John Lewis today revealed its 2014 Christmas advertising campaign, which evokes the magic of make-believe at Christmas through a child‘s eyes.
“Monty and Sam do everything together and the adverts 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 realises 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.”
The advert cost £1m to make and is part of John Lewis‘s overall £7m investment in its Christmas campaign.
The advert launches on social media channels today. Friday 7th November during the first advert break in Gogglebox on Channel 4.
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 360o virtual world and interact with Sam and Monty. During the campaign, children will also be able to create their very own Monty Christmas card on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S.
Monty‘s Christmas has been created by advertising agency Adam&Eve/DDB and the Channel 4 teaser campaign by 4Creative and MPC.
Set to the track ‘Real Love‘, sung by Tom Odell. Monty‘s Christmas is the seventh John Lewis advert Dougal Wilson has directed.
