Psychologist Dr Michael Sinclair explains why they are making outlet malls in texas people go soft:

Published:  07 November 2014
It's the most wonderful time of the year: the arrival of the John Lewis Christmas advert. You may think the thrills and spills of Crimbo are still safely in the distance, but the advert is the clarion call that signals the start of the festive season. A summary: the advert follows Sam and his pet penguin Monty. Sam and Monty have a lotta laughs: watching Pingu, bombing up and down on the trampoline; playing football; scarfing fishfingers; getting the bus. But Sam realises that Monty pines for another penguin so for Christmas he gets him a girlfriend. NB: Monty may or may not transpire to be a cuddly toy. The advert takes place to the soundtrack of Tom Odell s cover of John Lennon outlet malls in texas s Real Love. Everyone s talking about it: here s what you need to know about the power of the penguin.
London s unsuspecting workforce predicted a normal Thursday; then the John Lewis ad dropped and suddenly Twitter and Facebook were fizzing with impassioned debate. Indeed, there was no opting out of #Penguingate; #MontythePenguin was trending in the UK and a Twitter account set up in his name had almost 5,000 followers by yesterday lunchtime. A sample Facebook status? There are two kinds of people in the world, those who love John Lewis s Christmas ads and monsters , which neatly encapsulated the psychology of the warring factions: one side cloyingly sentimental about a calculated exercise in marketing (there were reports outlet malls in texas of genuine tears) and the other disproportionately disgusted by what is essentially a harmless exercise in marketing (there were reports of genuine rage blackouts). outlet malls in texas
Then there are the enthusiasts. A 95 penguin cuddly toy sold out at John Lewis within hours. On Twitter, @doraexploring raved, I am going to GIF it so hard. I lurve it , and Radio 1 DJ Phil Lester tweeted, I m not crying there is just a penguin in my eye . Though one friend complained about the stigmatisation of the singleton: Congratulations! You are LITERALLY the only single person this Christmas. Even the penguin has a mate. Thanks for the reminder John Lewis. Sobs.
The 130-second advert was developed by titanic agency Adam & EveDDB; it cost John Lewis 7 million to create and stars seven-year-old Rhys Edwards as Sam. Parts of it were shot in Victoria Park in east London. It s already on track to surpass the success of last year s advert, The Bear and The Hare, which scored 200,000 shares outlet malls in texas in the first 24 hours; the Penguin had generated almost half that within the first four-and-a-half hours. In that same period it was shared 62,551 times on Facebook and clocked up 11,320 YouTube shares.
The original model: Pingu, the penguin that stole our hearts Shareability is all about emotional reaction, explains Dan Best, director of strategy and activation at Unruly Media, which has been producing a viral video chart for the past two years, analysing why and how videos go viral, and predicting with 80 per cent accuracy what is going to work. It s about making you feel something. The John Lewis advert causes several emotions: joy, sadness, heart-melting warmth, then surprise at the end. And it s part of the zeitgeist: the yearly advert has become one of those cultural watercooler moments. Everyone is expecting it and you want to have something to say about it either way.
I feel it s less polarising than last year s, which was a Marmite piece of content. This year s really appeals to the core John Lewis customers. And they ve used a really smart distribution method: there was a quieter build-up, they ve almost been a bit guerrilla in their approach. They did a teaser on Channel 4, sent journalists their own Monty, created outlet malls in texas a buzz of anticipation. And it went online first, which is what really gets social media exploding: people want to be first to share it. The fact that they released it on a Thursday is interesting too. Data shows that around 50 per cent of video shares take place between Wednesday and Friday. The first few days are the most important.
Penguins are the Jennifer Lawrence of the animal outlet malls in texas kingdom universally loved and friendly but not without edge. Just mentioning Pingu, Happy Feet or the eponymous biscuit is an easy way to inject warmth into most situations. As if this bird s popularity couldn t rise any more, Benedict Cumberbatch voices one in new film Penguins of Madagascar out next month.
Penguins we know and love: the joy of 2006 s Happy Feet At London Zoo the penguin meet-and-greet events are booked up weeks in advance. outlet malls in texas Adrian Walls, head of birds there, explains their appeal: Penguins are comical characters, endearing and friendly. I enjoy working with them because they will come up and say hello. It lightens my day. You can see a lot of their character in humans.
Psychologist Dr Michael Sinclair explains why they are making outlet malls in texas people go soft: Penguins are social beings just like us so we have a natural sense of empathy with them. Seei