Is THIS the best 'Christmas' ad? How a low-budget Scottish travel agent's advert went viral with fans hailing it 'better than John Lewis'

It's that time again: Britain's biggest retailers, armed with a cast of celebrities and the soppiest song covers they can find, are throwing millions of pounds at their Christmas advertising campaigns in their mission to win your heart, and your wallet.There's a lot of deja vu: the BFG back with Sainsbury's, Joe Wilkinson and Keira Knightley seemingly destined to appear in Waitrose's annual soap opera for eternity. But all eyes are on reigning champ John Lewis after its ad seemed to miss the mark. It stars Dame Kristin Scott Thomas as a glamorous gran who, after being denied a hug by her grandchildren, scours London for the perfect gift that will win them over.After being whisked to John Lewis by pedicab (at a presumed cost, the Mail has found, of £72), she gets her hug after delighting the children with a 'gran cave' – furnished with disco balls and lights from everyone's favourite department store.But the Sam Fender-scored ad, which ends with the slogan 'Don't give up on giving', has been criticised as promoting materialism at a time of financial hardship for many. The Mail's Sarah Vine said it was 'almost impossible to watch'. And it has reignited the debate on whether today's adverts are too flashy, too slick, trying too hard to win you over. PR guru Mark Borkowski says the 'arms race' between retailers risks costing Christmas ads their 'magic'.Those tired of the same old approach have brought forth an unlikely champion that they say will shake up the advertising world: a tiny travel agency on the west coast of Scotland.Thorne Travel's surreal 2014 video is now an unlikely viral success for a second time after it was thrown into the discussion over whether festive ads by John Lewis et al are, to borrow a phrase, never knowingly underproduced.Watched over a million times on X, it is a three-minute saga of absurdity and cheap special effects set to a pulsating dance beat, opening with Thorne's staff strutting down the high street in the Ayrshire town of Kilwinning in matching pink dresses. A 2014 ad for Scottish travel agent Thorne Travel has resurfaced amidst a debate over whether Christmas ads are too slick The absurd ad, shot in the Scottish town of Kilwinning, features cheap special effects and even what appears to be a man performing a backflip in the dress worn by Thorne agents It has been compared favourably to the latest John Lewis Christmas ad, which stars Dame Kristin Scott Thomas as a grandmother trying to find her grandchildren the perfect gift The humble town is then graced by a ship captain comically dwarfed by his costume, a woman transformed into a blushing bride, a decidedly unofficial-looking Mickey and Minnie Mouse, and a backflipping man in a Thorne Travel dress.After a dancing flash mob and a shower of confetti comes the buy-in: 'Looks like we need to get ourselves a new travel agent,' a woman says as she strolls inside.Media commentator Chuck Thomas said John Lewis's latest festive effort was 'nothing compared to this masterpiece', as he shared it on X.He wrote: 'Years working in television trying to understand what audiences want. Turns out it’s power-walking travel agents and flash mobs.'The post was seen more than a million times - and it wasn't long until word got back to Shona Thorne, who founded Thorne Travel as a one-woman operation in 2009, that the video was doing the rounds again.'It was one of my customers who told me,' she told the Daily Mail this week. 'She popped up on WhatsApp, saying: "The girls are back out in town!"' And while she has John Lewis to thank for the renewed attention, she isn't a fan of the department store's latest effort.'It's not what I would want to say about Christmas,' she says. 'Do we really want children to act like that? If my grandchildren ran past me at the front door without giving me a hug they would know they have to walk back and make sure I get one.'The Thorne Travel video - resolutely 'not an advert', Shona says - was never meant to go viral. She had paid a local production firm to shoot it as a thank you to the people of Kilwinning after expanding into bigger premises in 2014. Inspiration came from Virgin Atlantic's famous 2009 ad, Love at First Flight, which sees a glum Gatwick brightened by the arrival of the airline's glamorous flight crew ahead of their maiden voyage in 1984. The ad takes several surreal turns, not least when a sea captain dwarfed by his uniform appears to greet an elderly couple considering a cruise Mickey and Minnie Mouse also cameo in a Disneyland segment that one suspects was not signed off by the House of Mouse Shona Thorne (front and centre) told the Daily Mail that she was surprised to see the video return to the spotlight - particularly amidst the John Lewis debate The ad was envisioned as a send-up of Virgin Atlantic's famous 2009 Love At First Flight ad, that showed the airline's dazzling crew brightening up a dreary Gatwick in 1984Even the ending is pinched from the ad, where a man gawking at the airline crew quips, 'I need to change my