The days of the big brand ad seem to be gone, probably due to low budgets and a focus on other marketing strategies. There has been a lot of talk on LinkedIn over the last few days about the John Lewis & Partners Christmas ad.

If you’re not familiar with John Lewis & Partners, it’s a British department store that sells everything from electrical goods to womens clothing. Around this time each year, John Lewis does a much anticipated Christmas ad.

The media are saying that the Christmas ad is broken and that it’s not relevant for today’s audiences. Others say the big brand ad is dead. I disagree.

Yes, you could say that it’s a just big bad department store out to make money (and you’d be right), but it’s still a nice sentiment and I believe it’s a beautiful ad celebrating the magic of Christmas giving.

The Boy and The Piano (John Lewis, 2018)

You can check out the John Lewis ads from previous years on YouTube.

And while we’re on big ads, I’ll share another couple of my favourites.

#SingItKitty (Three UK, 2014)

A girl on a bike, a singing kitten and a Starship Enterprise song all in the one advert. Perfection.

#missadventure (Kate Spade, 2016)

If you’re a Muppets fan, you’ll love this one with Zosia Mamet and Miss Piggy. I’m a huge Kate Spade fan, so this one is a winner for me.

Big Ad (Carlton Draft, 2014)

The ultimate ad that mocks the big ads. So you get the context, it was made around the time of the Lord of the Rings movies.

The last few are not necessarily big, but still noteworthy.

Barbara Lives in Bank World (ANZ, 2010)

Hilariously poor customer service from Barbara.

And finally…

Not Happy, Jan (Telstra, 2000)

An article on big ads and classic advertisements would not be complete without the classic Not Happy, Jan. The ad was so popular that ‘Not happy, Jan’ became the Australian urban phrase for discontentment.

So I guess there are a lot of people who are ‘Not happy, Jan’ about these big ads, but I think they’re marvellous.

Main photo by Ajeet Mestry on Unsplash