Adam & Eve/DDB and John Lewis' long-standing demonstration of creative effectiveness has been recognised by the judges at this year's ±±¾©Èü³µpk10 Big Awards, with the double act winning the Consistent Creative Excellence trophy.
The two have epitomised the symbiotic client/agency relationship in the past decade, sustaining the tone and feel of the big-ticket Christmas campaign and still managing to evolve it each year. The ads attract praise from press, industry peers and consumers, and still manage to feel fresh.
The Christmas ad campaign's upward trajectory is also woven into the careers of both Adam & Eve/DDB and John Lewis customer director Craig Inglis.
John Lewis and Adam & Eve/DDB (then Adam & Eve) made their Christmas ad debut in 2009 with a campaign that relaunched the department store's "Never knowingly undersold" proposition. The TV ad featured a folk cover of Guns N' Roses' Sweet Child O' Mine.
It was followed by 2010's "Rocking horse", which came after Inglis was promoted to director of marketing. It featured an Ellie Goulding cover of Your Song. "The long wait" from 2011 is widely considered the ad that stamped its indelible mark on adland's calendar.
Other executions include 2013's "The hare and the bear", which took a slightly different tack with an animated short, and 2014's "Monty the penguin".
Following the launch of "Moz the monster" in 2017, ±±¾©Èü³µpk10 published an article asking: has the John Lewis ad formula become tired?
The answer was a resounding "no". It became the most-viewed Christmas ad on Facebook and YouTube, with 10.4 million in 24-hours, while last year's Sir Elton John-starring "The boy and the piano" performed even more strongly, racking up 11 million views on Facebook and YouTube alone in 24 hours.
Apart from Consistent Creative Excellence, Adam & Eve/DDB also won three Big Awards for its work on Marmite, including in the Out-of-Home and Consumer Goods categories.
See all the winners of the 2019 ±±¾©Èü³µpk10 Big Awards and pictures of the awards night
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