Tesco Brings Christmas Campaign to Life with Gingerbread Filled Activations

Tesco is sprinkling some of the magic of its ‘Helping Feed Your Christmas Spirit’ campaign into the real world with gingerbread-themed brand activations, scented Metro cover wrap and a social campaign, created by BBH London and EMC.

The activity sees commuters descending on London Victoria Station armed with a series of custom-baked props, including a life-size gingerbread laptop and wearable gingerbread safety helmets. They blend in seamlessly with other commuters – right up until the moment they tuck into that edible gingerbread tie or pair of headphones.

Tesco also brought Christmas to London Victoria with carol singers – naturally dressed in Tesco’s F&F holiday jumpers – to perform festive classics.

Extending the activation across the nation, Tesco is setting up sampling stations at Manchester Piccadilly, Liverpool Lime Street, Newcastle Central, Bristol Temple Meads, Birmingham New Street and Glasgow Central.

Alongside the live activation, Tesco has partnered with Metro to distribute 900,000 special cover wraps across the UK, including 50,000 specially scented copies which have the warm, comforting smell of gingerbread. The cover wrap shares the message that Tesco is donating 10p to Trussell and FareShare for every gingerbread product sold this Christmas.

The activation is at the centre of the social strategy to support ‘Helping Feed Your Christmas Spirit’, Tesco’s 2024 Christmas campaign, which launched on November 12th and was also created by BBH. 

Content from the activation, captured by a dedicated motion and stills crew, will be shared on Tesco’s social channels and boosted by paid media through the Christmas season.

Murray Bisschop, UK marketing director, Tesco, said, “Now that we've landed our campaign, in our effort to help feed the nation's Christmas spirit with the launch of our TV ad, we thought it only right to amp up the festivities even further by bringing aspects of the film to life in the real world. From the gingerbread scented Metro cover wrap, to seasonal surprises in train stations nationwide, these activations are designed to help lift spirits even further this festive season.”

Ieva Paulina and Camila Gurgel, senior creatives at BBH London, said, “What better way to kick off the festive season than bringing the gingerbread world we see in the TV ad to life, and helping feed real people’s Christmas spirit when they can really use a boost – as they make their way into work.”