Elton John is no stranger to big paychecks, but when news broke he was paid a whopping $6.5 million for appearing in a new ad for the high-end U.K. department store chain John Lewis & Partners, this obviously led to major intrigue about the ad itself.
This morning, the ad, an extended 2:20 clip that features John’s iconic hit “Your Song,” was released, and suddenly, the huge payday is making a lot of sense.
For starters, the licensing for “Your Song” alone can’t be cheap, and considering the ad highlights various live recordings of the track along with highlighting many different eras of Sir Elton throughout his storied career, mentally all of the numbers are starting to add up.
As far as advertising goes, it’s practically art. The fact that it also hits sentimental notes thanks to the Christmas theme only makes it better.
Judge for yourself, and try not to feel anything from this ad. Right now, the Don Drapers of the ad world are in awe and incredibly jealous they didn’t think of a treatment like this.
Erica Banas is a rock/classic rock blogger that loves the smell of old vinyl in the morning.