TLDR
John Lewis's 2026 Christmas ad, Gloria and Pickles, scored 5.6 Stars on System1, the retailer's best result since 2019 and the fourth year in a row that Saatchi & Saatchi has improved on the year before. Last year the best Australian Christmas ads System1 rated, from McDonald's and Myer, scored 3.2.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The score
John Lewis's 2026 Christmas ad, Gloria and Pickles, has scored 5.6 Stars on System1's creative effectiveness scale. That is the UK retailer's highest Christmas result since Excitable Edgar in 2019, and System1 found 61% of viewers felt happy watching it, nearly twice the UK TV advertising average.[1]
It is also the fourth Saatchi & Saatchi Christmas ad for John Lewis, and each has scored higher than the last: 3.6 Stars in 2023, 4.6 in 2024, 5.1 in 2025 and 5.6 this year.[1]
"John Lewis backed a new agency, gave them time to build, and the public are rewarding them for it," said Andrew Tindall, chief growth officer for advertising at System1. "Consistency compounds creativity, and John Lewis is the proof."[1]
The ad
The three-minute film, directed by Lucy Forbes, stars Kristin Scott Thomas as Gloria, a grandmother about to put cash in her grandchildren's Christmas cards. Pickles, an old toy dog voiced by Paul Whitehouse, comes to life, tells her "You can do better than cash" and takes her shopping by flying tuk-tuk. The tagline is "Don't give up on giving", and Sam Fender recorded a cover of The Rolling Stones' You Can't Always Get What You Want for it.[2]
The ad launched on 3 November on John Lewis's website, social channels and YouTube, and on UK TV that night. It is the 20th John Lewis Christmas ad.[2]
The Australian benchmark
Australian retailers are about to launch their own. Last year, System1 rated McDonald's 'Grinchmas', by Wieden+Kennedy Sydney, and Myer's 'Give Something Special', by Howatson + Co, at 3.2 Stars each. ALDI's 'Go On Its Christmas', by BMF, scored 3.1 and Uber Eats' 'Ding Dong Deals', by Special, 2.6.[3]
Coles has already started its season, with a Christmas campaign from Smith St. System1's John Lewis result is an argument Australian marketers will recognise from their own effectiveness data: the brand that kept the same agency and the same idea for four years is the one whose scores kept rising.
SOURCES & CITATIONS
James Dore is founder and editor of Prompt the Market and Strategy Director at Bushnote, a Sydney strategy, SEO and AI search agency. He has a background in strategy, media and financial services, and led consumer product marketing at MONEYME. He writes on AI search, answer engines, technology policy and media economics.
