A bare-chested James Norton as an M&S Santa? Happy Christmas ladies
Never has the old idiom about saving the best for last been more apt than when it comes to this year’s crop of Christmas ads.
Marks & Spencer is the final department store to release its ad and, unlike the offering from biggest rival John Lewis, this one is controversy-free and pitch perfect.
To be honest, the battle for the best festive commercial was probably won months ago when some bright spark on the M&S creative team mooted ‘how about a bare-chested James Norton, playing Santa Claus?’ during one of their brain-storming sessions. Yep, that’ll do it.
The full three-minute advert, out tomorrow but shown exclusively to the Daily Mail, opens with actress Lucy Punch (best known as super snob Amanda Hughes in BBC sitcom Amandaland) as Mrs Claus.
She’s sitting up in bed wearing very fetching sateen, pink striped pyjamas – the same £35 pair every husband in Britain will be buying for his wife this Christmas.
It’s the North Pole and her weather-beaten hubby Santa (James Norton) is grooming his trademark bushy beard.
M&S has won over the ladies with a bare-chested James Norton in this year’s Christmas ad
In the ad, Norton (aka Santa Claus) shaves off his bed on the command of his wife
‘I wonder, my love, have you ever thought about losing the beard? They say it takes years off?’ asks Mrs Claus.
‘No! It’s my thing!’ he protests.
But, eager to please the missus, he does lose it, transforming into a James-Bond-style super hunk.
Posing in a skimpy bath towel, hairy chest and rippling torso on full display, he asks Mrs Claus what she thinks. ‘Saint Nicholas!’ she cries leaping out of bed with excitement.
Now unrecognisable, Santa seizes the chance to experience Christmas as ordinary people do and travels to London wearing his new leather jacket and red scarf.
He drops in at a school concert where singer Katherine Jenkins, in a sparkly sequinned dress (a guaranteed £45 sellout), is performing a Christmassy cover version of ‘Heaven is a Place on Earth’ – the soundtrack to the entire advert that’s also being released as a single.
Lucy Punch (best known as super snob Amanda Hughes in BBC’s Amandaland) stars as Mrs Claus
Norton then travels to London donned in his new M&S leather jacket and red scarf
Santa gets to tuck into a buffet of M&S’s party food, those delicious and irresistible ‘picky bits’ that will have bankrupted us all come the end of December. He is invited to a neighbourhood gathering and ends his trip by visiting an M&S store.
‘Wow, what is this place?’ he asks in wonderment before stocking up on goodies.
He returns to the North Pole to tell Mrs Claus of his amazing discovery only for her to confess: ‘Oh darling, I’ve been going for years.’
Still thrilled by her husband’s hunk makeover, she tells him the beard is staying off for good and presents him with a £22.50 Autograph shaving kit that every dad will now be finding under the tree come the 25th.
In previous years M&S has run separate Christmas campaigns for its various departments. This time it’s brought the whole lot together – food, fashion, beauty and homeware – with pretty much everything in the Clauses’ cabin, from baubles to bath towels, available to buy. (I confess I was searching for those PJs online within minutes of viewing the ad).
It’s all done under the banner of the retailer establishing itself as ‘the home of Christmas’, tapping into the idea that Yuletide magic is about spending the season with people we love.
The ad is based on M&S’s own customer research that found 81 per cent want a special time with the people they love – and I suspect 100 per cent of female shoppers want a shirtless James Norton on their TV screens.
No bratty kids trashing houses, no wet modern parents and no emotionally blackmailed grannies.
Instead, it’s a feelgood masterpiece that will leave viewers (with the exception of a few John Lewis execs, perhaps) with a smile on their face and a warm glow.
