John Lewis has a vast offering and brilliant customer service which makes it the perfect destination for Christmas shopping. As ever the objective was to bring to life the idea of Thoughtful Gifting, a strategy that remains relevant and holds true for John Lewis at Christmas time.
This year, the objective was to bring the John Lewis Christmas experience to people across multiple devices in exciting and innovative ways. On TV, in store, online or at home on the app customers and their entire families were able to explore and enjoy Monty and Mabel’s love story together.
The Campaign
Monty the Penguin represents a new era of modern retail marketing, an era where integration and activation extend beyond a joined up TV, print and online campaign, and into new realms of in-store theatre, merchandising, CSR activations, global technological firsts, and social media marketing where even the characters in the campaign has their own voices and profiles.
John Lewis Christmas 2014 followed the same Thoughtful Gifting strategy as years gone by, executed across platforms in an innovative and omnichannel way.
This is Immersive Marketing, where customers become wrapped up in a story, immersed in a world of activation, and engaged with the characters and the message with new depth and feeling.
And it works, far more successfully that any campaign that preceded it, generating record sales, record views, record shares and record returns...all about a little boy, his Penguin and true love.
Creative Execution
The unbranded tease which included #MontyThePenguin started in DOOH, Channel 4 idents and in social to key influencers.
The two minute film was launched in social first and then aired on TV in a solus advert break on Channel 4 during Gogglebox.
From launch day, each of the 41 John Lewis stores were equipped a with Monty’s Den, all of which included Monty’s Goggles - an immersive digital experience.
Monty’s Magical Toy Machine, allowed children to scan, dance and play with their favourite toys on screen in the Oxford Street flagship store.
All of this alongside the campaign also included the story book, the app, the merchandise and the online activation. Monty also featured in the window displays and in the magical garden on the Oxford Street store roof.
The nation fell in love with Monty & Mabel, fast becoming a hot topic in popular culture. They generated massive amounts of newspaper coverage, online buzz and inspiring hundreds of parodies.
Over 29 million views on Youtube & Facebook
Over 6 million of those were in the first 24 hours before it had been on TV
Shared over 800,000 times and had 349 million impressions in social
150,000 downloads and 600,000 sessions in the app
25,000 books sold
#MontyThePenguin trended globally within the hour
Toys sold out in 3 days
WWF penguin adoptions rose by 600%
Single went to number 3 in the iTunes charts in the first weekend
Christmas sales were 5.8% up on 2013
The two minute film was launched in social first and then aired on TV in a solus advert break on Channel 4 during Gogglebox.