In a year when big Christmas ads risked missing the mood, John Lewis wanted to make something real — grounded in care, connection and purpose.
Christmas 2022 wasn’t built for blockbuster ads. A cost-of-living crisis, lingering Covid memories, strikes, and a World Cup cutting across the season meant John Lewis risked either feeling tone-deaf or irrelevant. Our research revealed people wanted Christmas grounded in reality, not fantasy. Connection, care and small moments mattered most. They also expected brands to show purpose that counted, not sentiment for sentiment’s sake
Approach
We built an agile six-month research programme with John Lewis. Inclusive, unbranded testing protected the work, while care-experienced voices kept it authentic. We moved fast, pivoting concepts and pressure-testing executions through face-to-face groups, Twitter challenges and iterative sprints. Collaboration with client and agency partners meant findings landed with bite, shaping the script, pace, tone and end-frame clarity
Result
The Beginner launched to 87 percent positive or neutral engagement, with thousands of endorsements from the care-experienced community. Action for Children saw a 5,000 percent spike in fostering page visits and a 475 percent uplift in enquiries on launch day. We were also nominated for a MRS award for Creative Development Work in 2024
“We were so privileged to have access to a superstar research team who gave us robust, clear and actionable recommendations… Their inclusive approach helped inform many creative decisions including the script, tone, pace, and end frame.”
