Battle of the emotive Christmas ads: David Jones v John Lewis
David Jones was one of the first brands to launch its Christmas campaign this year, with many touting it as Australia’s answer to the much-celebrated John Lewis Christmas spots which typically tug at the heart strings.
The week after John Lewis released its own Christmas spot which has created a lot of buzz on social media with more than 15m YouTube views to date, while David Jones’ has just 100,000.
But while there is a huge disparity in views (albeit the John Lewis ad is targeting the much larger UK market) – which one resonates most emotionally with audiences.
Using the RealEyes tool, which accesses users webcams to track facial expressions to gauge emotional reaction to content, Mumbrella is pitting David Jones’ ‘The Things We Do For Love’ against ‘Monty the Penguin’ to determine exactly how viewers are responding to these spots.
You can see more about the RealEyes system here. To participate it is best for users to be using either Firefox or Chrome browsers, and you must give permission for RealEyes to access your webcam. All data gathered is strictly confidential.
Mumbrella will post the results later this week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iccscUFY860
Miranda Ward worked for Mumbrella from 2013 to 2017, eventually becoming deputy editor. Miranda joined Mumbrella in September 2013 from Sky News.
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The idea of my emotions being gauged while watching freaked me out too much to opt in, but for me the penguin kicks Christmas ass!
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definitely the john lewis one, though i prefer the sainsbury ad, depsite it being much pilloried for dissing diggers, or tommies i suppose. note – you can buy the chocolate bars for a limited time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWF2JBb1bvM
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John Lewis ad was leaps and bounds better, loved it. Better paced, better storytelling and did its job at the end – tugged at my heartstrings!
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The Penguin gets my vote. No contest.
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Good effort David Jones to be even in the mix against one of the most famous campaigns on the planet
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Penguin wins, flippers down.
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John Lewis all the way!
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Nup, I’m with the chimney-kid. The DJs spot speaks to its audience and the disconnect we often feel with traditional Christmas imagery, plus it’s got the magic of Christmas and the lengths parents will go to for their kids. And while I usually love a good John Lewis Christmas epic, the penguin-sex-trafficking vibe was just too icky
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My money is still on the Boots ad…. I can’t get to the end of it without crying
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2 people in my house immediately thought the DJ’s ad was crap.
“The things we do for love” …. Spend money hmmmm. Not a great message.
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We see a silent child wistfully staring at the roof and creating Blair Witch chimneys, while the parents wistfully stare at each other in concern for the chimney-less child they love.
Reality is more like the kid whinging and crying about the chimney for days despite being told Santa is bullshit anyway and Dad yelling at him, getting the shits and going to the pub.
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Things we do for love (David Jones) was definitely more of a heart-string puller for me. While you could see through the acting from the younger boy in the final seconds of the ad, the concept itself was well executed.
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This is like those car comparison articles the SMH love to do. The Holden Commodore Super charged V6 blah blah blah versus the uber cool Audi A something or another. On paper they do the same thing but in reality the difference is night and day.
Monty all the way.
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Who is John Lewis?
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The kid in the DJ ad can’t act – his over-exuberance at the end before gazing longingly at a tacky, fake chimney pretty much sums up the over-commercialized Christmas of today. The penguin ad wins – it was a true work of art which will endure as a classic.
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Penguin. Sooooo good. Love the way the penguin made me smile.
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The John Lewis penguin one wins hands down..
I just melted at that one .
I didn’t even get the DJ’s ad -why was there a fake chimney?
Also, the location used – the house in the David Jones one looked way too huge and seemed to have been formed from a concrete bunker. It didn’t look warm at all.
DJ’s ad not in the running.
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The John Lewis penguin immediately got a positive response out of me, whereas the DJs one just inspired cynicism (although the stick chimney was cute). I think the difference was the element of friendship and family, which is what Christmas should be about. The idea that the Christmas/Santa myth is the be-all and end-all of the season really grated on me, but the all-year-round friendship of Monty and his pal immediately got me.
No contest. John Lewis have this one in the bag.
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http://www.theguardian.com/com.....s-products
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