Every Wednesday we take a real marketing story from the news and use it to explain one or two marketing concepts. This week it’s the John Lewis Christmas ad, “Gloria and Pickles.” It’s a good chance to look at emotional appeals in advertising and at integrated marketing communications, which is about how one message gets carried across lots of different channels.
What Did John Lewis Actually Do?
On November 3, 2026, the UK department store John Lewis released its Christmas ad for the year. It’s the 20th edition of what has become a bit of a national event in Britain, with people waiting for it each year and then pulling it apart on social media.
The campaign was created by the agency Saatchi & Saatchi. It stars Dame Kristin Scott Thomas as Gloria, a grandmother who wants to feel closer to her grandchildren, Freddie and Maggie. But she doesn’t know what they’re into, so she does what lots of grandparents do. She puts cash in their Christmas cards.
That’s when Pickles steps in. Pickles is a vintage Fisher-Price pull-along toy dog from Gloria’s childhood, voiced by comedian Paul Whitehouse. The dog springs to life and tells her, “You can do better than cash.” The two head off on a last-minute shopping trip, a tuk-tuk ride across London gives Gloria an idea, and she stops at John Lewis. On Christmas morning the cards are empty. Instead, she hands the kids a key to her study, which she’s turned into a “Gran Cave” full of disco balls, lights and music.
The tagline is “Don’t give up on giving.” The soundtrack is a new cover of the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” by singer Sam Fender.
Where Did the Idea Come From?
This part is easy to skip past, but it matters. According to The Guardian, John Lewis said the ad was inspired by research showing that 52% of grandparents give cash as presents because they aren’t sure what young people want.
Rosie Hanley, the company’s marketing director, explained it simply: people want to give thoughtful gifts but often lack confidence, so they fall back on cash. She also said the company wanted this year’s ad to feel more joyful because “things are tough for lots of families.”
So the story starts from a real customer problem. And for a retailer, cash in an envelope is a sale it never gets. If the ad gives even some people the confidence to buy a real gift instead, the store benefits.
What Is an Emotional Appeal?
An emotional appeal is when an ad tries to persuade us through feelings rather than facts. The opposite is a rational appeal, which gives us reasons: a lower price, a better feature, a longer warranty.
Most ads use a bit of both. The John Lewis ad is almost entirely emotional. There are no prices in the story, no product comparisons, no “20% off.” It’s warmth, nostalgia, humor and a happy ending.
To make this easier to picture, imagine a small independent bookshop in a country town. Let’s call it Corner Books. In December, the owner could put a sign in the window saying “All hardbacks 15% off.” That’s a rational appeal. Or she could put up a display of an old, well-loved children’s book next to a handwritten card: “The book your grandmother read to you. Now read it to them.” That’s an emotional appeal.
Which one works better? It depends. For a quick, low-cost purchase, a discount might be enough. For a gift, where people care about how the present will make someone feel, emotion often does more work.
Why Does Emotion Suit a Christmas Ad?
Christmas shopping is full of feelings. We want the people we love to be happy, we worry about getting it wrong, and we remember presents from our own childhood.
John Lewis taps all three: Gloria’s fear of picking the wrong gift, the nostalgia of Pickles (a real toy many parents and grandparents will remember), and the joy when the kids open the door to the Gran Cave.
There’s humor too. A grumpy wooden dog telling off a glamorous grandmother keeps people watching a three-minute ad they could easily scroll past.
What Are the Risks of an Emotional Appeal?
Emotional ads aren’t automatically effective. Let’s think like the marketing team for a moment.
- People might love the story but forget the brand. If viewers remember “the one with the dog” but not that it was John Lewis, the money is partly wasted.
- The emotion has to feel honest. If an ad feels like it’s working too hard to make us cry, people can push back and make fun of it instead.
- Feelings don’t always turn into sales. A warm glow is nice, but the business still needs people to walk into a store or visit the website.
John Lewis handles the first risk by putting the store right in the middle of the story. Gloria’s big idea happens outside John Lewis. The brand isn’t just a logo at the end.
Corner Books faces the same risk on a smaller scale. A lovely window display only pays off if people buy that book from her, not from a big online retailer later that night.
How Does Integrated Marketing Communications Fit In?
Integrated marketing communications (often shortened to IMC) means coordinating all of a brand’s messages so that they work together and say the same thing, whatever channel the customer sees them in.
Why does that matter? Because customers don’t see just one ad. If the TV spot, the social post and the shop window each say something different, the message gets muddled. If they all point the same way, each one reinforces the others.
Which Channels Did John Lewis Use?
According to the company’s press release, the full three-minute ad premiered on its social channels, including YouTube and Instagram, on the morning of November 3. That evening a shorter version ran on TV during two of the UK’s most-watched shows, Coronation Street on ITV and The Great British Bake Off on Channel 4.
From there, the plan spreads out widely:
- TV on ITV, Sky and Channel 4, plus their on-demand services
- Streaming services such as Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+
- Social platforms including Meta, TikTok, YouTube, Reddit, Pinterest and Snapchat
- Behind-the-scenes videos and interviews, including “interviews” with Pickles himself
The Guardian also reported that John Lewis was putting up a giant Christmas tree outside its Oxford Street store in London. And the products in the ad, from the £12.99 toy dog to the clothes Gloria wears, can be bought through John Lewis.
What Holds It All Together?
Every piece carries the same idea: don’t give up on giving. The TV spot tells the story, the social clips let fans spend more time with the characters, and the products let viewers act on the feeling.
A strong character like Pickles also makes this easier. He can appear in a TikTok clip, an interview or a store display, and people instantly know which campaign he belongs to. That’s one reason brand storytelling and IMC work so well together.
Let’s go back to Corner Books. An integrated approach for her might be the same “Now read it to them” line on the window display, on a short Instagram video of a grandmother reading to a child, in the shop’s email newsletter, and on a card tucked into each gift-wrapped book. None of these is expensive. But together they repeat one clear idea, and a customer who sees it three times is more likely to remember it than one who sees it once.
Will It Pay Off?
It’s too early to say. Hanley told The Guardian that John Lewis had spent more on this year’s ad than before, but that she was confident of “a really strong return on our investment.” The timing helps too, as the ad lands just before the Black Friday sales.
How would we judge it? We could look at how many people watch and share the ad, whether people link it to John Lewis rather than just “the Christmas ad with the dog,” and, most importantly, whether Christmas sales improve. For Corner Books, the test is simpler: did more people buy books as gifts this December than last?
A Question to Think About
Think of a Christmas or holiday ad you remember from this year or last year. Was it mostly an emotional appeal or a rational one? And did you see the same idea pop up anywhere else, such as on social media, in store or in an email?
Sources
John Lewis Partnership: “‘Don’t give up on giving’: John Lewis unveils its 2026 Christmas advert”
