“Portrait of a Nation”: Saatchi & Saatchi on How John Lewis’ ‘Tableau’ Envisions a Festival of Britain

100 years ago, John Lewis made a commitment that still endures – to be ‘Never Knowingly Undersold’. It’s a sort of old-fashioned sounding line, but one that has somehow survived throughout the retailer’s history. It’s been part of the fabric of Britain for a century. And that’s no accident.

For Will John, executive creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi London, right now the world feels “pretty shaky”. The “general lack of integrity, trust and reliability” of our times was a backdrop against which those three words seemed to stand starkly against. “John Lewis is perfectly positioned to act as a counterpoint to all that,” he says. “The brand is like a safe haven for us all, underpinned by this unshakable promise built on fairness and trust. A 100-year-old commitment that you can rely on. John Lewis has been there through it all, like a witness to our lives. And we wanted to capture and celebrate that enduring spirit.”

The team at John Lewis described ‘Never Knowingly Undersold’ to their agency as the brand’s “magic dust”. This stuck with creative director Brodie King. “It's their greatest expression of reassurance,” she says. “And this year felt like the year to not only reassure Britain but to celebrate some of the best parts of it. 100 years was a chance to not only look back but set the stall for the future. John Lewis isn’t going anywhere; they are just getting started.”

As the department store heads into the ‘golden quarter’ of 2025, it needed Saatchi & Saatchi to create something to convey that reassurance to the UK public. It seemed like a journey through life and time was needed, but it had to feel fresh and beautiful, to capture the rich tapestry of British life. “We wanted this film to drip with details, layers and insight; to pack it with characters and exuberant realism; and for it to feel poignant, rich and raucous – just like real life, almost like a portrait of the nation,” says Will. A straightforward narrative TV ad might have been the obvious choice. We’ve all seen enough John Lewis campaigns to picture that film – a lush journey through a century of history. But Saatchi & Saatchi turned to a different artistic form to condense British life from 1925 into one piece of work: a tableau. “It’s literally a view on life, beautifully arranged and filled with drama, with John Lewis woven through it all,” says Will.

Piecing Together the Puzzle of Britain

With the frame decided upon, the agency needed to fill it. In search of inspiration, the team delved into the visual feasts of British history and culture like the Bayeux Tapestry, 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' album cover and The Face magazine’s ‘Cultural Shift’ exhibition. “Tableau felt like a fresh way to move through time in a non-chronological, stylish and celebratory way. Simple enough to get in one viewing, but rewarding to watch over and over again,” says Brodie.

“From there, we all got excited. What if it could be 100 seconds? 100 cultural references? 100 products? It was a big ask for John Lewis to do in terms of sourcing products, but luckily, they went for it!”

Thankfully, John Lewis has a resource that most retail clients don’t – a weekly magazine called the Gazette, which also happens to be the longest-running internal publication in the world. Every week, it looks at UK trends, what the British public are into and how the partners can help serve them better. “It’s a proper treasure trove of insights,” says Will. To capture and genuinely reflect the role that John Lewis plays in British life, the agency team mined the Gazette’s archive and used AI to uncover real trends from the last 100 years. These then informed the scenes, styles and items that we see unfold in the film. “Everything shown there has been done with an intention, every item, clothing and moment is there for a reason. And hopefully, that authenticity and ambition shines through,” says Will.

This film was going to be maximalist – brimming with detail and spirit. Choosing Kim Gehrig to direct it, the agency team knew that she couldn’t just be handed a script at the last minute and told to bring it to life. Nor would that be making the most of her talents.

Their pair would have to work incredibly collaboratively. “Kim is an absolute joy,” says Will. “When you set out to do something so ambitious, you need one of the world’s best directors and Kim is exactly that. Everything she does is perfect, she has an incredible eye for detail, she’s insanely technical, amazingly cooperative and she makes work that enters into culture. She’s the closest thing to a guaranteed home run as you can get. And she’s knocked this spot out of the park.”

Assembling all of those details into a single scene was a puzzle that the Saatchi & Saatchi team put together with Kim to ensure they created something seamless and simple, but they had to be conscious to group around the potential for cut down assets that could be used for different departments and calendar moments. Brodie points out the thinking behind the different segments:

• Spring / Summer starts with the ‘60s dancers and their umbrellas. Then we see the rainy BBQ, carboot picnic and gorgeously dressed woman shedding her Max Mara coat for her summer.
• Beauty comes when the camera becomes a mirror for different looks over the years.
• Home starts at the washing machine, and moves through one long kitchen table where different eras sit, cook, eat and play.

“[It’s] bookended with the boy and the timeless joy of throwing a frisbee, which is caught at the end,” notes Brodie. “To pull it together, Kim pulled in stunning transitions such as the pigeons, the bouquet into the mosh pit and the camera spinning with the girl playing Nintendo Switch.”

