John Lewis Christmas Advert 2015: First pictures of the Man On The Moon campaign

The full two-minute advert is on YouTube from 8am on 6 November and will be shown twice in full on TV

There’s not a penguin in sight in John Lewis’s Christmas advert for 2015.

The Man on the Moon is a fairytale about a little girl called Lily, who makes friends with a man who lives on the moon. Lily spies the old man in braces emerging from his hut on the dusty, deserted surface, but is powerless to reach him with a bow and arrow and paper aeroplanes.

Come Christmas, Lily is surrounded by her family and new toys in the warmth of her living room. The old man has his own special delivery: a telescope, delivered through the stars by a bunch of colourful balloons. The two lock eyes and start to cry – which is no doubt what John Lewis is expecting viewers to do when clip goes live on YouTube at 8am on November 6.

In keeping with a tendency for wispy female vocal covers of old songs, the ad features Oasis’s ‘Half the World Away’, covered by the a 19-year-old Norwegian singer called Aurora Aksnes.

John Lewis said they wanted to convey thoughtfulness this year, especially for people who might find themselves alone.

They are encouraging shoppers to text a donation to their charity partner Age UK.

That’s a departure from the success of last year’s Monty the Penguin campaign, which cost £7 million in total, but earned the retailer millions more in product sales. Sales of the stuffed Monty the Penguin alone are said to have made John Lewis £18 million in revenue.

The Man on the Moon was created by the Adam&Eve/DDB, the same agency behind all the John Lewis adverts since 2009. It was directed by Kim Gehrig, who previously directed the #thisgirlcan campaign for Sports England.

The full two-minute advert is on YouTube from 8am on 6 November and will be shown twice in full on TV, once on Friday night and once during the X Factor on Saturday. A shorter version will continue to be shown on TV in the six-weeks running up to Christmas.