job' as another replies, 'I need to change my ticket.'She screened the video to 120 people at the local bowling club before posting it on the store's Facebook and YouTube, assuming it would only be of interest to customers. The internet, naturally, had other plans.As the video notched up a million views the first time around, she told the Daily Mail her staff were 'a bit like the Virgin Airways girls, only a bit bigger, with a bit more attitude, and a bit more real'.Our report went around the world, and prompted a media storm. Shona was more interested in booking trips for customers than answering requests from journalists, photographers and no fewer than 20 TV shows.Eventually, the video proved too distracting, the comments too mean-spirited. Shona took the video down, and got on with business.By then, it had already been preserved for posterity – but the travel firm has ultimately had the last laugh with a second, kinder round of virality.'I thought this peaked when I saw the captain’s costume and then the stuntman arrived,' said one user on X, responding to the resurrected clip.Others, stunned by the confidence of Ms Thorne's staff, vowed to walk down their local high streets 'exactly like this. High heels. Body con dress. Hands on hips.' Another, in similar awe, said: 'Those divas ran that travel agency like a navy ship.'Thorne Travel's first taste of viral attention saw bookings soar 110 per cent. Without giving precise figures, Shona says there had been a notable increase in demand again now.Given the sub-four-figure sum she spent on the advert – not including the Prosecco she bought in to ease the staff's nerves on filming day – only those who bought early Apple stock could dream of such heady returns on investment. She still has fond memories from the day: the local hairdresser who played the sea captain had to settle for an oversized costume as the alternative was inappropriately tight. The couple he greets in the video are her late in-laws, who died last year. The John Lewis ad - which sees Dame Kristin take a pedicab trip the Mail recreated for £72 - has been criticised for encouraging materialism Shona Thorne, who still has fond memories of filming the video, says she thinks it has gone viral again because it is everything the John Lewis ad is notShe recalls: 'We were just taking the mickey in a way but strutting like we knew what we were doing. Our staff, they love to travel, they love to have fun, and they're a wee bit nuts.' Mark Borkowski, arguably the UK's leading PR guru and crisis manager, believes people have gravitated towards Thorne Travel's video because it represents the opposite of everything the modern-day Christmas ad stands for.He told the Daily Mail: 'It has personality, mischief and a willingness to look ridiculous. People enjoy a travel agency pulling the rug from under an industry that treats its Christmas productions like Hollywood films.'To me, its appeal is the sense that everyone is in on the fun. The big retailers can become so preoccupied with what their competitors might produce that they lose that freedom. With a huge budget comes a great deal of nervousness.'The fact that an old promotional film can barge back into the Christmas conversation ought to give the big agencies something to think about.'He fears the festive battle of the ads has turned into an 'arms race in manufactured feeling' that risks turning out 'the most polished version of the same idea' every time.He added: 'The problem comes when a successful approach hardens into a formula. Once you can see the machinery winding up to make you cry, some of the magic has gone. 'These campaigns are launched like films... and the fear of getting it wrong can squeeze out the very thing that makes advertising memorable: surprise.'Summarising the challenge facing retailers, he said: 'An advert can make you cry without making you buy.'As to why people have come back to the ad amidst the John Lewis debate – in much kinder spirits than the first time around – Shona Thorne has some theories.'In these adverts, there's no flaws,' she says. 'But if you look at our website, the pictures of us, there's never anything flattened out and I think that's generally it. People just want real life again.'It's something that resonates with her in her work as a travel agent: customers who used to come in seeking recommendations now present her with pictures they've seen on Instagram, or cookie-cutter recommendations dished up by ChatGPT.'We find people are showing us a picture of, say, Santorini, and saying "I want to be there", and we have to say to them, you know, that's not really Santorini,' she says.'If you go there you'll be five feet deep in other people who have seen the same thing. But us in the shop, we're real people, we travel the world, we get it, we can get you a view like it, without the other people, and probably for less cost.'That human connection, that's what people really want. With so much AI and things that aren't real, we are real - and people are realising that they like real life.'Who should win the battle of the Christmas ads? 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