John Lewis Christmas Advert - Monty the Penguin

I wanted to take a look into how animation impacted the advertising industry, starting with the overall  magical Christmas advert by John Lewis, an advert  that is currently going viral for its emotive use of a very cute penguin called Monty (CGI).
According to 'The Guardian' articles, the penguin trailer cost over £1million in CGI, in order for the penguin to capture the imagination and emotion of the viewer.
Personally I found that the advert successfully captured the essence of childhood imagination and the viewer's instantly empathising with the child in the advert along with the bond he has with this imaginary figure of a friend (later represented to actually be a toy penguin) the body language and overall actions of the penguin are entirely accurate and really represent the actions of a real penguin with added features such as more human actions (helping pick up building blocks etc)
Quoting from the Guardian:

The department store’s boss, Andy Street, may have pledged to keep the launch low-key, but the £7m campaign is once again bidding to be one of the media events of the year, encompassing a slick TV ad, a specially created smartphone app, story book, soft toys and in-store events including a chance for kids to see their toys brought to life with the aid of experimental gadgetry. 

(http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/nov/06/john-lewis-unveils-christmas-ad-starring-monty-the-penguin)

Interacting the viewers more with the animation that now is well loved amongst the media and families is a launch of Monty the penguin toys and other merchandise.