John Lewis Christmas ad: A social media analysis

The John Lewis Christmas ad has become something of a cultural landmark in the UK. With the latest version set to air on TV tomorrow morning, new data looks at the social media impact of the ads over the past 5 years.

The new John Lewis ad goes live on YouTube at 8am, with the moon rumoured to be a key theme in this year’s commercial.

A 10-second clip of the moon aired during ITV’s X-Factor at the weekend, with the #OnTheMoon hashtag and the Twitter profile launched yesterday afternoon.

While the overwhelming majority of Twitter users thought the activity related to John Lewis’ Christmas effort, a minority wondered whether it was linked to Marks & Spencer’s festive ad.

New stats from global PR and communications agency Hotwire look at the number of tweets about the JL Christmas ads over the past five years.

John Lewis Christmas Ad Hashtag – How popular has this been in the past five years?

• 2015 – #onthemoon – 2,066 mentions in the past 7 days (and not even launched)
• 2014 – #montythepenguin – 97,257 mentions over 24 hours on day of launch
• 2013 – #bearandhare – 6,826 mentions over 24 hours on day of launch
• 2012 – #snowmanjourney – 649 mentions over 24 hours on day of launch (no official hashtag in 2012, #snowmanjourney was user created in a time when Twitter was less popular)
• 2011 – #thelongwait – data to low to measure accurately (no official hashtag in 2011, #thelongwait was user created in a time when Twitter was less popular)

John Lewis Christmas Soundtrack – How popular has this been in the past five years?

• 2015 – Half the world away – 266 mentions in past 7 days (artist not used due to it currently being a mystery!)
• 2014 – Tom Odell – 3,670 mentions over 24 hours on day of launch
• 2013 – Lily Allen – 3,303 mentions over 24 hours on day of launch
• 2012 – Gabrielle Aplin – 817 mentions over 24 hours on day of launch
• 2011 – Slow Moving Millie – 60 mentions over 24 hours on day of launch

Insights on the above data:
• John Lewis did note provide an official hashtag for the Christmas ad in 2011 and 2012. As a result, mentions were lower and the community created hashtags themselves. By providing a hashtag to use, John Lewis has increased the number of mentions and campaign reach

• In 2011 & 2012 the musicians received more mentions that the ads themselves. There is no doubt the music is still extremely powerful, but the ads themselves are now telling much more of a unique story that gets people talking more than they do about the track

• The first 24 hours is usually the YouTube launch, not the TV launch, so this will have some impact on the number of people who see the initial ad

• Twitter has become more mainstream over the years which explains some of the lower figures in the earlier years

Source: Hotwire