All of this took meticulous planning. “Kim described it a bit like piecing together a real painting,” says Will. “You get the canvas, your frame (which in our case was the setting, a park); you sketch out a rough shape and structure for your picture (the shape and structure the cameras need to go on through the park); you then block in your objects (filling the frame with the cast and the right choreography); then layer up the details (all the objects, furniture and set dressing). At every stage, you analyse and check that it feels right. And then hopefully at the end of it all (with the help of a little pre-viz), you’ve got yourself a tableau.”

100 Years in the Moment of Today

It could have been easy to fall into the trap of focusing on these technical problems and forget the broader poetry of the piece. But as director, Kim maintained the vision throughout. “She was incredibly passionate about this, speaking directly to Brits and making sure it didn’t become a tourist teatowel-esque take on British culture,” says Brodie. “Builds and ideas inspired by personal memories of the team were always welcome, as she pieced it all together. Her treatment included this incredible one-line photoboard, which was a step-by-step process of her vision for ‘Tableau’, which we kept coming back to.

“The great thing about working with someone of Kim’s calibre is that you don’t just get Kim, but you get the talent she attracts. This was a feat of every department.”
Sonically, Mike Skinner’s cover of Sonny & Cher’s 1967 track ‘The Beat Goes On’ ties together the sense of time passing with a modern edge. His voice is unmistakable for any fan of The Streets, but he brings something way beyond a simple audio backdrop to the scene. “What’s special about Mike is that he’s such a narrator, his work often feels like social commentary,” observes Will. “And he's got such a distinctive voice. So when he delivers the lyrics in that brilliantly observed way of his, they just compliment the picture perfectly. The film is such an observed piece anyway, as we journey along, looking on at these different lives, passing them by, his voice gives the film a real sense of narration. And as we follow that arc to something more anthemic, he’s got that ability to take it somewhere more raucous. So, Mike really got it and he wanted to put his spin on it. It helps that he’s also a bit of a national treasure too.”

There’s so much crammed into the 100 seconds that it demands rewatching. Brodie points out a few details that she loves:

“We wanted to cover all aspects of John Lewis’ service with cultural and historical nods. '70s fashion students are carrying tartan fabric near the start. That's a nod to fashion and Vivienne Westwood, who used to shop in the haberdashery departments.

“The pram ‘relay’ (that starts with the couple, appears again during the rain scene and ends with the dad at the end) acknowledges their nursery experts.

“When the father and son at the TV tower throw the crisps in the air and they merge with the confetti of the bride – that's one of my favourite details. Kim and her team crafted every single beat and corner of the frame beautifully.”

Beyond the TV Ad

With huge campaigns like this one, it’s crucial for agencies to create an integrated body of work that’s fit for every channel. Of course, this campaign is so much more than just a TVC. Taking the same concept of #ThenNowAlways, the team built a beautiful 9:16, set just to the side of Kim’s main unit, borrowing cast members to capture TikTok dances, beauty, style and lifestyle trends, with visual hooks to grab attention and a purposefully native look to drive engagement.

They also cast influencers and creators in the main ‘Tableau’ film, who are known in the worlds of beauty, dance and lifestyle, to extend the organic reach of the campaign. And these creators filmed extra content, like 1920s make-up tutorials, inspired from their performances in the AV.

But the big, lush film isn’t just a the break in the middle of a Sunday-night drama, or to be enjoyed with popcorn rustling before the new Downton Abbey film – the campaign’s centrepiece lives in the social scroll too. Much to Will’s delight: “The sentiment on the main film has been unbelievable. Viewers on social are rewatching the hero AV over and over to try and see something new each time. And they are taking to the comments to tell their own stories of nostalgia evoked by the products or styles from the different eras they’ve spotted in the film.”

It didn’t come easy. Will’s non-exhaustive list of creative challenges includes “everything from researching and sourcing the right historical items and styles, to the technicality of the shoot itself, the different cameras involved, the seamless transitions between them, the rehearsal and choreography of it all, ensuring everyone hit their marks to compose and pull of the detailed and layered living tableau, complete with set dressing, VFX and music.

“There were so many elements, but it was so worth it. I’d say the biggest thing was doing justice to the scale and ambition everyone had for this project. We had high hopes. The challenge was to live up to them and realise them.”

The Saatchi & Saatchi ECD hopes the public will feel the intended spirit of ‘Tableau’. “There’s an inherent sense of collectivism and togetherness in this film,” Will concludes. “It's like a festival of Britain. One giant party! I hope it elicits a sense of joy and pride in the people of this country, for who we are and what we are like, and how John Lewis helps serve and support our lives. But I also think there’s a sense of defiance from John Lewis. Then Now Always. It feels like they’ve always been here – and they always should be. A national treasure set to endure.”