• by Sean Hargrave , Staff Writer, November 6, 2014

You have to take your hat off to John Lewis. It has gone from the middle class department store of choice -- who wouldn't want to support a co-operative? -- to the nation's most talked about Christmas advertiser in just a couple of years. Throw in its championing of iBeacons and virtual reality and you've got a high street store we all grew up with that is making itself more relevant than its rivals in today's, and tomorrow's, digital world.

The reveal of its Christmas advert is now up there with the festive number one, awful jumpers and "onesies." Attention will be paid to ads from the supermarkets, M&S and maybe Debenhams as their strutting stars have fun with extras pretending to be their family, but there really is only one game in town when John Lewis takes the wraps off its seasonal TV ad.

The reason is so simple, it makes us question why so few are following in their footsteps. In a word, it's all about emotion. John Lewis has been creating an emotional connection with viewers these past few years. The adverts are typically modern, in that they don't push a product but rather a feeling. Yet, at the same time, they are hauntingly nostalgic. You may have wondered what the first adverts were all about, but after a couple of years you get it and realise John Lewis gets us. It really is that simple.

I remember talking to the top marketing execs at Honda four or five years ago. They were the first I remember to strongly come out in favour of showing emotion rather than product. Hence, several years of award-winning, stirring adverts to popular anthems, such as "The Impossible Dream." They were the types of adverts that were discussed around the proverbial water cooler.

Apple is a very honoured exception to this advertising axiom, which I'm surprised isn't more of a trend. It has people jumping around with the famous white headphones front and centre of the screen at every opportunity. But when you're flogging the device everyone wants, you can probably get away with it.

So, this week we'll have all the "wow" comments at the water cooler, at the school pick up and throughout social media. There will be a lot of miserable people slating the advert, but of course, in so doing they merely add to the buzz around it and cement its position as the biggest advertising story every festive season.

It might be a woman reflecting on her life nostalgically, two star-crossed lovers zipping through the decades to find true love, a hare who wants his bear friend to wake up for Christmas or a lad who realises his stuffed penguin needs a friend -- the important part is that John Lewis has formed an emotional bond that tells us everything we need to know about the retailer and its products, without them ever having to push a single item.

Simplicity at its best.