The real John Lewis Advert is officially here. Whilst many of us cannot wait for it to be shown on television for the first time tonight at 9.15pm, the video has already been watched by thousands on the Internet. The advert is already trending on Twitter with hashtags such as #BusterTheBoxer and #JohnLewis.
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Over the years John Lewis have exceeded expectations with their Christmas Adverts and it has become a huge part of Christmas finding out what story will be told by John Lewis each year. The 2011 John Lewis Christmas advert was the first time that the retailer made up a story and used emotional branding within its Christmas advert to really reach out to customers. The 2011 Christmas advert showed us a young boy who couldn’t wait for Christmas Day to arrive not so he could open the presents left by Santa but so that he could give his parents a present. In 2012 we were given the story of a snowman that made a special journey throughout the night of Christmas Eve so that on Christmas Day he could give his snow girlfriend a scarf bought from John Lewis. In 2013 we were introduced to a special friendship between a hare and a bear and the story was about the an animal who had never seen Christmas. As the bear went to hibernate for the cold winter, the hare did not want the bear to miss the magic of Christmas so gave him an alarm clock so that on Christmas morning he could join the hare and all the other animals. In 2014 we fell in love with Monty the Penguin. He was an imaginary friend of a young boy, who believed his stuffed toy was real. For Christmas he wished for his penguin to have another companion and at the end of the advert a female penguin is opened as a gift for Monty from underneath the tree. Then in 2015 it was all about the Man on the Moon. This told us the story of a young girl who spots an old man living on the moon in her telescope. The young girl manages to send him a message sent with balloons (like the film Up!) all the way to the moon which brought a smile to his face on Christmas Day.
This year we meet Buster the Boxer played by Biff the Boxer. We are introduced to a family with a little girl who is bouncing on her bed like a trampoline. So on Christmas Eve her father builds a trampoline for her to wake up to on Christmas Morning. As we all know Christmas Eve is a night filled with magic, so during the night wild animals appear in the garden. Foxes, Badgers, Squirrels and Hedgehogs start to bounce on the trampoline whilst Buster watches in sadness from inside the house. The next morning the little girls father opens up the patio door and as the little girl runs out to her trampoline with excitement, Buster beats her to it and starts bouncing on the trampoline himself and the family watch in shock. The story is about “Gifts that everyone will love” this Christmas as Christmas is all about families and getting together at this special time.
The 2016 John Lewis Advert cost about £1million to produce with a further £6million predicted to be spent on television advertising over the festive season. As always there will be a range of products to purchase from John Lewis so that children can have their very own Buster the Boxer on Christmas morning. Other woodland soft toy animals will be available to buy within this range, along with books and of course the trampoline. 10% of sales from the toys will be given to Wildlife Trust charities.
