If You Aren’t Aware of the John Lewis Christmas Ads, You’re Missing Out

Starting off as a drapery shop in 1864, in 2018, John Lewis is a department store chain with 52 locations in the UK and Australia. It’s an operation similar to Macy’s in the US. Back in 2009 the store began creating high production value Christmas ads. I first wrote about them on December 20, 2013. And then again in 2014 and 2015.

The chain’s current ad is generating more buzz than usual as it features Elton John reminiscing about his life all the way back to his childhood. If you haven’t seen it, it’s very touching (as is the goal of these ads). John Lewis began a trend as you now see several brands and chains putting more and more thought and effort into generating warm fuzzies for the holiday (probably because it works).

This year’s Elton John ad is not the first time his “Your Song” was featured in a John Lewis ad. Ellie Goulding covered the song in the department store’s ad back in 2010 (scroll down to see it).

My favorite is The Bear and The Hare from 2013 as it features Lily Allen covering Keane’s Somewhere Only We Know — but all of them are good. (BTW, I’ll feature Keane’s lead singer Tom Chaplin on Christmas Eve.)

So as to spread a bit of pre-December Christmas cheer, I’ll post all of the John Lewis ads below. A word of caution, grab some tissues.

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

#alternativechristmasmusic
#tomschristmasmusicblog

Welcome Back — This Is Now Year Seven Of My Christmas Music Blog

Welcome (or welcome back if you’ve been following this blog) — it’s the seventh consecutive year I’ve been blogging Christmas music generally not considered mainstream in the genre. A couple of the years I posted just on Facebook, but otherwise, you can scroll back several years for a ton of really good yet seldom heard Christmas music (which is pretty much the goal of this blog).

And, as always, my hats off to the poor radio folks who get saddled with playing mostly bad Christmas music SINCE OCTOBER!

My plan is to post at least one song every day through December 31st. Some will be new. Some old. Some you may have heard of. Others not so much.

I’ll share each post on my Facebook page — please share if you discover something you like.

I’ll kick off year seven with the always enjoyable video from the UK upmarket store, John Lewis (similar to our Macy’s).

True to form, the video is wonderful. The featured song, Real Love, is performed by 24 year old, Tom Odell and is a John Lennon tune. Paul, Ringo and George recorded the tune in the mid-90s – it was released as a single in 1996 as part of the Beatles Anthology 2 record. I’m sure Odell was thrilled with the resulting publicity.

Here’s the John Lewis advert (followed by all of the John Lewis adverts). If you haven’t watched them, take a few minutes to do so. They’re all really good.

2013

The Bear & The Hare tells the story of two friends (the bear and the hare). As the years heads to its end, the hare knows his buddy will soon sleep, never to experience Christmas. That is until the hare finds the perfect gift for his friend, the bear. (Tearjerker alert!)

2012

2011 (love this)

2010

2009 (this was the first of the annual series)