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John Lewis ad campaign wins top award
Emotive series of ads reportedly boosted department store’s sales by a whopping £1.1 billion.
Image © John Lewis
An ad campaign for John Lewis has bagged the top gong at an industry awards ceremony last night.
The campaign has been running since 2009 but is perhaps most remembered for the Christmas 2011 ad, which featured a young boy who can't wait for the big day to arrive so he can give his parents a gift.
Remarkably, the ad has proved so popular that millions of people have actually sought it out on Youtube.
And if you've been watching TV recently, you might also have noticed its latest ad, featuring a split screen of a young couple, with one living in the past and one in the present.
Strong uplift in sales
What's really interesting about last night's IPA Effectiveness Awards - which also recognised ads from Snickers and Aldi - is that they look specifically at the impact advertising campaigns have on sales.
Remarkably, the campaign for John Lewis has been accredited with boosting sales by more than £1 billion and driving up profits by £261 million over two years.
That's an absolutely phenomenal figure when you consider that most households are tightening their belts in the midst of all this economic uncertainty.
Can adverts really make you spend?
Vote
Chairman of the judges for the awards, Lord Hollick, had this to say about the John Lewis ads: "This campaign combined wonderfully emotive creativity with evident effectiveness to return the brand back to national treasure status.
"It demonstrates the power of acknowledging and rallying other audiences behind the brand, including employees and stakeholders, to really shift consumer behaviour and perceptions."
And it's that last part that can really spark debate. In a modern world where adverts are seemingly thrust in our faces at every turn, many of us will feel they no longer have any impact at all. What do you think? Can an advert convince you to buy a different product? Can it change your behaviour at all? Vote in our poll and see how you compare to other MSN Money readers.
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10Comments
30/10/2012 18:47
31/10/2012 08:25
Took me a while to even understand what the message was with their award winning advert. The one the year previous where they showed presents being seen as if you were a child again on Christmas morning was much more effective. Neither of these adverts made me purchase anything more than I would have done already. having said that, I do like John Lewis as a brand and their shops are very professionally staffed etc.
31/10/2012 07:24
I wonder how many people outright lied in answering that question, purely because of the wording. Had the first choice not had obvious connotations of "You have no control, correct?" and "You let corporations tell you what to do with your money, right?", might the results have been different? Sure, we'd all like to believe (and for others to believe about us, too) that we're strong minded, free-thinking individuals who can stand up to suggestion and temptation. The truth, I believe, is generally very different.
31/10/2012 12:31
I am now 52, in the sixties i was lucky to have a train set. i used to play and make things out of LEGGO. to keep me occupied. I had my matchbox cars as well. We now live in a world where people have to buy clothes and Electronic Gadgets your play stations. But sayng that, i have baught the toys now that i neve had when i was a lad as a collection. And in 1965 you only had 2 TV Stations BBC1 Nd ITV. or ATV. BCC2 didnt realy start untill 1970.The world has gone from The Normal way of life to the Subline. The attitude is we must have things that we dont realy need or want. So it is a choice between Food and heating or my son wants the NEW X BOX for Xmas? Think of this Todays Xmas present for children will end up at tomorrows car boot sale. or E Bay.
31/10/2012 12:04
31/10/2012 02:45
never ever seen the ad or just ignored it plus that irritating looking little posh kid would make me throw up and put me of going to john lewis, btw most adverts these days you don't even know what they're advertising probably because they are written by public school t*ssers who haven't a clue
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