Each year, for the last decade, UK department store chain John Lewis & Partners has launched a heart-warming holiday advert that, in many ways, signals the start of the holiday season in Britain. Traditionally, these are emotionally resonant spots designed to get people in the celebratory (and shopping) spirit. Tellingly, according to Campaign, no John Lewis spot in the last 8 years has ranked higher on the emotional scale than Adam & Eve/DDB's timeless tale, 'The Bear and the Hare'. This 2-minute animal kingdom animation is Hornet director Yves Geleyn at the top of his game—a proud representation of the type of delicate, patient care he puts into his work—and it's also one downright feel-good story about friendship and festive cheer.
There once was an animal who had never seen Christmas. As autumn winds turn to winter snow, the bear begins his annual retreat into hibernation to sleep his way through the best part of the year. The festive spirit is strong though, and his friend, the hare, is determined to give him a gift he has never received before — Christmas.
Featuring Lily Allen's acoustic rendition of Keane's "Somewhere Only We Know", the heartstrings are well and truly pulled by the time we find out just how the hare actually gets the bear to trade in his lonely cave for a communal spot around the animal kingdom Christmas tree.
The scale of the project, and the innovative combination of animated techniques involved in creating it, are unprecedented. The marriage of traditional hand-drawn 2D animation with stop-frame model animation creates a tangible world full of texture and detail that conveys the honesty behind the John Lewis Christmas message.
