John Lewis Christmas looks at festive celebrations through alien's eyes

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Nov 4, 2021

John Lewis has released its much-anticipated Christmas 2021 campaign with a two-minute ad entitled ‘Unexpected Guest’. It’s described as “a joyful story of friendship, which celebrates the magic of Christmas moments experienced for the first time”.

The company said its customers are “craving joyful moments, togetherness and escapism as so many were unable to celebrate with loved ones last year”.

The ad takes viewers on a “magical Christmas journey, all through the eyes of the lead characters, a young boy called Nathan and the space traveller, Skye”. 

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Nathan discovers and befriends Skye, who has landed in the woods beside his home. Their friendship develops as he “introduces Skye to many of his family’s festive traditions and brings them to life for her in the woods”.

Included are Christmas trees, mince pies, and a Christmas jumper, all seen against a soundtrack performed by Lola Young, a 20 year-old singer-songwriter from South London. The track ‘Together in Electric Dreams’, originally released by Philip Oakey and Giorgio Moroder in 1984, “was chosen as a celestial compliment to the advert”.

The ad was created in partnership with Adam&eveDDB and it premieres on ITV on Thursday evening during The Pride of Britain Awards. 

The ad is also being brought to life for customers in the retailer’s 10 Christmas Emporiums, “where they will be able to get up close to Skye’s ship and create and share an interactive gif on social media”. 

To celebrate the ad, there are also be two Snapchat lenses available —  a selfie lens that lets people become a space-traveller like Skye and the second that’s an outward facing lens, which lets users play with Skye’s spaceship in their very own world. 

A version of the Christmas jumper will be available in the shops and on johnlewis.com in men’s, women’s and children’s sizes (£14-£29). And 10% of the profits for each jumper sold are being donated equally to its Give a Little Love charities FareShare and Home-Start UK. 

Claire Pointon, Director of Customer, said: “After the last 18 months, we wanted our advert to really celebrate this as we look forward to a brighter future.”