Christmas ads in the UK used to be an annual battle between adam&eveDDB for John Lewis and AMV BBDO for Sainsbury’s.
Back in 2015 AMV, which spent a year working on these things, tied up with children’s author Judith Kerr for this epic featuring her cat Mog. There were books in the stores and all the rest of it. Event advertising you might call it.
These days Sainsbury’s is something of a calamity on its own, losing its way in a market blasted by discounters Aldi and Lidl and, seemingly, always a step behind Tesco. It’s closing most of the standalone Argos stores it bought as well as fresh food counters.
Agency Wieden+Kennedy has done its damndest to keep it centre stage. What’s on the way this year? Tactful silence maybe.
