Tesco Helps Commuters Become More Christmas with Spectacular OOH Experience

Tesco elevated the daily commute in central London as part of its mission to help people Become More Christmas, with a showstopping OOH activation in Kings Cross.

Created by BBH, Kinetic, N20 and EssenceMediacom, the activation started off as an everyday billboard, featuring some of the highlights from Tesco’s festive product range this year. But, in the most literal spirit of helping people Become More Christmas, over the course of 48 hours, the billboard completely transformed to create a larger than life Christmas experience.

The digital screen in London Kings Cross slowly filled up to display a mouth-watering festive Tesco banquet, before exploding out of the billboard and overflowing into the station. The final experience featured giant baubles, stars, Christmas trees, and fairy lights spilling out of the billboard and onto the concourse, filling the area - a well trodden route for commuters who may be in need of a little lift - with festive cheer.

And just as Christmas spirits escalate throughout the festive months, so too did this OOH experience which culminated with a spectacular show featuring a choir singing Christmas carols on the 15th of December. Across the two days, commuters were also treated to samples of the festive banquet which are displayed on the screen such as Mince Pies and Chocolate Yule log.

Emma Botton, group customer director at Tesco said, “Our campaign is built around the insight that the lead up to Christmas can be just as exciting as the big day itself. So whether you are the type of person already in full-on Christmas mode, just warming up or not even there yet - we hope the commuters enjoyed our delicious food samples, the festive experience, and that it went a little way to helping them Become More Christmas!”

Felipe Serradourada Guimaraes, deputy ECD BBH added, "A poster that becomes more Christmas over time is a simple yet charming way that demonstrates just how big the idea of #BecomeMoreChristmas really is.”

Across Roadside and Rail DOOH, Kinetic and DOOH.com used anonymised first party data from Tesco’ Clubcard to ensure the most suitable creative plays at each site depending on audience data. To complete the localisation of the campaign, the creative also directed shoppers to the nearest Tesco store.

“Christmas is always special and the spectacular installation at King’s Cross is a brilliant way to bring some festive magic to the heart of London” says Annabelle Cunningham, spokesperson for Kinetic.

“It’s a fantastic creative concept that brings the campaign beyond the frame of the poster and onto the concourse of one of the UK’s busiest railway stations. Not only is it unmissable visually, but we’ve also blended digital and experiential elements to deliver an Out of Home special build that thousands of commuters and shoppers can hear too, thanks to the wonderful choir - and with samples of Tesco’s delicious Christmas menu on offer, they can even taste it”.

The activation is part of Tesco’s wider Christmas campaign, Become More Christmas, to help get the nation into the festive spirit. The campaign kicked off with a film that captured the moments that bring on that Christmas feeling in a weird and wonderful way, tapping into the insight that for many of us, Christmas is about so much more than the big day. While there will always be the ‘Big Christmas Shop’, the need for festive goods and festivities in general starts a lot earlier than the 25thDecember.

BBH’s Felipe Serradourada Guimaraes was the campaign’s deputy executive creative director, and Elliott White and Will Maxey were the lead creative team. The film was directed by Alaska (Marco Lafer and Gustavo Moraes) through Iconoclast. Media was handled by EssenceMediaCom.

The national campaign is live now and runs until the end of December.