John Lewis Launches Campaign To Find Faith
By Zara Free on Wednesday, December 4, 2013
It’s safe to say John Lewis owns the commercial Christmas market. Ever since this ad back in 2011, consumers have eagerly awaited the retailer’s Christmas campaign and this year they weren’t disappointed. The Disney-style Bear and Hare ad set to the soundtrack of Lily Allen covering Keane’s Somewhere Only We Know has had over 9.8million views on YouTube and even created an additional spin off PR story as thousands of people Tweeted about it to a very polite man with the unfortunate handle @JohnLewis.
Just when you thought John Lewis had maxed-out on festive cheer, the store has now launched a new Twitter campaign to #FindFaith. The campaign comes off the back of a letter written to the store manager in Cambridge from a girl, aged 5, who wanted to pay her dues for the Christmas bauble she broke in the store at the weekend.
Faith wrote: ‘To John Lewis, Cambridge. I’m sorry I broke a Christmas bauble on Saturday. It cost two pounds. Here is the money for it. Sorry again,’ signing the letter ‘Faith, aged five’.
The note came complete with a drawing of what looks like a self-portrait of Faith accidentally smashing the bauble and two pound coins taped onto the paper.
Now John Lewis wants to find the girl to thank her for the £2.
Call me a cynic, but it seems a huge coincidence that the girl just happens to be called Faith, leading to the hashtag #FindFaith in the run up to the biggest Christian holiday, when the advertising and retail industries have been criticised for making Christmas too commercial.
That said, real or fake, #FindFaith is another Christmas PR success for John Lewis with coverage already online at Metro, Daily Star and Daily Express, and thousands of Tweets.