The campaign set out to establish John Lewis as the place with more of the right gifts than anyone else on the high street. Avoiding the glitter and tinsel of clichéd Christmas advertising, both message and execution were handled with restraint, thoughtfulness and warmth, which felt appropriate for the time. The idea, “if you know the person, you’ll find the present” is brought to life using portraiture, matching people to their perfect presents; each vignette containing clues to link each character to their gift.We continued the viewers’ journey from TV and Print to online by creating a series of interactive MPU’s. Here we used a selection of characters and encouraged users to interact by prompting them to pick a gift for the character. The idea being that there was only one option out of 3 which would be the correct.

The campaign resulted in John Lewis posting sales in excess of last year during the Christmas period despite much more challenging market conditions. Advertising tracking showed the campaign performed significantly better than the major competitor's Christmas campaign.