John Lewis Christmas Advert 2013

We are all very familiar with the concept of the department store Christmas advert marking the start to the holidays. At the forefront of this is John Lewis pulling out all the stops each year to attempt to become the most memorable of all (we all remember the tear jerking Snowman of last year!) This year shows the unlikely friendship of 'The Bear and The Hare' in yet another tear jerking adventure pulling on the heart strings of both children and adults alike.

The advert itself was made in August in a studio in south London, each character is made up of hundreds of 2d pieces cut and moved slowly until movement is created and each background is handmade and around 3ft tall at its highest. The doll like world that created the animated film lengthed 90 seconds and had a budget of £7 million. Overall it has been seen by most of the nation and has been created to mimic that of an old age children's tale. It is deliberately designed to remind you of classics such as Narnia, Watership Down and The Wind in the Willows this way it becomes somewhat familiar to all ages bringing in nostalgia and emotion.

The story of the advert tells of a Bear who has missed Christmas every year due to his habit of hibernating, so the hare gives him an alarm clock timed for the 25th December. For the first time the bear wakes up on Christmas morning, sees the tree and cues the tears whilst the punchline appears 'give someone a Christmas they'll never forget'. 

The advert itself bagged £4.2 million of the budget on airtime alone across all channels. The £7 million budget is reasonably low compared to what John Lewis will usually spend on the run up to Christmas. Last year its budget was on level with Aldi (£6.5 million) and dwarfed by Asda (£11.2 million). The difference is that John Lewis doesn't sell food, it sells a notion of how Christmas should be, this is what makes it at the top of it's game.