John Lewis and Waitrose Partnerships Blast Off with Epic Bohemian Rhapsody Cover

A new joint commercial for John Lewis and Waitrose is an intergalactic spectacular of a film, featuring school children performing a rendition of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody with a space-age twist.

Created by adam&eveDDB to rebrand the retail brands as John Lewis & Partners and Waitrose & Partners respectively, the campaign’s central idea highlights the Partnership’s cooperative ideals with the line, "When you’re part of it, you put your heart into it."

The film will first air on British TV during The Great British Bake Off this evening and in cinemas across the UK from September 7th, including in trailers for the forthcoming film about Queen, also titled Bohemian Rhapsody.

The spot was directed by long-term John Lewis collaborator Dougal Wilson, who brings his usual knack for epic-ness and feel-good vibes, as well as a phenomenal level of production design.

The film is part of a wider marketing campaign entitled ‘& Partners’, that uses the tagline ‘For us, it’s personal’ which has been developed with adam&eveDDB. The campaign shines a light on the stories and skills of more than 100 real Partners from across both businesses to illustrate what makes the Partnership a unique business.

Central to the campaign is a manifesto which will appear in print ads and will be spoken by real Partners from John Lewis and Waitrose in film played in shops and online. The manifesto will also be on display in all shops, too.

Partners will also feature in fashion, home product and food films which will run on the brands’ social channels. Supporting print ads will hero products designed and sourced by Partners and showcase the businesses’ Partner-led services. The social media campaign will use the hashtag #wearepartners.

 

Craig Inglis, Customer Director for John Lewis & Partners said: "Our customers tell us time and again that they love the exceptional service delivered by our Partners and that that's what makes us special in their eyes. This change to our identity puts our Partners right at the heart of our brands and reinforces that difference.

 

“We are supporting it with our biggest ever marketing campaign outside of Christmas and introducing a new end line 'For us, it's personal.' across both brands. This brings to life that because our Partners jointly own this business, they go the extra mile for our customers every day. For all of us, it really is personal."

 

Martin George, Customer Director for Waitrose & Partners, said: “Our new identities bring the brands much closer together and both brands will benefit. From now on when one of us advertises there will be a halo effect for the other brand as customers recognise that ‘& Partners’ means we’re the same company and that all 85,000 of us are owners.

 

“The story of the new TV ad is an energetic, fun way to highlight what we feel makes us so different as a business - how when you're part of something you put your heart into it. It's totally appropriate that some of the Partners, who help us provide great service and products for our customers everyday, take such a prominent role in the campaign.”

 

This morning the new identities ‘John Lewis & Partners’ and ‘Waitrose & Partners’ were unveiled on the facades of John Lewis’s flagship shop on Oxford Street, which has undergone a multi-million pound refurbishment, its shop at White City, Westfield, and Waitrose’s shops in Edgware Road and Clerkenwell in London; as well as on as well as on johnlewis.com, waitrose.com, selected lorries and vans, carrier bags, uniforms, trolleys, marketing activity and internal shop signs.

 

The full identity change to all 348 Waitrose and 50 John Lewis shop facades and the combined fleet of 3,500 lorries and vans is being phased over a number of years to tie in with refurbishment plans.

 

In addition to investing in their identities the John Lewis Partnership said in June that it would continue to invest in both businesses at a rate of £400m-£500m per year, to enable the two retail businesses to differentiate themselves from other retailers by innovating in products, customer service and services.

 

Today, John Lewis & Partners' largest ever own brand womenswear collection of 300 designs, which was created entirely in-house and carries the new name John Lewis & Partners went on sale. The retailer has also launched its first own-brand gifting collection called ‘Find Keep Give’ which is comprised of unique pieces, the majority of which were designed in-house by Partners.

 

The packaging of Waitrose own label product ranges will begin a five year programme of change from October, starting with the new Christmas range later this year, as well as the launch of its new ‘Free From’ range in October.

 

Both retailers are investing in their Partners to enhance their skills and product knowledge in order to deliver more personal customer experience and exceptional experiences in their shops. These include the creation of Customer Service Ambassadors who provide warm and personalised customer service front of store, the creation of healthy eating specialists, training Partners to offer a concierge style service and equipping Personal Stylists with the skills to deliver daily fashion talks and use technology to keep in touch with customers between appointments.

 

The John Lewis Partnership is also changing its brand identity to bring it in line with the new John Lewis and Waitrose brand identities.