The anticipation and joy of giving the perfect gift to someone you love is the theme behind the emotive John Lewis Christmas advertising campaign which will launch on Friday (November 11).

John Lewis’s much-anticipated Christmas advert, which will debut virally on Facebook and Youtube on Friday at 9am, will be broadcast on Saturday (November 12) in the high-profile ad break during the X Factor live show on ITV1 at 8.45pm.

The advert follows a little boy as he impatiently counts down the days and minutes until Christmas morning. We see him tapping his fingers out of boredom, gazing out of the window as autumn becomes winter, dashing to bed early to will the day away and even trying to cast a spell to speed time up. Throughout, the viewer is led to believe that the boy can’t wait to open his own gifts on Christmas morning, only to find in the final reveal that beneath his impatience lies an eagerness to give a gift that he has lovingly wrapped to his parents.

Created by advertising agency Adam & Eve, the ad is set to a cover of The Smiths 'Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want' sung by singer songwriter and pianist Slow Moving Millie, and is directed by Dougal Wilson. Wilson also directed John Lewis’s award-winning Never Knowingly Undersold advert in spring 2010 featuring the Billy Joel hit ‘Always a Woman’, performed by Fyfe Dangerfield from the Guillemots.

This year’s advert also builds on the success of last year’s Christmas advert which featured Ellie Goulding singing a cover of the Elton John classic ‘Your Song’ which reached number two in the official UK chart.

The 60-second TV advert, which will be viewed by 44 million people at least once, will run from November 12 for five weeks, supported by a combination of 90, 30 and 20 second versions of the advert as well as in-store and online marketing, including a significant push on the retailer’s social media channels. A print campaign focusing on John Lewis’s top 100 gifts for Christmas will run from December 1 for three weeks.

Slow Moving Millie’s cover of The Smiths’ track will be available to buy on iTunes from 9am on Friday at which point the advert will be live on the John Lewis website.

John Lewis director of marketing Craig Inglis said: "It’s a magical feeling when you find that perfect present for someone, There’s a great sense of anticipation from the moment you buy it to the moment you give the gift on the big day. That feeling is exactly what we’ve tried to capture with this year’s Christmas campaign."

Slow Moving Millie said: "John Lewis is a British institution and being part of their Christmas advert is so exciting. That they use these adverts to champion new and emerging artists is wonderful and I'm very grateful."