Hasta La Ideas

The John Lewis Christmas ad is fast becoming a British advertising institution. This year’s effort features a snowman on an epic quest to buy the perfect present. Guess where he finds it?

You know how the formula by now. As with previous John Lewis spots, The Journey combines a cover version of a classic track (in this case Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s The Power Of Love covered by 20 year-old Gabrielle Aplin) with a hefty dose of yuletide sentimentality. Once again, agency Adam & Eve/DDB have turned to director Dougal Wilson to deliver all this – Wilson directed last year’s spot and the brand’s Always A Woman ad.

It’s all rather sweet and Wilson has the knack of pitching this sort of thing just on the right side of cloying, but somehow it lacks the emotional pull of last year’s The Long Wait which transfixed a teary-eyed nation – while the harder of heart had great fun imagining just what was in the little lad’s gift to his parents…

CR for the iPad

Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month. Try a free sample issue here.

CR In print

In our November issue we look at ad agency Wieden + Kennedy in a major feature as it celebrates its 30th anniversary; examine the practice of and a new monograph on M/M (Paris); investigate GOV.UK, the first major project from the Government Digital Service; explore why Kraftwerk appeals so much to designers; and ponder the future of Instagram. Rick Poynor reviews the Phaidon Archive of Graphic Design; Jeremy Leslie takes in a new exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery dedicated to experimental magazine, Aspen; Mark Sinclair explores Birmingham’s Ikon Gallery show of work by the late graphic designer, Tony Arefin; while Daniel Benneworth-Gray writes about going freelance; and Michael Evamy looks at new telecommunications brand EE’s identity. Plus, subscribers also receive Monograph in which Tim Sumner of tohave-and-tohold.co.uk dips into Preston Polytechnic’s ephemera archive to pick out a selection of printed paper retail bags from the 70s and 80s.

The issue also doubles up as the Photography Annual 2012 – our showcase of the best images in commercial photography produced over the last year. The work selected is as strong as ever, with photographs by the likes of Tim Flach (whose image of a hairless chimp adorns the front cover of the issue, above); Nadav Kander (whose shot of actor Mark Rylance is our Photography Annual cover); Martin Usborne; Peter Lippmann; Giles Revell and more.

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