This week, I watched the new John Lewis Christmas advert and something very strange happened.
Not in the advert.
In me.
I felt… seen. In fact, a bit too seen.
There are divided views on the internet about whether they got it ‘right’ this year.
In my opinion, it’s a very clever ad.
Why?
Because it’s micro-niching. They’re only talking to one audience.
And what do we say here at B is for Brand?
When you talk to everyone, no one listens. When you talk to someone, everyone hears you.
So for that reason, I think this year’s advert is a masterclass for brand builders and marketers.
NO, IT’S NOT AN ADVERT FOR EVERYONE
If you’ve watched it, you’ll know how it goes.
A teenage son buys his dad a vinyl record. The Dad plays it (it’s a favourite club track from the 90s). He’s pulled back into his own memories of a life before kids and then, when the kids were small.
His son has given him this gift. He lands back in the present, hugging his son, with whom we assume regular communication has become a little challenging because they both struggle with words to communicate how they’re really feeling.
It’s emotional without being sugary.
It’s classic John Lewis.
But the cleverness of the campaign lives beyond the ad itself.
After watching it, I suddenly thought… wait!
Do John Lewis even sell vinyl records?
I mean, that’s not where I’d classically think of for vinyl.
So out of curiosity, I headed to the John Lewis website.
They got me!
HERE’S THE CLEVER PART
What happened next was the really interesting part and the moment when I realised just how clever they’d been.
I searched for vinyl records and soon landed on the product page.
First of all, they’re selling the actual sound track from the advert.
No surprise there.
But then I looked at the other records listed.
There were only about 45 of them.
Hardly a match for HMV.
As mentioned, first one was the soundtrack from the advert.
The other forty four?
Literally, a ‘Stinson family’ playlist.
The car journey sound track.
The ‘Alexa, play something we all like; moment.
I sat there thinking… have they been listening in on us?
THE ZEITGEIST OF THE 2020s
Something wonderful has been happening in our family this year and it’s very accurately reflected in this ad.
The teens and their friends have gone ‘old school’ with their music taste and this has brought the generations together.
It has started conversations about music and in turn, we’ve begun to discover the music of their generation too.
We’ve been hanging out round the record player on a Friday night, playing anything from Bowie to Fontains D.C.
Along the way, the family bonds have been rebuilding. That’s why the John Lewis campaign really landed. It felt clever and extremely uncomfortable at the same time. You might love the ad. You might hate it.
Either way, there’s a reason for that.
With this year’s ad, John Lewis have absolutely not targeted a broad demographic. They’ve targeted a very specific micro group. People in their late forties and early fifties who had their club years in the nineties and now have teenagers of their own. People who still buy physical gifts. People who enjoy a good dose of nostalgia. People with the budget for John Lewis at Christmas.
People like me.
People like many of you reading this.
Those record choices weren’t a coincidence. Someone in the John Lewis marketing team has spent a lot of time profiling the emotional world of this audience to find the type of insight that really digs into who a person is when they are at home, in the car, or thinking about themselves growing older and their kids growing up.
No wonder it felt like they had climbed into the front seat of my car.
When a brand gets its audience research right, it can feel strangely intimate. Accurate, yes. But also a teeny bit unsettling when you realise just how much of your life is lived inside a shared cultural experience.
THE LESSON IN BRAND BUILDING
This is the part I want to focus your attention on, because it’s the real lesson for anyone building a brand.
Great audience insight doesn’t come just from ‘demographics.’ It comes from understanding the tiny things that shape a person’s emotional world.
When a brand reflects those back to us, we take notice.
What this means for your brand You don’t need a John Lewis sized budget to understand what your audience cares about. But you do need to go deeper than the usual “ideal client” worksheet.
Ask better questions. Notice the details. What do your people listen to? What do they worry about? What is changing in their life? What brings them comfort? What brings them pride? What shapes their world?
This is where the opportunity for connection sits and emotional connection is the foundation of every strong brand.
This year, John Lewis has demonstrated to us what it looks like when a brand gets it right.
It really won’t be for everyone. That’s the whole point of branding.
But if you’re the customer they want, boy will you feel seen.
That’s how it feels when a brand gets very close to home.
With CD and Vinyl sales consistently on the rise over the past few years, I think John Lewis might just have tapped into the zeitgeist of the 2020s.
Build your brand and grow your business.
B is for Brand – Achieve Brand Clarity.
Watch the ad: https://youtu.be/dc5S4IV_NeA?si=U9prOHKMcqMI1t-y
