So it’s coming up to that time of year again – Christmas’. The John Lewis advert is one of the most anticipated parts of the lead up to the big day, building a huge reputation on simply brilliant advertising. As afternoon struck on Friday, the hashtag #manonthemoon had already racked up over 42,000 mentions across all social media platforms – Crazy considering last year’s Monty the Penguin advert had thousands less at the same stage.
But is it really ‘brilliant advertising’, when the only item being sold in store from the advert is the telescope that the young girl uses, priced at £99.95? In addition, John Lewis are to have said that the telescope the old man receives isn’t even available to buy at all! When we consider that the advert was said to have cost a mere £7million to create, it’s hard to see how they will make back the money in sales compared to last year, where John Lewis sold £18 million off the back of stuffed Monty the Penguin toys.
The company of course have backed up their marketing techniques and gone on to say “it’s about having an emotional connection with the shopper to reinforce the brand, which can have a halo effect into the following year.” The department store is “not looking for someone to come into the store and buy the following day,” according to experts.
It’s hard to imagine they will beat last year’s penguin sales by selling 180,000 telescopes. This seems like a shame, considering that John Lewis are donating a percentage of profits made from Man on the Moon to Age UK.
Taking all of this in to account, it hasn’t stopped the majority of us falling in love with yet another advert of theirs, long may they continue.
If you haven’t seen it yet, watch the advert here.