John Lewis enlists excitable dragon to tell its Christmas story

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Nov 14, 2019

John Lewis Partnership has unveiled its first-ever joint Christmas ad between its signature department stores chain and its Waitrose supermarkets. The creative “tells the heartwarming story of a little girl and her friendship with an excitable young dragon”. 

‘Excitable Edgar’ is a long (150-seconds) ad set to ‘Can’t fight this feeling’ by REO Speedwagon and re-recorded by the band Bastille. 

As with many current festive campaigns, it centres around the theme of bringing people together at Christmas time “through delicious food and thoughtful gifts, which show loved ones how much you care”. And despite the undeniably schmaltzy edge that most Christmas ads have, there’s a strong enough humour element to carry it through while the dragon is an appealing character.

The girl, Ava, is preparing for Christmas along with her family and friends who include the enthusiastic dragon called Edgar. Unable to contain his excitement for the festivities, he’s “finding it increasingly hard to control his instinct to breathe fire”. 

The ad follows the pair as they attempt to join in with seasonal activities — with amusing problems as Edgar melts an ice skating rink and destroys the community’s snowman, Christmas tree and decorations. 

An upset Edgar shuts himself away until Ava thinks of a way to include him in the festivities which sees him lighting the brandy on the village’s Christmas pudding.

Apart from a few food products, the product placement is fairly subtle — although scarves seem to have a big part to play, which is no surprise given how much success John Lewis has had in recent years with cold weather accessories.

Products the company is selling linked to the ad also include a cuddly Edgar toy at £15, an Excitable Edgar Story Book at £9.99, plus Edgar character children’s pyjamas, wellington boots and slippers.

The ad has been released on the retailer’s social media channels already but will get its first TV airing during ITV’s The X Factor: Celebrity on Saturday.