Student’s fake John Lewis Christmas ad goes viral

A student whose take on the John Lewis Christmas advert racked up almost half a million views has been praised by the retail giant.

Nick Jablonka created a version of the festive advert for his A-level media coursework and uploaded it to YouTube in June, but it has since gone viral.

The animated advert has earned him an invitation to go behind the scenes to see how John Lewis creates its television adverts.

The video, which follows the the story of a snowman who finds love after being trapped in a snow globe, confused some who thought it was the official John Lewis advert for this year.

It has been viewed around more than 580,000 times and has attracted high praise from John Lewis, which has become renowned for its annual Christmas campaign.

A spokesman for the retailer said: “Wow, what a great effort. Nick is clearly very talented, and we’d love to invite him in to spend some time with us behind the scenes to see how we create our TV ads.”

Mr Jablonka said he had no idea that the animation would prove so popular.

“You hear about things going viral, but you never think it will be you,” he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.

He added: “I’m a fan of John Lewis adverts. When we think ‘Christmas’, we think ‘John Lewis’, so it gave me a lot of freedom as to what I could do.”

In a post on his YouTube page, Mr Jablonka said the video had taken him just two weeks to create from start to finish and he believed it “could do with a lot of work”.

But viewers praised his effort as “amazing” and “beautiful”.

One user wrote: “Now this is real talent. Discovering and watching real talent like this warms my heart. There’s hope yet for the future generation.”

Another wrote: “This is great. You’ll have a bright future in animation ahead of you if you so choose.”

Last year's genuine campaign – the lonely man on the moon, following the 2014 penguin and the 2013 double act of the bear and the hare – took nearly 12 months and £1m to make, with another £6m spent buying advertising slots.

The student’s parody follows a similar theme to previous ads, featuring a lonely snowman reminiscing about times with a snowwoman love interest, before being reunited. It features Follow You Follow Me by Vapor feat. Adaline as the score.

This year’s official John Lewis ad is expected to launch on Thursday and is said to have cost £7 million.

Aldi, which made a parody of the Man in the Moon ad last year and was then caught out overstating the price of the John Lewis telescope compared with its version, is believed to be behind a mysterious campaign for Kevin the Carrot popping up on social media. Kevin tweeted on Monday: "Orange is the new 'Man on the Moon'."

Jablonka hasn’t revealed his production costs, but UK companies are believed to be spending a record £5.6bn this year, with Burberry’s ad particularly ambitious, running to three minutes, directed by Oscar winner Asif Kapadia, and with stars including Sienna Miller, Dominic West and Lily James.

The annual John Lewis Christmas ad is due to be released on Friday. – (PA/Guardian Service)