Waitrose and John Lewis join forces for first time on Christmas ad

https://youtu.be/TCbVvPL_pNg

Waitrose and John Lewis are collaborating for the first time on a Christmas advert as the two retailers continue work to bring their brands closer together in the minds of consumers.

The new Waitrose ad, one of a series of six, will air this evening (18 November) on ITV during I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here. In the tongue-in-cheek spot, a young girl is seen encouraging her family to gather round to watch the John Lewis Christmas ad.

However, as the ad begins, her parents take the remote control and fast-forward through the spot. The reason? They have a Waitrose stollen they can’t wait to eat. And as they tuck in, the father comments he prefers the advert with the penguin (a reference to John Lewis’s Christmas ad from 2014, Monty the Penguin).

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The film is part of Waitrose’s wider Christmas campaign ‘Too Good to Wait’, created by adam&eveDDB, that aims to get across the message that Waitrose food is so good people will do anything to get to it as quickly as possible, even skipping favoured festive activities.

Martin George, customer director at Waitrose, says: “We’re thrilled to work with our colleagues at John Lewis to create a unique advert that highlights our special partnership. Fast forwarding their fantastic ad may seem a bit extreme but it just shows that nothing stands in the way of enjoying our delicious stollen.”

This ad is the third in the series of six for Waitrose.

Craig Inglis, customer director at John Lewis, says: “Frankly, it’s hard to believe our colleagues at Waitrose would choose a stollen over us but, as a big fan of the chocolate orange combo, I suppose if anything can trump an ad starring Elton John, it’s their amazing stollen – some food is just too good to wait for.”