Analysis: John Lewis Xmas ad generating intense positive emotions
November 6, 2025
John Lewis’ new Xmas ad campaign is the most emotionally-engaging festive campaign from the retailer in almost a decade, according to data from DAIVID.
The latest addition to the retailer’s much-vaunted catalogue of Christmas ads, Where Love Lives, was analysed by the AI-powered creative data platform to see how it compares to its previous festive favourites.
Created by Saatchi & Saatchi, the ad tells the heartwarming story of a father and son, set to the 1990s club classic Where Love Lives. When the son gives his dad a vinyl record as a gift for Christmas, it sparks a joyful trip down memory lane.
The ad generated intense positive emotions from almost six out of 10 viewers (55.8 per cent), making it 15 per cent more likely to generate positive emotions than the average ad – and the most emotionally engaging John Lewis Xmas ad since 2016’s Buster The Boxer.
The campaign was also twice as likely to make viewers feel intense warmth (+124 per cent), gratitude (+106 per cent) and joy (+100 per cent) than the everage ad. Feelings of nostalgia were also 34 per cent above the norm.
Ian Forrester, CEO and founder of DAIVID, said: “John Lewis has long set the benchmark for emotional storytelling at Christmas. Our data shows that Where Love Lives is a very worthy addition to their much celebrated catalogue of festive favourites, generating the most intense positive reaction to a John Lewis Christmas campaign since 2016. The story of the touching connection between a father and son is beautifully told and incredibly relatable, weaving in a strong product message that shows how a simple, meaningful gift can help a son connect with his dad and express love without words. Plus, by tapping into nostalgia and pairing it with a powerfully emotive soundtrack, John Lewis has taken a floor filler and turned it into a classic.”
DAIVID’s John Lewis Christmas ad study was compiled using its advanced, AI-powered creative testing platform. Trained using tens of millions of human responses to ads, the solution predicts the emotions and attention an ad will generate, and its likely impact on brand and business metrics – enabling advertisers to measure the effectiveness of their ad campaigns at scale. DAIVID’s AI models are built by combining facial coding, eye tracking and survey data with computer vision and computer listening APIs. Every John Lewis Xmas ad stretching back to 2010 were included in the study.
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