John Lewis’ Christmas ad is already smashing records but will it become the most shared Xmas ad of all time?
The much-anticipated John Lewis Christmas ad is finally here and is already smashing records but will it become the most shared festive ad of all time?
Images of a trampoling boxer have set the internet ablaze, with the retailer’s Buster the Boxer ad already generating 218,330 shares across Facebook, Twitter and YouTube within an hour, according to video ad tech company Unruly.
It’s made all the more impressive given it has already beat the shares accrued in the first 24 hours for the last three ads - Man on the Moon (174,717), Monty the Penguin (202,953) and Bear and the Hare (174,717).
It’s already on course to become the most shared John Lewis ad. But will it go one step further and sit alongside the most shared Christmas ads? To outline just impressive such a feat would be, Unruly has pulled together the milestones it would need to beat.
To get on the Top 10 Most Shared Christmas ad chart:
- To beat Monty - 1,012,605
- To beat Mog - 1,072,251
- To beat Bear & the Hare - 1,226,467
- To beat Man on the Moon - 1,672,666
- To become the most shared Christmas ad of all time - Edeka: “#Heimkommen” (2015) - 3,984,010
And, of course, there is the most shared ad of all time: Google Android: Friends Furever - 6.4 million times.
“The concept is strong, execution on point as always. Emotional, memorable?...Not so much. It will probably be shared more because it has a dog in it. But it needed a cat. People love cats," opined Tim Jones, creative director at RPM.
James Whatley, planning partner of innovation at Ogilvy & Mather London, added: "A cynic might say 'it depends on how much paid they put behind it' but in this year - this awful, terrible year we call 2016 - a smile from a trusted source of emotional warmth is worth more today than it ever has done before. So yes, it could. And good luck to them."
Buster the Dog’s early success vindicates John Lewis’ revaluation of its creative strategy in the wake of last year’s Man on the Moon ad, which head of marketing Rachel Swift admitted at an IPA event. She said that the mixed feelings toward last year's campaign led bosses at the retailer to take a step back and look at whether the creative manifestation of the message it wanted to convey was still compelling.