Is it just me, or is this the first year that the John Lewis advert has flared brightly then just kinda died?
I’ve not really thought much about it at all.
Have you?
The John Lewis gals and guys will be around a table already pondering the 2019 advert of course.
Budgets tend to be between £5 million and £10 million from memory. Plus media spend of tens of millions more (paying for the spaces to put the advert).
So they have quite a bit to think about.
Tired.
But maybe we’re just a bit tired of these annual spend-fests?
I think they’re just a bit crass now.
Self indulgent.
Thoughtless.
There this year just because they were there last year.
And I don’t just think I am saying this because I worked in advertising… I just think we all know what advertising is now.
And it’s not that nice really.
It’s boring.
It’s just getting us to buy things.
And so much of it is lazy and regurgitated.
Are brands actually trying to make us love them? To help us to understand why they are different and better? To build relationships with us? To look for win:wins?
Or just trying to dazzle us for a few seconds with me-too messaging.
I think it’s the latter.
Please, please, please.
Anyhow, in my own self-indulgent moment, here is the music from the 2011 John Lewis advert.
The last advert I actually liked.
It didn’t help me to understand why John Lewis should be my store of choice.
But it did remind me that Morrissey is a genius.
