CREATIVE STRATEGY - John Lewis got its Christmas mailer out early. But is it a cracker or a turkey?

But when it comes to Yuletide, marketers are a little keener to get us all out of the blocks.

From Oxford Street's tacky lights to the card display in your corner shop, there's no hiding from 25^th December, even when we're still deciding what to do with that pumpkin we spontaneously bought for Hallowe'en.

This is all pretty predictable, I suppose. But how do you get your customers into the real spirit of Christmas - i.e. opening their wallets - without adding to their seasonal angst and damaging your brand?

Well, you know what they say about the mid-Winter festival? It is better to give than to receive.

I've always thought that charities could learn so much from what they call 'commercial' marketers and vice versa.

For example, fundraisers have long used the trick of sending you something 'useful' - address labels, cheapo biro, Christmas cards - as a way of guilting you into handing them cash.

You might think it's all a bit tacky and old-fashioned, but for the big charities and their 'Dorothy donor' audience, it still seems to work.  And as is so often the case, the technique has potential once you ignore the iffy execution of it. 

Which brings me to this direct mail piece to John Lewis customers.

We know the game - JLP would like us to blow our Christmas budget in their store rather than any other.

But as you'd expect of the middle class's favourite emporium, it's all conducted with discreet charm ... from the sweet personalised Christmas card to the complimentary snowy wrapping paper.

And just as their sister outlet Waitrose recently produced a delicious free guide to catering for the big day, so John Lewis includes a mini-catalogue stuffed like a Christmas stocking with prezzy ideas.

Yes, it all sounds simple enough. And it is. That's the point. But tonally, the delicate balance between crass commercialism and ah-factor Christmasness ain't easy.

So let's raise a red, pointy, white fur-trimmed hat to client and agency Kitcatt Nohr Alexander Shaw. 

Simon S Kershaw is a creative consultant. A former creative director at Craik Jones, Kershaw writes a weekly Creative Strategy column for marketingdirectmag.co.uk and the DM Bulletin