John Lewis and Waitrose's Christmas advert reveals that a bit kindness goes a good distance
While we have become all too familiar with the mission of the holy John Lewis Christmas advertisement to draw our hearts, for all of the obvious reasons, no one has known exactly what to expect from the retailer's festive campaign this year.
After the first joint campaign with Waitrose last year telling the story of an exciting dragon named Edgar, retailers have teamed up again for Give a Little Love, a celebratory fundraiser inspired by the friendliness of the British public during the pandemic has been .
The two-minute campaign film was created by adam & eveDDB and directed by Oscar favorite Oscar Hudson. It celebrates the many different forms of moving art – from animation and claymation to CGI and cinematography.
Designed as an act of solidarity with the creative industry in a particularly turbulent year, the film consists of nine vignettes by eight different artists, including puppet-maker and animator duo Andy Gent and Anthony Farquhar Smith, stop-motion magician Chris Hopewell and animator Anna Mantzaris.
The French directors collective MegaComputeur, the animator Sylvain Chomet, the Latvian illustrator Anete Melece and the animation studio Shotopop also contributed to the spot. All the scenes are linked together to create a long chain of donations, as each film passes the campaign's heart emblem to the next part.
Moving away from the traditional sappy cover track by John Lewis, Celeste, BBC Music's Sound of 2020 winner, has commissioned a new song called A Little Love.
The movie's message ties in with the broader work of John Lewis and Waitrose amid the pandemic trying to raise £ 4 million for charities like FareShare, which helps people who are affected by food poverty, and Home-Start, that with parents working together, they need support.
John Lewis and Waitrose employees also donate £ 1 million to charities that support families in their communities. Customer donations of £ 2 million are matched by another donation from the John Lewis Partnership.
To encourage retailers' campaigning this year, adam & eveDDB created an additional 30-second charity ad, led by Oscar Hudson. The spot shows the work of four doctoral students from Kingston University: Amelia Fowler, Marta Pinto, Leksey Lee and Bella McEvoy.
It's a fitting approach in a year that brings things back to the core message of the loved one on the festive calendar, and that's what Christmas should always be about: kindness.
Credits:
Agency: adam & eveDDB
CCO: Richard Brim
Director: Oscar Hudson
Music: Celeste