John Lewis launches ‘Buster the Boxer’ Christmas advertising campaign
John Lewis has launched its hotly anticipated 2016 Christmas advertising campaign ‘on johnlewis.com, its social media channels and on Sky in an exclusive partnership.
The first terrestrial TV airing of ‘Buster the Boxer’ will be this evening at around 9:15pm on ITV.
Set to a cover version of the song ‘One Day I’ll Fly Away’ recorded by the British band Vaults, the two minute advert tells the story of Buster the Boxer dog and his family at Christmas.
The story starts with a little girl called Bridget who loves to jump. Her parents buy her a trampoline for Christmas and hide it in the garden to surprise her on Christmas Day. However, after dark, in a magical world observed only by Buster, a cast of wildlife animals emerges who discover the trampoline and have fun jumping. On Christmas morning, Bridget excitedly runs out into the garden to discover her present. However, Buster bounds past her and starts bouncing on her trampoline as she watches him wide-eyed.
John Lewis has chosen The Wildlife Trusts to be this year’s Christmas campaign charity partner.
Craig Inglis, customer director at John Lewis said: “2016 has certainly been quite a year, so we hope our advert will make people smile. It really embraces a sense of fun and magic, reminding everyone what it feels to give the perfect gift at Christmas.
“Each year we work with a charity which fits our ad, and we hope this year’s campaign will encourage more children to discover a love of British wildlife and encourage support of The Wildlife Trusts.”
John Lewis will make a donation to The Wildlife Trusts from the sale of soft toys of the characters which feature in the advert. The retailer has also worked with the charity on a number educational tools which will be available online.
In addition, the retailer’s flagship shop on Oxford Street will offer a virtual reality experience using Oculus Rift that will bring to life the world of Buster and his friends. There will also be a 360 film experience available using Google Cardboard in Oxford Street and accessible on JL.com and YouTube.
In a first for the retailer, John Lewis will be partnering with Snapchat to create a bespoke Snapchat lense, available until midnight tonight, that will transform users into Buster the Dog. In addition, customers visiting any of John Lewis’s 48 shops in December will be able to apply a Snapchat filter to any of their pictures taken while in store.
Until Sunday 13 November, customers will also be able to use bespoke Twitter stickers so they can personalise their own photos with Buster and his friends.
This year in a unique partnership with Sky, a ‘making of the ad’ film and bespoke content about British Wildlife presented by Wildlife TV presenter Patrick Aryee will be exclusively available to Sky’s 12 million customers via the On Demand homepage and Sky Go.
Buster the Boxer has been created by advertising agency adam&eveDDB with media planning and buying by Manning Gottlieb OMD. It was directed by Dougal Wilson who also directed three previous John Lewis Christmas adverts including 2011’s The Long Wait, 2012’s The Journey, and 2014’s ‘Monty’s Christmas’.
http://www.johnlewis.com/christmas-advert
