. . . when the John Lewis Christmas advert arrives on TV screens in the UK. I had to watch it a few times for it to grow on me and now I think its rather beautiful.
John Lewis only started to advertise in fairly recent years so it's impressive that their Christmas TV advert has become a marker of the start of the Christmas season. When I was a "Partner" Sales Assistant working at John Lewis I loved when September came and the Garden Furniture Dept. was replaced with the Christmas Dept. Everything was so beautiful, sparkly ornaments, gorgeous Advent Calenders and fabulous crackers, very much like this clip below, yes I know all you bah humbugs like to bemoan that its "too early" but come
on it's all so pretty and you can't deny it gives you that little Christmas-sy thrilll
I think I've blogged about John Lewis being a Partnership before. Each year if there is a profit and after funds have been set aside for reinvestment, the company profits are shared amongst all the employees sort of like a bonus with everyone receiving the same percentage of whatever their salary is. The percentage varies each year depending on the size of profit and whether expansions are planned etc. I think its an admiral way to do business and it was all set in motion by the founder's son John Spedan Lewis who felt it was wrong that the employees were not sharing in the profits that his family received from the business. You can read more about him here and I found this lecture given by Andy Street, the current Managing Director, if you forward to about the 3.24 mark he talks about how and why John Spedan Lewis started the Partnership scheme, The Third Way and then plays a fascinating video clip of the great man himself, I'd never seen it before and have to say it makes me heart John Spedan Lewis very much.