John Lewis & Partners
John Lewis & Partners (JL&P) are known for their high quality brand offerings. Traditionally the John Lewis home catalogue was a carefully crafted selection of beautifully designed homewares in gorgeous settings. With our ever changing requirements from our living spaces, now more than ever, customers now want to see spaces they can relate to. Not many of us have a perfectly tidy, well designed and co-ordinated collection of pieces. Neither do we have a room that fulfils one role. Our living spaces need to be a place to relax, workout and work in. JL & P had to reassess how to represent their new season pieces in a way to inspire but not to alienate their core customer.
The brief: How do you live in your living room?
I came up with two concepts:
Concept A: “It’s in our DNA”
Dedicated to Design
Nurturing by Nature
Always Accessible
Strategy:
You can’t get more personal than using John Lewis Partners in your advertising. As partners in the business they are the lifeblood personification of the brand..
Leveraging on the current partner campaign ‘For us it’s personal’ and extending it to the idea of DNA. DNA being as diverse and as individual as every single human it makes up but also using the letters as a motto for the company (Dedicated, Nurturing and Accessible).
An authentic approach. Real people, in their actual living spaces. Avoiding the overly edited styling that we have been doing in the past.
Focusing on Partners (& their families?) in their personal living/ favourite spaces. Capturing how they live, what they surround themselves with and how they put their personal space together:
personal mementos, travel memorabilia.
updating completely due to a change of location or circumstance, or incorporating latest trends with their existing pieces.
how they tackle living alone or in shared spaces.
how their spaces fit around their lifestyles (eg multifunctional furniture, hobbies, plants, animals).
Concept B: “Living with what you love”
Nobody lives in a perfect world and certainly not many of us occupy a space that looks like an advertising campaign. Currently all home brands are showcasing furniture in the same way but it’s not realistic.
We aspire to want a beautiful, unique space or one that reflects our lifestyle but life gets in the way.
Your toddler is channelling Van Gogh on your walls.
The family pet has rubbed it’s fur all on your velvet upholstery.
A teenager decides to practice some tricky skateboard tricks in your living room.
You love your new sofa but it will sit in the living room that is “lived” in.
Strategy:
By humanising the scene it resonates with people. We can all relate to the funny real life scenarios.
We want people to think.... John Lewis ‘gets me’. I have a young family. I need a new sofa. John Lewis & Partners can help recommend an upholstery for a new sofa that is easy to clean in a fabric that’s hardwearing.
