There’s no bigger harbinger of Christmas than John Lewis’s yearly festive ad. Starting in 2007, the retail giant has released 16 memorable adverts to-date, and they are always sure to cause a stir on social media with speculation about the contents of the ad already beginning.
BonusFinder.co.uk sought to try and predict the 2023 advert, using data from OpenAI to identify recurring themes and reveal a potential storyline, song choice and tagline for this year’s highly anticipated ad. They also created accompanying images, and generated an AI cover of this year’s potential song.
Highlights:
? Lewis Capaldi will perform a rendition of John Lennon’s Imagine.
? The ad will be a heartwarming tale of intergenerational love.
? A grandfather and his grandson will help rally the community and bring some Christmas joy to the whole town.
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? The advert’s tagline will be “Connecting hearts, bridging generations, and spreading joy this holiday season.”
The Bridge of Generations
Main characters: An elderly man and his teenage grandson.
Setting: A heartwarming story set in a small town during the holiday season. Key locations include the grandfather’s home, the town square, and a picturesque bridge.
Story: The advert tells the story of a wise elderly man who has always cherished the holiday season. He spends his days preparing for Christmas, sharing stories of his past, and teaching his grandson about the importance of family traditions. As the two generations bond, they come up with a plan to decorate the old bridge in town, which has been neglected for years. Together, they rally the community, young and old, to join in and restore the bridge, transforming it into a symbol of unity and hope.
Sentiment: Heartwarming, intergenerational love, community spirit, tradition.
Song: A soulful rendition of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ by Lewis Capaldi.
Tagline: “Connecting hearts, bridging generations, and spreading joy this holiday season.”
Fintan Costello, Managing Director of BonusFinder, comments:
“The John Lewis advert has become a key part of UK festivities, and a milestone in the countdown to Christmas. By analysing all of John Lewis’s past adverts, we wanted to find the key themes and recurring plot points in order to predict what could be to come this November.
“Our predictions for this year’s ad are unity and community – family, but also the wider spaces around relationships and coming together as one. This tale of community spirit and making a space better for everyone is what Christmas time is all about, and it’s something that John Lewis is often promoting with their messages. It’s not quite as heartbreaking as some of the previous adverts, but still knows how to tug on your heartstrings just the right amount.
“Covers of old classic songs from our youth are another key part of the John Lewis ads each year, with previous songs including Together In Electric Dreams, Somewhere Only We Know and Your Song. Over the years, John Lewis has used a mix of big names and independent artists for their covers, and often these songs reach the charts before Christmas. John Lennon’s Imagine is clearly a great contender to inject emotion and togetherness into this year’s ad.
“We can’t wait to see what this year’s John Lewis advert will bring!”
For more information, please see our full blog post here: https://www.bonusfinder.co.uk/about-us/blog/john-lewis-ad-2023.
Please note: this is our prediction for the 2023 John Lewis advert, not to be confused with the real thing.
Methodology:
- BonusFinder sought to analyse all of the past John Lewis Christmas adverts from 2007 – 2022 in order to predict key themes and messages in this year’s advert.
- They used multiple sources and watched all of the adverts in order to find the following data for each advert:
- Title,
- Main character(s),
- Structure & setting,
- Story,
- Sentiment,
- Song,
- Tagline.
- They then input this data for each year into OpenAI, and generated three potential 2023 John Lewis adverts.
- They then conducted a survey in order to find the most popular option for this year’s ad in order to narrow it down to one storyline.
- Next, they asked OpenAI to generate some image prompts for key scenes, which they input into MidJourney AI to produce a series of mocked up images.
- Finally, they generated a full script using OpenAI, which was edited by a scriptwriter for style and direction.
Sunday Woman Editor’s Prediction
I think John Lewis may be savvy about the cost of living. They’ve lost a lot of custom and profit over the last five years and will be bringing in someone new to transform the brand in 2025. I think it may centre around a theme of, “the best things in life are free” but with obvious product placement. Maybe a homemade gift or hamper using the AnyDay range from John Lewis, or some of their cheaper options. Also not ruling out a character that sends shoppers into a frenzy, a snowman for £5 that’s available in store but comes alive in the ad. I do agree that family, togetherness and thoughtfulness will go into the ad but I think they’ll be keen to show that they have affordable items and aren’t just for the middle classes.
