John Lewis vs Debenhams Christmas TV Ads 2012

It's that time of the year when the big retail giants start broadcasting their Christmas ads on TV. 

This year John Lewis have gone for a cute loving theme called 'The Journey' The story is about a snowman and a snowwoman that two girls had built on a very snowy day (I wonder where they filmed this). The advert visually says to me 'men, if you don't know what to buy for your girlfriend, wife or partner for Christmas, then start trekking all the way to John Lewis and you will find an absolutely perfect gift for her.' And that's what the snowman did. I LOVE IT! There is no mention of John Lewis until the very end of the ad, which makes you want to watch the story till the very end of the little film to find out who created this very cute, cute story-line. ^^

Now onto a different TV ad from Debenhams - 'Christmas Made Fabulous'. As soon as I started watching it, I started to think this is a bit like a Marks and Spencer ad with a bit of a Harry Potter / Hogwart's Train theme. I wouldn't say it's a totally original story-line because I have seen some ads like this before... This one is of a woman trying to get home to her family, so she starts running towards the train station. And as she runs she passes and stops by a few shops, watches a few people and passes by a couple of parties. At these points she sees Debenham's products either getting their final touches in the shops, being worn at parties or at the station or being wrapped on the train home. Again, there is no mention of Debenhams until the very end of the ad, which again makes you want to watch it till the very end.

So which one out of the two got the biggest thumbs up from me, The Geek? 

...

It was the John Lewis one of course - it was a very touchy feely ad compared to the Debenhams one. I felt a bit of emotion from the snowman (even though it's an animated ad)... That snowman trekked a very long distance to buy those gloves, hat and scarf (in my favourite colour too)... And I would do the same trek to John Lewis too if I had to find the perfect gift! 

Although the clothes, shoes and gifts were pretty in the Debenhams ad I felt disconnected with it. It didn't give me that 'I want to go to Debenhams to buy that dress' feel (which I wouldn't be able to fit in) or 'I want that gold clutch bag' (that will only be used once)... Anyway, have a look at the ads yourself and see what you think. ^^ By the way, I enjoyed the music in both ads.

I can't wait to see the Marks and Spencer one. Hope they will do that mouth-watering type of advert again... I'm salivating right now. ^^ 

Update at 17:17 - Oh, the M&S one is actually out... Not impressed... They have several Christmas mini ads, and all of them are boring. Bring back those salivating food ads!! I will be blogging about this soon!

Here's a post from someone else who has listed all (or most - not sure) of this year's Christmas ads: 
http://www.v1seo.co.uk/11/top-10-christmas-adverts-2012/