an obvious vehicle through which to flog bath sets and boxes of chocolates, or whatever it is people buy at John Lewis at Christmas, but it does what good marketing, in my opinion, should do – creates connection by telling a story which reflects what people are thinking about.
This has been the John Lewis blueprint for the past few years, and this time it’s echoing the 2025 zeitgeist, which was – for a few months in the first half of the year anyway – the Trouble With Boys, a national concern sparked by the harrowing and upsetting Adolescence.
However, this time – as I read it, anyway – it’s shining a (fairy) light on what was a secondary narrative in Adolescence, the relationship between fathers and sons.
We saw this in episode two of the show with the investigating officer, DI Bascombe, who, having glimpsed the callous manosphere world his own son was encountering at school, realises he has lost his connection with him, and ends the episode by seeking to restore eroded bonds.
And now John Lewis is doing the same thing, by this time using the power of retail to bring father and son together, creating reconnection through the lad’s inspired choice of Christmas gift – a record of an old club favourite his dad used to dance to back in the day.
If you haven’t seen the ad yet (and there’s still plenty of time, because they’ve gone early this year) it takes us from the moment that the boy is so emotionally cut off from his dad that he has been overlooked in the present-opening ceremony.
So it’s only when the dad is tidying up that he finds his present from his son from under the branches of the tree.
And then, when he opens it, and puts the record on, he’s transported back to the dancefloors of his 1990s clubbing days.
Then the crowd of ravers melt away and he sees his son standing before him – a vision which reminds him of happier days when his son was small before he grew up and, presumably, they drifted apart.
And so they embrace, and are reunited.
As a father of two sons – one who’s late teen and another who’s 20 – this bit in the advert got to me.
Children grow up so fast and before long they become big, awkward and angular. The cuddles, the playful talk, the tickling and wrestling and the closeness fall away, and it becomes a whole lot harder to connect.
And quickly, if you’re not careful and as DI Bascombe discovered, they can become isolated within their own family, like strangers.
Personally, although I like the story, and it’s refreshing to see a middle-aged man as a sympathetic subject of an advert rather than a buffoon who can’t work out how to use a cleaning product, I’m not sure if the advert will connect with the people who do the vast majority of Christmas shopping: mums, wives and girlfriends.
For a start, if they are aiming at men embarking on their Christmas shopping, it’s way too soon.
If most of my male acquaintances are a guide, they would have been better holding out until the week before Christmas and gone for a big push on Christmas Eve.
And doubtless the lad bought the record after having asked his mum a few days later what to buy dad, and since mums are magicians at knowing what to buy at Christmas, she suggested he went out to get the record.
And, quite possibly, lent him the money to do so. And then wrapped it for him too.
But from a marketing point of view, whether you tap into the realness of the ad or not, it’s a wonderful example of a strong relationship between client and advertising agency.
One of the biggest challenges in the creative space, whether advertising, wider marketing or PR, concerns building trust: trust in our methods, our knowledge and our predictions as to what our campaigns or ideas will achieve.
We totally get it. For many companies, marketing is an opaque and tricky venture where there are no guarantees. It represents a significant investment for firms, and, understandably, they want results.
While agencies want to be creative, many clients will want their advertising to do what they think their advertising should do: talk about the benefits of the product or service, publicise the selling points and reflect quality, uniqueness and excellent customer service.
The John Lewis ad does none of this. It doesn’t shoehorn a whole load of products into the advert, eking out every available second of precious airtime.
It doesn’t have branding all over the place, there are no smiling shop workers and no celebrities or influencers pretending to spend Christmas in each other’s company.
And this is why the release of the John Lewis Christmas advert has become an annual event, as important in the run up to Christmas as Black Friday or opening the first door of an advent calendar.
It’s why this week it has been covered in the news, why people have been talking about it and giving their opinion on whether it left them cold or brought a tear to their eye.
As a marketing campaign, you can ask for nothing more.
You might say this is advertising without really advertising. Retail is no longer about flogging products, it’s about selling an experience, and John Lewis is reminding people that buying a present from a store which really gets what buying a Christmas present is all about is a worthwhile experience.
I’m not sure we ever really find out what effect the John Lewis Christmas advert has on its seasonal sales is, but we can only assume that, since we get a new ad every year, the exercise is worth it.
And, assuming it does indeed work, it teaches everyone in the marketing industry another golden lesson – that all good marketing takes time.
Because this advert won’t be successful just because it’s a great piece of creativity. Its success will be built on the success of previous John Lewis adverts, like the Bear and the Hare (still my favourite), or the bouncing Buster the Boxer on the trampoline.
It is down to John Lewis returning to the Christmas advert fray every year, and their understanding that a brash advert showcasing its products won’t cut it.
Instead, they have cornered the market in telling a Christmas story.
True, everyone will read it differently, but to me the advert has hit the mark, by using the power of a thoughtful gift to unite two people who love each other but who have become estranged – a Christmas theme that is as old as time.
