A Young Boy Gives the Performance of His Life for John Lewis’ Home Insurance Spot

Tonight, at 9.15pm during ITV’s ‘DNA Fingerprinting’ programme, John Lewis will launch a new advertising campaign to raise awareness of its new home insurance product which offers customers greater flexibility and choice. The campaign forms part of John Lewis’s plans to quadruple the size of its financial services business. 

The one minute TV advert, created by agency adam&eveDDB, shows a young boy, played by actor Reggie aged nine, dressed up in his mother’s clothes, jewellery, shoes and make-up, creating a trail of accidental damage as he gives an enthusiastic and dramatic performance throughout his home. The advert is set to the soundtrack ‘Edge of Seventeen’ by Stevie Nicks and concludes with the strapline ‘Let Life Happen’.

Claire Pointon, customer director for John Lewis said: “We wanted to inject joy, freedom and humour into this campaign. The story we landed on fulfils this, with the idea that when you have John Lewis’ Home Insurance with the option of accidental damage cover, you don’t need to worry anymore, you can just ‘let life happen’. 

“The ad playfully highlights the things that could happen as Reggie dances around, freely expressing himself, from knocked vases and picture frames, to paint on the carpet and nail varnish along the bannisters.”

In addition to TV slots this integrated campaign will feature on YouTube, streaming services, social media channels, and appear on digital screens outside Waitrose stores. 

One year ago, the John Lewis Partnership set out a five year business transformation plan in which it committed to spend £100m to quadruple the size of its financial services business by offering new products and services like savings and insurance, where trust really matters for customers. This year it has launched its new flexible home insurance, its first ever investment products, and expanded point of sale credit to all channels.