In what has become a yearly frenzy of fervour and excitement from children of all ages, the John Lewis Christmas advert was launched at 8am this morning. Maybe rather predictably, for an advertising phenomenon that must now be counted as the unofficial beginning to the countdown to Christmas, the reaction was warm as it was vast.
It follows a little girl who spies an old man on the moon through her telescope, and her attempts to send him a gift through the night.
Within 30 minutes of launch this morning the advertisement had over 12,000 largely positive tweets on Twitter. The volume of tweets has been consistent since but peaked at 08:47, prime commuting time. It seems it was a very savvy decision by the company to launch early in the day, a method that proved successful in ensuring the digital watercooler discussions ticking over all morning.
The sentiment expressed toward the advert, has been consistently positive throughout the day. 55% of tweets were positive, 31% negative and 13% neutral by half eleven this morning, showing an astonishingly consistent reaction, barely ever dipping into negative territory.
Those that reacted positively to the advert, initially focused on certain areas. Many congratulated John Lewis on ‘doing it again’ once more, and continuing their record of quality yuletide advertising. Others noted how cute, adorable and loveable the advert was, whereas tweeters all over applauded the choice of song, a cover of Oasis ‘Half The World Away’ by Aurora.
The negative reaction, though markedly smaller was vocal in it’s criticism of the sentimentality of the ad, with some complaining it was too unrealistic. Many said it wasn’t as good as the previous adverts over the last two years, while others said the film was simply too sad and depressing.
These reactions are also reflected in the emotions expressed regarding the advert. The majority of emotional tweets consistently expressing sadness (45%), love (25%) and happiness (12%). Indeed the reaction has been mostly focused around how emotional and poignant the advert is. The majority of terms being used are extremely positive with words like ‘love’, ‘incredible’ and ‘impressed’ appearing over and over.
Much of the discussion has also been focused on the wider social issues that the advert raises. Many choose to tweet on building awareness of befriending older people and the telephone services that are available for elderly people who may be lonely this Christmas time.
The official hashtag #ManOnTheMoon instantly become the top trending hashtag in the UK and was trending world wide less than an hour after the advert was launched.
Being the first to launch, John Lewis have firmly thrown down the gauntlet in the fight for the top festive Christmas ad. It will be compelling to see if other UK retailers can match, or even succeed, John Lewis’s success in terms of cultural impact and of course subsequently Christmas sales figures.