Love it or hate it, you can't deny that the John Lewis Christmas advert is now a key component of the festive season in the UK.
So much so that some people are now as excited for its unveiling as Christmas day itself, counting down the days until its potential release and speculating about the heartfelt message that this year's ad might proffer.
This may explain why an alarming number of people were duped into thinking a student's A-level coursework was John Lewis' much-anticipated advert this weekend.
Admittedly, the short film does contain all the markings of the retailer's Christmas ad: a lonely snow man, a calendar counting down the days till Christmas, a woman whisper-singing to an acoustic soundtrack and the implication that true happiness comes from buying gifts.
But 'The Snowglobe', which is available to watch on Youtube, was created by media studies student Nick Jablonka, who had studied John Lewis' marketing campaigns for his coursework.
The film has so far garnered over 470,000 views – despite it having been first uploaded in June and clearly stating in the title that it was Jablonka's 'A level media coursework'.
He said the film took two weeks to produce. "It was a very rushed piece, I've left it till the last month to do it," he added.
"Creating a short film is a lot of work especially when it's CGI, I was responsible things outside of my comfort zone like character animation and lighting, so be forgiving."
Last year's real John Lewis campaign took nearly 12 months and cost £1m to make, with an extra £6m spent on advertising slots, The Guardian reported.
This year's official John Lewis Christmas is expected to launch on Thursday 10th November and reportedly cost £7m to make.
Some Youtube commenters said the video was better than many of John Lewis' genuine adverts and said the retailer should hire him.
After having created something so realistic in just two weeks, most likely with zero budget, we hope Jablonka at least got an A*.
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