I dunno about you but I reckon Christmas sems to be a bit more special in England than it is here. Maybe its coz they get the real thing we’ve always celebrated but never had… freezing cold weather, snow and snowmen and all that sort of stuff.

In any event, some of the big retailers traditionally produce expensive TVC’s designed to bring a tear to your eye and your cash to their registers. This year department store John Lewis kicked off with a beaut one about a kid and his penguin. It’s lovely!

But then along came supermarket Sainsbury’s and their TVC literally blew the kid and his penguin out of the water (to coin a phrase). Its based on a true World War 1 event that happened in the trenches at Christmas 1914.  A lengthy but excellent story and, by the way, it features only one product… a fund raising charity chocolate bar.

Instead of accepting them for what they are… commercials, a few Grinches are criticising the penguin spot coz of all the add ons John Lewis are flogging and, of course, the WW1 TVC comes in for criticism for commercialising war.

What do I say? Bah humbug. Just enjoy!

And think of the millions spent in making them and how that will make sure the advertisers, advertising agencies, the commercial TV channels and their employees will have loot to spend at Christmas. What could be wrong with that?

By the way, it’s worth googling how they made the Sainsbury advert.

Winstons_Wise Words_CoverThe “how’s things?” call is one of those techniques every businessperson should use. It works beautifully for anybody who is serious about making their business successful. In fact, if you’re not using it you should be. Want to learn more? Buy Winston’s downloadable discussion on the “How’s Things?” call here. “Part of the Winno’s Wise Words series”.