John Lewis has hinted at its new Christmas advert with its latest campaign on its recently revived Never Knowingly Undersold price pledge.
The “through the decades” TV advert is the first in a three-part campaign for the all-important retail ‘golden quarter’, which will culminate with the department store’s highly anticipated Christmas spot.
The first ad features archive footage and focuses on a single store window changing over a century as it is dressed and redressed with products such as fashions of the roaring 1920s and a toaster so innovative that that it took centre stage in 1925.
Scenes are also shown during the outbreak of the Second World War, when the retailer’s Oxford Street store – the first John Lewis – provided a temporary war bunker and was hit during the Blitz on September 18, 84 years ago.
The window recreates the swinging 60s and the 1980s Lycra fitness craze before arriving in the present day with high-tech LED anti-ageing face masks.
The end of the ad features the Never Knowingly Undersold pledge, which began in 1925, reinstated on the shop window.
The ad’s soundtrack, a version of Paul Simon’s I Know What I Know, is sung by Laura Mvula, while Bafta-winning actress Samantha Morton provides the voiceover.
John Lewis brought back the pledge on September 9 in a major U-turn after ditching the commitment two years ago over concerns it was less relevant to shoppers.
The retailer said sales had “increased significantly” since the pledge’s re-launch, and organic visits to johnlewis.com – or those that are unpaid via search engines – had increased by more than 50,000 a day.
John Lewis customer director Charlotte Lock said: “We’ve looked to our heritage to inform our refreshed value promise to customers, making it relevant for today by matching not only high street retailers but also online competitors – and we are backing it with the biggest marketing campaign in our history.
“We have drawn on our archives and are literally depicting a window on Britain, showing the changing trends and events over the past century.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel