John Lewis is a UK department store, selling homewares, furniture, electrical products, fashion and beauty. It has 53 shops and a thriving e-commerce business.

Christmas matters a lot to John Lewis. It accounts for around 20% of annual sales and 40% of profits .

But UK retail is fiercely competitive, and never more so than at Christmas. British retailers spend around £180m a year on Christmas advertising

Each year, John Lewis shift the focus to the true meaning of Christmas: a time for giving, caring and sharing. This allows us to craft highly emotive creative work that the public adores. There are no explicit selling messages, and few references to the store or its products. Instead, we give the people of Britain a “Christmas present” each year: a moving story about thoughtful giving.

Our 2016 campaign centred around the story of a little girl called Bridget, who loves bouncing and is given a trampoline for Christmas.

In a surprising twist, we see garden animals enjoying her trampoline on Christmas Eve, unbeknown to Bridget and her parents. Then, in another surprising twist, it is Bridget’s dog Buster who first gets to enjoy the trampoline on Christmas morning.

The story evoked the joy of Christmas and brought to life how thoughtful gifts can bring happiness to all. This sentiment was captured in the campaign endline: ‘For gifts that everyone will love’.

This paper will show how the Christmas 2016 campaign, “Buster the Boxer”, our most effective and profitable campaign yet.

The net result was more customers, spending more, leading to rising sales and market share. Econometrics showed that every £1 John Lewis spent on advertising generated an extra £11 of profit.

A remarkable feat when so many other UK retailers were struggling.