Can the John Lewis and Waitrose rebrands help them navigate a challenging retail sector?

The rebrands of John Lewis and Waitrose to add the ‘& Partners’ suffix is an interesting move by two of the UK’s biggest and best loved brands.
On one hand it is a brand architecture move. The two have, until very recently, operated as separate businesses with very little link-up. That slowly started to change when it became possible to pick up John Lewis click-and-collect items at Waitrose, and the move to put both their creative accounts with adam&eveDDB a few years