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Last Saturday was a rare night out in London’s West End – the West End bit that is. But on that night, there was a rarer sight to behold: a red double-decker bus. A standard sight for Regent Street you might think. But this was one of the reddest buses I’ve ever seen. It was brand-free: absolutely no print ads.

That horizontal strip between top and bottom decks and stumpy bit below usually host lingerie-clad Beckhams for Armani, Rupert Grint’s Make Mine Milk face with absurd white moustache, and Marley the Dog of disastrous rom-com, Marley and Me. Oh how weirdly my selective brain works…

And yes, this is (unfortunately) the sort of thing that goes through my brain when it’s mildly inebriated and awaiting the C2 bus home.

But as that bright red bus drove by, it drew my eye to a space that is usually exactly that: space. Now home to the Regent Street and Oxford Street lights. Or should I say, a massive ‘Arthur Christmas’ sign suspended above Oxford Circus.

Well if any brand is going to own this space, then at least it’s a seasonal one; Arthur Christmas, the latest film from Aardman productions for Sony Pictures Animation and Columbia Pictures.

In past years, MasterCard and Visa have had a go at West End Xmas lights branding. Cameron Mackintosh presented a ‘Celebration of West End Musicals’ via the medium of light bulb. 2004 saw The ‘Incredibles’. 2009 saw Disney’s ‘A Christmas Carol’.

Whilst the streets’ marketing organisations have been reasonably good at, and sensitive towards, selling their sponsor packages to festive and family-themed brands, the giant cross-street text of Arthur Christmas’ “One Billion Horsepower Sleigh” does take a little of the Christmas magic away.

For me, Christmas lights, at their heart (/filament), are for the people. Serving as introduction to, and sustenance through, the festive season. That’s people, not consumers.

In reality, they’re kept up for nine weeks to encourage a growing consumer mood towards the festive season – of shopping. And now more than ever, to encourage full baskets in the West End, not online. The lights are integral to a feel-good Christmas shopping experience. At least that’s the incentive; it’s a very different picture on the ground, straddling from one shop to the next. And for the lights sponsor, that equates to over 50 million straddlers along Oxford Street alone.

There are some things in life that should remain sacred, brand-free. Double-decker buses I’m not fussed about. But Christmas lights might be one of them.