Meet the real life star behind this year's heart-warming John Lewis Christmas advert

• Dec 07, 2014 
• By Jenny Morrison

STAFF at the advertising agency behind the Christmas advert spent a day at Edinburgh Zoo watching and filming the antics of 100 penguins.

David Johnstone Photography

Snowflake, far left, and a friend at zoo last week

AS STAR of the John Lewis festive ad Monty The Penguin has become one of the faces of Christmas 2014. Now the Sunday Mail can reveal the lovable bird’s real-life inspiration – Edinburgh Zoo resident Snowflake. Staff at the advertising agency behind the heart-warming commercial spent a day in the capital watching and filming the antics of the zoo’s 100 penguins. They used their recordings to help them bring to life their digital penguins Monty and Mabel. Zoo staff say they are in no doubt which of their real birds stole the ad designers’ hearts.

Birdkeeper Gemma Meechan, 29, said: “When I saw the ad, one of our penguins immediately came to mind – gentoo penguin Snowflake. Snowflake is a special penguin who all the other birds in the colony adore. He is a favourite with all the keepers too. He is really friendly with such a sweet nature He has leucism, a genetic condition similar to albinism, which means he is a much lighter colour than other gentoo penguins. Instead of having black feathers on his back, his feathers are a beautiful silvery grey. And before he moults, the colour gets whiter and whiter. “I don’t know if it’s the colour difference that makes him so popular among the other penguins but he is never without a companion.”

While the ad makers designed Monty to be an Adelie penguin, experts say Adelies share the same behaviours and mannerisms as gentoos, which is one of three species of penguin at Edinburgh Zoo.
The other species at Penguin Rock – the largest outdoor penguin pool in Europe – are northern rockhoppers and king penguins.

Gemma said: “His personality seems so like the personality they have given Monty. Snowflake is so affectionate he will often bow and hiss at the keepers when we are offering him fish, which is what penguins do as a sign of friendship when courting. He has such a close bond with the other birds and keepers and he is always looking for interaction with others. I think the advert makers have based Monty on Snowflake.”

David Johnstone Photography

Birdkeeper Gemma Meechan

 While the John Lewis ad – which has Tom Odell’s Real Love as its soundtrack – encourages shoppers to give someone the Christmas they’ve been dreaming of, staff at Edinburgh Zoo say Monty’s friends are dreaming of their own gifts this Christmas.

Gemma said: “We have a wonderful enrichment programme at the zoo where we encourage people to give specially selected gifts to our animals. “Our penguins love bubbles so we ask for donations of bubbles and bubble machines.”

Zoo staff have seen a sharp rise in the number of people adopting a penguin this Christmas through their animal adoption scheme. Penguin fans can also buy a Magic Moment with the colony, where they can help hand-feed penguins after guiding them on their afternoon walk.

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