The activity, created by Adam & Eve, aims to take people back to their childhood and plays upon the excitement generated when opening gifts. The ad uses a cover of the 80's Gun & Roses track ‘Sweet Child O' Mine' and shows children opening gifts intended for adults, such as a camera, laptop and sheepskin slippers. In the final scene a girl who is playing with a camera, becomes a woman.
The track has been covered by Swedish folk band, Taken by Trees. According to John Lewis it marks the first time that a UK advertising campaign has used a Guns & Roses track. The cover will be available to download on iTunes and MySpace with a link planned directly from the website.
Running until Christmas Eve the activity builds upon the retailer's 2008 campaign which looked at gift ideas at Christmas. It uses the strap-line: ‘Remember how Christmas used to feel? Give someone that feeling.' It will initially launch with a 70-second ad and will be followed by 30' and 10' edits.
Craig Inglis, head of brand communications at John Lewis said: ‘This ad makes us stand out from our rivals as we try to avoid the obvious Christmas themes. The Guns & Roses track emphasises this point.'
John Lewis has spent around £5m on the campaign, which is slightly down on last year. Inglis however said that the retailer was able to purchase a similar amount of media space because of market deflation.
The 70-second ad will also feature in 90 UK cinemas from 20 November and press activity launches 21 November. The activity will also be supported with outdoor advertising across London and on the London Underground, as well as online ads on the homepages, including Yahoo and MSN. Consumers will also be able to share gift ideas over social media platforms such as Facebook.
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