Published: 16 May 2023
Location: London, UK
Struggling retail giant John Lewis has dumped the agency behind its tear-jerking Christmas ads - in favour of the marketing geniuses who propelled Margaret Thatcher into Downing Street.
Bosses at the partnership in charge of the department store chain, which last year racked up an eye-watering £100million loss, are pinning their hopes on Saatchi & Saatchi to turn the group's fortunes around.
The agency, best known for its 'Labour Isn't Working' campaign for former prime minister Mrs Thatcher, has been confirmed as the lead creative partner for all advertising for John Lewis and Waitrose.
Saatchi & Saatchi will take the lead on this year's Christmas TV campaign and next year's launch of a joint John Lewis and Waitrose loyalty card.
It comes after the John Lewis Partnership yesterday announced it was cutting ties with adam&eveDDB, the creative firm responsible for the Excitable Edgar, Bear and the Hare and Man on the Moon campaigns.
John Lewis's iconic Christmas adverts became such an event in the festive calendar during the group's 14 years with adam&eveDDB that the retailer held pre-screenings in cinemas.
But the sentimental, big-budget campaigns, which included 2021's lost alien-themed Unexpected Guest, 2022's ad shining a light on foster caring, and 2018's commercial starring Sir Elton John, haven't translated into big profits for the retail giant in recent years.
Sarah Jenkins, managing director at Saatchi & Saatchi, has not revealed the direction her firm hopes to take to freshen John Lewis's Christmas campaign. But she said: 'A high bar has been set and we cannot wait to beat it.'
The high street stalwart – which owns the John Lewis department stores and Waitrose supermarkets – has struggled financially following the Covid pandemic.
At Waitrose, basket sizes shrunk by a fifth as shoppers flocked to its Anyday value range. While at John Lewis, consumers shelved purchases of big ticket items in favour of eating out and going on holidays.
The partnership said sales in the first half of 2022 slipped 2.6 per cent to £5.7billion.
The situation was so dire that it prompted a warning to staff in September that there may be no annual bonus after the firm crashed to a near-£100million loss.
Speaking at the time, the firm's chairman Dame Sharon White said: 'No one could have predicted the scale of the cost of living crisis that has materialised, with energy prices and inflation rising ahead of anyone's expectations.'
Dame Sharon is now attempting to lead a turnaround in fortunes for the employee-owned retail group.
Speaking of the new tie with Saatchi & Saatchi, Charlotte Lock, the customer director at the John Lewis Partnership, said: 'We're thrilled to be partnering with the talented team at Saatchi & Saatchi in our next stage of growth.
'As well as sharp strategic thinking and creative excellence, Saatchi & Saatchi's culture, commitment to inclusion and social impact makes them a great fit for JLP. We're very excited about what we'll achieve together.'
Saatchi & Saatchi, founded in 1970 by Baghdad-born, Hampstead-raised brothers Charles and Maurice Saatchi in their 20s, has created some of the most famous ad campaigns in British history.
The brothers started with no office and Saatchi legend has it that Charles talked an estate agent into letting him view some premises on his own, then moved the desks in and changed the locks.
But by 1986 the company was the world's largest ad agency.
However, behind the doors, there were fierce 'artistic disagreements' between Charles and his younger brother Maurice, who would often have blazing rows in their London HQ.
One secretary described ‘huge brotherly anger and shouting, and the crash of Maurice’s massive white desk being turned upside down, coffee flying, and everything being hurtled to the floor’.
After the storm, Charles would rush from the building, and Maurice would poke his head around the door, slightly flushed, and ask: ‘Perhaps someone could get a dustpan and brush?’
These volcanic disputes were common knowledge in the industry at the time.
A book, compiled in 2017 from the shocking tales and memories of more than 200 people who worked at the firm, revealed this eccentricity, bad behaviour and sheer violence could frequently be quite terrifying.
One typographer, named Dave Wood, was caught in the middle of a Saatchi sibling assault when he was laying out the wording for an ad on a board.
Maurice made some changes, which were reversed a few minutes later when Charles walked by. Maurice returned and was putting the ad back the way he wanted it, when Charles turned up a second time.
A screaming row erupted, which culminated in Maurice seizing the board and marching through the office swing doors with it, Charles in hot pursuit. Moments later, Maurice came staggering backwards through the door, no longer holding the artwork, and landed on the floor at Dave Wood’s feet. He picked himself up, straightened his glasses and left without saying a word. Charles, three years older than Maurice, liked to denigrate his brother. ‘Oh God,’ he would say in meetings, ‘you’re using your brains again!’Charles and Maurice were later ousted from Saatchi & Saatchi by shareholders. They went onto found M&C Saatchi in 1995. The firm was famous for the Conservative Party’s controversial New Labour, New Danger campaign for the 1997. But unlike the magic created at their previous company, this campaign failed to get a Tory PM into Downing Street, with Labour leader Tony Blair going on to win the election.
Source: Daily Mail
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