The John Lewis ad has become synonymous with Christmas and on Friday - the day it was released at one minute past midnight, the brand has once again become big news.
Trending on Twitter, Facebook and Google, this could be one of the only times of the year that everyone is talking about John Lewis.
And that's the problem for the department store. Like so many giants of the High Street, John Lewis has been up against huge competition, not least Amazon and other purely online retailers that saw sales soar during lockdown.
Honestly - think about where you first turn to for your bedsheets, perfume or undies? Is it John Lewis, has it ever been?
John Lewis does have a website but it also has the huge costs of running big expensive buildings in prime city centre sites.
John Lewis has so many admirable qualities - it is perhaps the most famous UK brand to be employee-owned and has always put integrity first - proudly proclaiming it has never knowingly undersold.
That slogan matters little to younger consumers - who really knows what it actually means these days anyway?
So perhaps, the brand is right to consider dropping the pledge as it seeks to become more relevant to the modern shopper.
Watch the ad here
Sadly for John Lewis and Waitrose staff, it is the loss of its most noble enterprise that has sadly hit the buffers this year.
For the first time since 1953, John Lewis staff will not receive a bonus as the retailer grapples with cost cutting measures across the business.
By April next year, 1,500 head office jobs will be lost for John Lewis stores and Waitrose and Partners supermarkets.
The announcement follows plans to shut eight John Lewis stores with the loss of 1,300 jobs and the closure of four Waitrose stores in a move which hit 124 jobs.
John Lewis Partnership (JLP) said that the move will help it to save another £50m as it seeks to secure £300m in annual savings by 2022.
Earlier this month, Sharon White, chairman of the JLP, said that the business plan is to be able to adapt quickly to the changing needs of customers.
She said the aim is to 'set a course to create a thriving and sustainable business for the future.'
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And the Christmas ad that gets us all talking has to be a great ambassador for that. It succeeds in bringing the brand to the forefront of our minds.
But is that enough to bring good cheer right through the year?
Prof. Chris Bones, co-founder of The Good Growth Company, which specialises in trouble-shooting and growing audience for the likes of The Economist, Lidl and Waitrose and Partners, said that the advert has become a Christmas staple and has become even more necessary this year as we yearn to escape from the grips of COVID.
"But John Lewis is a brand in trouble," he said.
"It's not clear what its relevance is for today’s shoppers, particularly those under 40 who no longer look to them for quality ’not knowingly undersold’.
"TV is a channel that also misses the shopper population who no longer have them front of mind. Whilst they hope it goes viral, it has spreads across Facebook rather than Tik Tok, so I’m not sure it's going to do much to help take the brand forward as a relevant proposition for the 2020s."
