How to plan a perfect Christmas
The countdown to Christmas planning blog.
I have selected a few pages from the House of Fraser Christmas 2014 Brochure to try and capture something of the style of Christmas in 2014 and the products and services being offered. My favourite page is probably their High Society 1920’s inspired Christmas Decorations. Have a look at the next few pages and leave a comment below to say which is your favourite.
I’m now working through a pile of leaflets and catalogues from Christmas 2014 to see what I want to archive and what’s going to be heading to the recycling bin. I’m going to keep a few things as examples of marketing, branding and what was the fashion for Christmas 2014. I’ll highlight a few things I liked as we go but that’s not the primary goal of this blog post. We’re doing this so that we can track how Christmas is changing each year and reference back to this in the future. I’d love to receive similar items from the 1970, 60’s and so on if you have any lurking in cupboards anywhere.
The cover page says “Let it snow, share the festive magic”.
The introduction starts by saying: This year we’ve been thinking about what’s really important at Christmas, and what matters the most when the festive season rolls around is sharing the good times with your loved ones. If that means giving yourself a break with a few strategic cheats then so be it…. I would say “strategic cheats” was a key theme picked up by the UK supermarkets in Christmas 2014. If you recall Christmas Day 2014 was on a Thursday so people either took the whole week off work or ended up working right up to Christmas Eve. With little time to prepare people were looking for ways to make Christmas simple and stress free.
I ordered a coffee today and only noticed when I’d finished it that it was actually a little Father Christmas design…
I thought this was really effective. If you spot any clever Christmas branding please send me a picture to publish on the blog.
Updated: Jan 2nd 2015 – Just spotted the Costa Winter Cup.
What do you think of it? Please leave a comment below.
This years John Lewis Christmas advert is very much in the same vain as their 2011 campaign where Christmas giving is seen through the eyes of a child. The 2014 advert sees a little boy called Sam playing with his best friend who happens to be a CGI penguin called Monty. Monty is sad because he wants a special friend so Sam gives Monty a fellow penguin called Mabel for Christmas.
John Lennon’s Real Love plays in the background sung by Tom Odell. I love that this advert starts during the Summer showing the relationship between Sam and his best friend Monty. As the year goes on Sam becomes aware of the relationship couples have and realises this is what he needs to do for Monty. It gives the viewer the feeling that Christmas with loved ones isn’t just about the 25th December. It also gives John Lewis the opportunity to showcase clothing, homeware, and Christmas decorations throughout the advert, with Sam’s hat changing at least once! Ultimately, the advert will give its audience a warm Christmasy glow and will see sales of Tom Odell’s song and the cuddly toy version of Monty the penguin saw.
I’ve seen a lot of speculation online about the 2014 John Lewis Christmas Advert, there was even a parody of their advert of the BBC Radio 4 comedy “The Now Show” a couple of weeks ago. We won’t have to wait much longer, they switch on their Christmas lights soon, their promoted tweet has been popping up in my timeline all over the place today and the rumour is that we’ll see the first outing of the 2014 advert tomorrow….
As soon as they release this years advert I’ll update this blog with in, until then it’s worth a trip down memory lane with a few of their Christmas adverts from recent years.
John Lewis Christmas Advert 2013 – The Bear & The Hare
John Lewis Christmas Advert 2012 – The Journey
John Lewis Christmas Advert 2011
John Lewis Christmas Advert 2010
Which one was your favourite ?
Find us on social media at: