The Bear and the Hare

I recently attended a Marketing Society lecture by Sir Charlie Mayfield, the charismatic Chairman of the John Lewis Partnership.

Sir Charlie deftly addressed business issues such as: How do you stay true to your values in a rapidly changing world? How do you make your employees really care about your brand?

In essence they do this by being famous for their Quality, Value and Service (and now competitive Price) Promise.  You may even say they they have democratised quality.

But two key points stood out from the evening.  Firstly, the role of great leadership, to drive the firm in one clear direction.  Secondly to absolutely know your customers and always put them first.

I left enchanted by the brand.

And, if you’ve seen their Christmas TV Commercial, as 12,577,619 viewers on youtube have, you may be wondering who or what the bear and hare represent.

I guess Charlie is the hare.  He totally gets what we want.

So who’s the bear?  Well, we all are of course.

See the TVC on:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqWig2WARb0