The John Lewis Christmas advert revealed

The long-awaited John LewisChristmas Advert has been unveiled, featuring the traditional tear-jerking tale of a youngster providing a thoughtful gift - accompanied by a mournful cover version.

In this version Lily watches the man in the moon through her telescope, but cannot get in touch. That's until Christmas, where she finds a way to give him a telescope, so he no longer has to feel alone.

The song is a cover of the Oasis song Half the World Away, sung by 19-year-old Norwegian singer Aurora.
The ad execs have been careful not to fall into any girlification traps, so Lily is also a girl who wears a football kit, rides her scooter and gets Lego for Christmas.

We shouldn't be surprised that the advert feels so familiar. John Lewis used the same advertising agency that created Monty the Penguin last year and The Bear and the Hare the year before.

In fact the advertising tradition of thoughtful gifts set against mournful ballads goes back further - including the 2012 advert featuring Mr and Mrs Snowman, and the 2011 one that started it all - featuring the boy counting down the days until Christmas so he could give his parents their present.

A John Lewis spokeswoman said: "It is has become part of our handwriting as a brand. It's about storytelling through music and emotion. The sentiment behind that hasn't changed – and that is quite intentional. The strategy behind our campaigns is always about thoughtful gifting."
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Success

The John Lewis advert has become an annual tradition, coming after bonfire night, and officially signalling the start of the festive season. So far this year, the reaction has been just as striking as previous years - even before it officially has its first TV airing.

In the first hour, PR company Hotwire tracked 16,396 mentions of #manonthemoon and #onthemoon and 4,449 mentions of Aurora. It has already become more of a sensation than Bear and Hare, which managed just 6,826 mentions in the first 24 hours. However, it remains to be seen whether it can challenge the enormous success of Monty The Penguin and his 97,257 mentions on the first day.

The soundtrack, meanwhile, is set to be the biggest so far, with Aurora getting more mentions in the first hour than any of the previous singers (Tom Odell, Lily Allen, Gabriel Aplin and Slow Moving Millie) got in the first day. Within the first few hours, the single broke the top 30 most downloaded tunes on iTunes.

Of course, you could argue that the real measure of success is whether it gets people to buy their Christmas shopping at John Lewis. Certainly yet again the advert has not been pushing products, and left branding to the very end, so you might wonder how effective it can be.

However, in an era where competition has never been more fierce, building a brand that is so closely associated with Christmas and the joy of giving is very clever. By tugging at our heartstrings for the past five years, John Lewis has ensured that when every shop is just a click away, there's a very good chance that the first shop that springs to mind is John Lewis.

But what do you think? Do you like the new advert, and does it make you want to shop at John Lewis? Let us know in the comments.