John Lewis hires Saatchi for revamp after festive TV flop

JOHN LEWIS has turned to the advertising agency that helped Margaret Thatcher into Downing Street as the department store seeks to reinvigorate its flagging business.

The John Lewis Partnership, which also owns Waitrose, has hired Saatchi & Saatchi to work on all its forthcoming ad campaigns including its much anticipated Christmas advert. Saatchi & Saatchi replaces rival adam&eve, which had worked with John Lewis for 14 years and helped turn the festive ads into national talking points.

However, last year’s campaign fell flat. The advert, which featured a couple planning to adopt a child, fell below rival Christmas ads from brands including Asda, Amazon, Boots and Lidl in an industry ranking of effectiveness.

John Lewis confirmed it had parted ways with adam&eve in February. As well as overseeing the 2023 Christmas advert, Saatchi & Saatchi will help to launch John Lewis’s new loyalty programme. Saatchi & Saatchi is best known for working with the Conservative Party in the 1970s and creating the “Labour isn’t working” campaign. The advert, which depicted a snaking dole queue, was credited with helping Thatcher win the election in 1979.

Founders Maurice and Charles Saatchi later left the agency to set up M&C Saatchi. The appointment of a new creative agency comes as John Lewis races to turn around its business, amid losses and frustrations among staff. Last year it scrapped its staff bonus for only the second time in 50 years, as it recorded losses of more than £230m. The partnership blamed inflation, which it said had “hit like a hurricane”.

Dame Sharon White, its chairman, last week lost a confidence vote over her management of the business. A majority of staff who sit on its 58-strong council said they did not support John Lewis’s performance under her leadership over the past year.