IT IS the biggest advert of the festive season and its new fluffly superstar had paid a special visit to Hampshire.

Monty, the adorable penguin, has today been unveiled as the new star of this year's John Lewis £7m Christmas campaign.

And one of his first tasks of the day was to pop down to Marwell Zoo, along with his girlfriend Mabel, to visit the zoo's own celebrity penguin, Ralph.

The pair headed down to the penguin enclosure and spent the morning taking selfies.

The full 120-second advert follows the touching friendship of a young boy called Sam and his penguin friend Monty, to the soundtrack of John Lennon's Real Love performed by Tom Odell.

During their year together, enjoying the trampoline, swimming and football, the boy realises that his penguin is sad and longing for a companion.

So, as a Christmas treat, Sam surprises Monty with the gift of a new penguin pal named Mabel.

A spokesperson from Marwell said: “We're delighted to say that the famous Monty the penguin and his partner Mabel, stars of the John Lewis Christmas advert, visited the zoo for their first date today.

“They are now best friends with our own little celebrity, Ralph the penguin. They took some spectacular penguin 'selfies'.

“We are thrilled that John Lewis loves penguins as much as we do and we are sure the advert will be a huge success.”

Monty's Christmas is the seventh John Lewis advert directed by Dougal Wilson and features CGI technology to ensure Monty and Mabel look and behave exactly like real Adelie penguins.

It cost £1 million to make and is part of the retailer's overall £7 million Christmas campaign.

A John Lewis spokeswoman said while it was difficult to quantify the significance of the Christmas campaign, “the fact that we invest so much is an indication of how significant it is”.

• Have you seen the new advert? Do you think it is better than last year's The Bear and the Hare campaign?