John Lewis owner picks Saatchi & Saatchi to replace agency behind hit Christmas ads

Retailer parts ways with Adam&eveDDB as it attempts turnaround after slumping to a loss

The owner of John Lewis and Waitrose has replaced its advertising partner of 14 years with Saatchi & Saatchi, the agency famous for its 1979 election “Labour isn’t working” Conservative party campaign.

The deal ends the relationship with Adam&eveDDB, which created a run of highly successful promotions based on a cosy emotional feel without a hard focus on price and turned John Lewis’s tearjerking Christmas ads into an annual event, with Monty the penguin, Edgar the excitable dragon and Buster the bouncing boxer dog all capturing the nation’s attention.