Penguins & Kids: John Lewis Saves the World with a little help from Tom Odell

The super-formula of small, cute, cuddly flightless bird meeting small, cute, cuddly little person is back, this time featuring in the John Lewis Christmas ad campaign from creative agency adam&eveDDB. It takes a popular childrens’ book story device (think Oliver Jeffer‘s Lost & Found series and the more recent Blown Away by Rob Biddulph) and spins it right into the real world, through impressive VFX and emotive heart-tugging direction from Dougal Wilson.

Teamed with a typically slow-paced new version of John Lennon‘s Real Love by the Novello and Brit award-winning songwriter Tom Odell, this will be tough to beat in the 2014 Christmas-ad-with-chart-topping-status stakes.

Love or hate the ‘schmaltz’ of the annual event that is the John Lewis Christmas campaign, every year it succeeds in being more eagerly-awaited and ultimately more viral than the last. It’s just a matter of time before the penguins rise up and revolt against their stereotypical portrayals of ‘short, fat, hairy figures of fun with-a-silly-walk’.

Penguins aren’t just for Christmas.