John Lewis Christmas Advert 2015

The advert everyone has been waiting for

Bobbie Atkinson November 2015

When consumers go through the process of making a decision to buy something there needs to be motivation to do so, and this motivation stems from the buyers need to be satisfied. Maslow's Hierarchy of needs explains all the different needs a consumer has, and this is what marketers use to influence their target markets decisions. 

Each year John Lewis bring out an advert around Christmas time, it has now become something everyone looks forward to. Last year the story was about a young boy who befriended a penguin and saw his needs for a female partner. The story ended with the boy making the penguins Christmas by giving him what he wanted which was love, it also showed that the two penguins were stuffed animals the whole time despite the people watching being emotionally attached.

The time everyone was waiting for 8:00am Friday the 6th November, the on-line release of the 2015 advert. John Lewis is famous for their Christmas adverts and how they play on the viewers emotions each time. This year the story aimed to get across the message "Show someone their loved this Christmas". The advert showed a young girl looking through a telescope to the moon and seeing an elderly man all alone around Christmas time, by the end of the advert she had sent a telescope up there to him so they could finally see each other, and it ended with the man crying. This is a simple yet effective way of connecting with the viewers.

The third stage of Maslows Hierarchy of needs is love and belonging, which is the need for friends and family. Everyone has the need to love and to be loved, John Lewis is very clever in the way that they use family and love in their adverts as a way of connecting them to their audience. Also as Christmas is all about friends and family, when the viewers see the adverts and feel emotionally attached it gives them more motivation to shop with John Lewis.

The company have also used sensory marketing, having focused on visual and hearing. The visuals in this advert are very strong, putting across a very strong message. Throughout the advert is a young child doing all she can to make an elderly man's Christmas instead of focusing on what children usually do around the holidays. Visually this entralls the audience in a way that they want to watch the full advert to see how the story ends. Also throughout the advertisement the song "Half the world away by Aurora" is playing. This is focusing on the sense hearing, it is a very emotional song and despite the consumers watching the advert, having that song playing in the background is going to subconsciously bring more emotion to what they are watching.

This years advert has used experiential marketing very well as everyone on social media is talking about this advert, and will surely be waiting impatiently for the next one.

Follow this link to see the Man on the moon 2015 John Lewis advert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuz2ILq4UeA

This rating has been chosen because the adverts each year have always been a success, cause so much discussion on social media and is something consumers wait for each year. It has not reached five stars as despite enjoying the adverts I have never purchased a product from John Lewis.