John Lewis Christmas ad achieves highest rating since 2019

The 2026 John Lewis Christmas advertisement, titled ‘Gloria and Pickles’, has earned a 5.6-star rating from creative effectiveness firm System1. This marks the retailer’s strongest festive campaign performance since the ‘Excitable Edgar’ ad in 2019.

Starring Dame Kristin Scott Thomas as a grandmother and featuring Paul Whitehouse as the voice of a toy dog, the advertisement follows a search for the perfect gift. The campaign, produced in partnership with Saatchi & Saatchi, has seen consistent year-on-year rating improvements since the agency was appointed in 2023.

System1 testing indicated that 61% of viewers felt happy while watching the ad, a figure nearly double the UK television advertising average.