JOHN Lewis has launched its 2011 Christmas campaign.
Seven-year-old Lewis McGowan, from Hamilton stars in the video, which was debuted virally on Facebook and Youtube today, Friday November 11, at 9.00am.
It will be broadcast on national television this Saturday, November 12, in the ad break during the X Factor live show on ITV1 at 8.45pm.
It is predicted that 44 million people will view the advert at least once.
The advert follows little Lewis as he impatiently counts down the days and minutes until Christmas morning.
We see him tapping his fingers out of boredom, gazing out of the window as autumn becomes winter, dashing to bed early to will the day away and even trying to cast a spell to speed time up.
Throughout, the viewer is led to believe that the little boy can’t wait to open his own gifts on Christmas morning, only to find in the final reveal that beneath his impatience lies an eagerness to give a gift that he has lovingly wrapped to his parents.
Magical
Lewis McGowan, the young star of the advert, said: “I had great fun filming the John Lewis advert. I didn’t know it could snow indoors and I was amazed when John Lewis made it happen. I always thought Christmas was magical but this really proves it.
“I’m excited about all my friends seeing the John Lewis advert on TV and I really hope everyone likes it.
I am so pleased that I am in the John Lewis advert because when I was little I read the ‘Lewis’ part of the John Lewis sign outside the Glasgow shop and asked my mum if that was my shop because it had my name on it. Now it really feels like my shop.”
Created by advertising agency Adam & Eve, the ad is set to a cover of The Smiths “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want” sung by singer, songwriter and pianist Slow Moving Millie, and is directed by Dougal Wilson.
Wilson also directed John Lewis’s award-winning Never Knowingly Undersold advert in spring 2010 featuring the Billy Joel hit ‘Always a Woman’, performed by Fyfe Dangerfield from the Guillemots.
Kim Lowe, John Lewis Glasgow Managing Director, said: “It’s so lovely to work with a warm hearted Scot like little Lewis. With such a wealth of excitement and Christmas spirit, he’s captured that magical feeling when you find the perfect present for someone special.
“There’s a great sense of anticipation from the moment you buy it to the moment you give the gift on the big day. That feeling is exactly what we’ve tried to capture with Lewis in this year’s Christmas campaign.”
