I must say I feel this year Christmas has started creeping in even earlier than normal, people putting up trees and flashing lights on houses mid november!? I'm no scrooge but its too early for me! However, one festive thing I'm not complaining about is the Christmas adverts that have started playing.
John Lewis have reportedly spent £7million on their heartfelt,animated ad which tells the story of the Bear and the Hare. John Lewis have gone the whole hog with this one, by selling everything from slippers,to framed digital prints based on the characters. The soundtrack to the advert, Keane's 'Somewhere only we know' covered by Lily Allen has also been released, will it be the Christmas number one!? I've also watched the behind-the-scenes film on how the advert was made, I can see how much work and time went into the final ad it was really impressive to see. This ad is cute and Christmassy and little ones will love it!
Next up is Marks and Spencer's Christmas ad starring Rosie Huntington-Whitely, the face behind the brands most successful lingerie campaign to date, and model David Gandy. The whimsical advert takes the pair through a number of fairytale-esque scenarios from Alice in Wonderland, Hansel and Gretel, The Wizard of Oz and what I'm guessing is Aladin? (although I don't really see how this fits in, I think they just want any excuse to show Huntingdon-Whitely in her undies). Helena Bonham Carter also makes an appearance at the end of the yellow brick road as The Wizard. The ad then ends with 'Believe in Magic and Sparkle' which pulls on the companies name and also reinforces the magical aspect that subtly ties it in with Christmas. Marks' recently announced it's ninth consecutive quarter of falling sales, so may be relying on the advert to reel customers in this Christmas. Although it's not really that festive, I do quite like this one, then again I'd like any advert where you get to see David Gandy for two and half minutes..
..And finally Debenhams Christmas ad, set in a christmassy London full of twinkly lights and ice skating. This is probably my least favourite of the three, it has a nice festive atmosphere, but the songs a bit melancholy and I don't think there's anything too exciting or extravagant about it. Saying that I do think it's the most effective of the three for what they're trying to promote, as you can clearly see the clothes, they look good and the people in the ad freeze, turn into illustration and it then states the designer of each of the garments, including Henry Holland,Patrick Gant and Jonathan Saunders, which I think works well. It ends on a cutesy shot of reunited, young lovers gliding across an ice rink. Kudos to Debenhams for keeping it classy and sophisticated, but I don't think it wins the battle of the ads this year.
Who wins your vote for Christmas?
