Taking a primetime advertising spot last Saturday night during Britain’s Got Talent, the new television commercial celebrating John Lewis’ 150th anniversary was revealed.
Created by Adam & Eve/DDB, the ad is called Never Standing Still, and carries the closing title, “For 150 years you’ve never stood still. Neither have we.” The advertising agency was also behind the John Lewis’ The Bear and the Hare Christmas campaign last year. If you missed my blog about that, “Hey, sugar. Is John Lewis' Christmas ad too treacly?” you can read it by clicking here.
Never Standing Still is supremely well executed. Set to a cover version of The Kinks’ This Time Tomorrow, sung by former Supergrass frontman Gaz Coombes, it’s a carefully inter-linked series of vignettes that lead us through the past 150 years of “typical” British daily life, inviting us to wax lyrical and think whimsical about the days of yore.
For 150 years you’ve never stood still. Neither have we.
This is a similarity here to the 2008 Hovis commercial which was born of a similar idea. During the Hovis ad, a boy buys a Hovis loaf and carries it home via a series of major British events over the past 100 or so years – from World Wars to the miners’ strike. But when I say the John Lewis ad refers to “typical” British events, I perhaps mean “stereotypical” – the sort of white middle-class events and pastimes that many Brits will have experienced but a lot won’t. Playing with a yoyo at one’s boarding school, climbing to the top of a hill with Daddy, walking down lovely wide avenues with a Doberman, dressing up as a Roman soldier and running around the substantial suburban home…
Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course, and it’s perfectly understandable that the ad is aimed at John Lewis’s target demographic – which is, of course, the predominantly white middle-class. (Oh, but there’s a token black man enjoying the slip-and-slide in the garden and a mixed race girl riding a bike, just to keep everyone happy.)
But frankly, that’s a detail and I’m being picky; I genuinely love the ad almost as much as I love the brand itself.
Not that I’m encouraging complacency, but I feel that John Lewis is probably one of the most stable brands on the high street. There is something about this particular brand that makes them eminently trustworthy, plus there’s an assurance of quality worth paying for. Certainly most people I ask haven't bought their TV anywhere else. What’s not to love about a free five-year guarantee AND a price match?
But the ad isn’t about garnering market share at all. It’s purely about celebrating themselves and their loyal demographic. And in that respect, it absolutely ticks all the right boxes.
Craig Inglis, marketing director of John Lewis, says: “In this very important year for us, this campaign celebrates how our customers’ lives have kept moving over the last 150 years and the role that John Lewis has played in moving with them. We hope the campaign will evoke nostalgia leaving our customers feeling uplifted and excited about a summer of celebration.”
Never Standing Still was created by Matt Woolner and Steve Wioland, and directed by Dougal Wilson through Blink. You can watch and comment here:
Ashley is a copywriter, editor and blogger
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