I love Marks and Spencer BUT.....

I love Marks and Spencer I really do. Their fantastic range of products, their emphasis on Plan A for sustainability and let's not forget their food halls YUM! Just to highlight how much I love their products today I am rocking a pair of their ankle boots, a handbag from their Limited Collection range, socks and undies obviously come from there (whose don't!) and a scarf....I feel I should be a typical target customer for Marks and Spencer - young (ahem go with it), disposable income, likes to purchase classic clothing with a nod to the trends (sometimes, usually just a classic frankly I'm a bit risk adverse in the clothing department) surely I should be in their cross hairs this Christmas?

But frankly I feel a bit let down by their Christmas advertising campaign this year! Their advert is the same style of advert we've seen from them for years. There's no Christmas feeling, no real sense of anticipation or excitement. Where's the magic Marks and Spencer?

We are in the midst of a massive recession, things are frankly a bit grim so I think Christmas is about finding that sparkle to maybe spend a day enjoying being with family and remembering all the fun we had as kids to pass on to our kids, if you have any, me I'll be trying to instill Christmas cheer in Boots the kitten's first Christmas!

I'm not talking about spending a ton of money none of us have either, but focusing on the essence of the season - goodwill to all men, love, family, thankfulness.....

Now I know this is difficult to convey in a 30 second commercial but come on this is the biggest and most important sales period for retailers of the whole year. If you can't make money at Christmas you really are in trouble and as we can see in the UK we are loosing retailers left right and centre off of our high streets. Therefore this Christmas, competing for the limited budgets available needs a new strategy not a rehash of the same old campaign rocked out for the past few years.

Cue the the John Lewis Snowman advert. This is an exceptionally well timed advert in my opinion - it pulls on all the heartstrings, it establishes John Lewis (again) as the destination for Christmas and makes me want to shop there. Cleverly though it doesn't actually show any products. No chance for me to dismiss their product range (sorry Marks and Spencers but that's exactly what I did with the products you featured) it just evokes the essence of Christmas and darn it I want to go and shop there purely because of that!

So Marks and Spencer you can take your tired, cliched jumping lingerie dressed models I'm off to John Lewis to feel the Christmas Spirit and no doubt spend far more than I meant to but at least I'll feel good for it!

How are you all facing the Christmas shopping this year? Am I alone in wanting it to be a nicer expeience than just a standard days shopping?

Lx