Brand Promotions Over Christmas & New Year
With Christmas and New Year, this promotional season has been busy. Not only have we seen many new shopper activations, but brands are now gearing up and consolidating plans for their 2025 brand promotions.
In Christmas of 2024, there were also concerted efforts to get shoppers in stores from retailers. For Tesco, several promotions were being run digitally to encourage in-store purchases.
To get shoppers engaged in the Christmas season and earn extra benefits from their Christmas shopping, Tesco launched its Clubcard Christmas Countdown campaign. This involved 6 challenges spanning from the 11th of November until the 22nd of December that shoppers can opt-in to via an email invitation.
This promotion is exclusive to invited Clubcard users, so this activation was not fully open to the public besides the selected shoppers.
Each challenge has a time limit and involves various things that shoppers must buy to be rewarded for that week in Clubcard points which varies between shoppers. If the shopper completes all 6 challenges, they’ll receive a money-off coupon which will vary in value depending on the personalised difficulties.
This is another shopper activation promotion by Tesco. To enter, participants must have a Marketplace Christmas email that invites them to take part in the draw. To enter the draw, consumers need to place a Tesco marketplace order via the link sent to them by email. Ultimately, the promotion rewards 10 winners with 10,000 Clubcard points per winner which is equivalent to £100.
As usual, Tesco hosts various text-to-win promotions on its website. Making for an easy way for participants to enter several brand promotions quickly and en-mass.
In stores, December saw several brands hit store shelves with festive repackaging which is a great way to grab shoppers' attention by presenting a new pack for the season, leveraging exclusivity and the season-limited effect of the repackaging to help improve sales performance.
Along with repacking, some brands also introduce festive exclusive versions of their usual product offerings, for example, introducing new flavours which were exclusive to the season.
Walkers, for example, introduced two Christmas exclusive flavours on their Sensations crisps, ‘Honey Glazed Roast Ham’ and ‘King Prawn & Marie Rose Sauce’ which were limited edition flavours.
However, Walkers also repackaged several of the usual crisp brands they own, including their Walkers classic crisps product line which donned Christmas-themed designs and motifs over their core flavours, as well as for their new limited edition Christmas flavours.
In preparation for the festive season, several brands launched their Christmas promotions in November, making it a busy few months in the promotional space. To learn a bit more about those promotions, readers can refer to PromoNow’s November Promotions Seen article for insights on the Christmas promotional offerings from brands like Coca-Cola, Ritz, and more.
Over the Christmas period, Kettle ran 2 promotions for the festive season. One promotion was an on-pack promotion which featured a banner across the top of promotional Kettle packs. This promotion ran from 12/12/2024 until 01/01/2025. However, unlike their previous brand promotions such as their Virgin Experience Days promotion, the terms & conditions are not available on their website. Within their promotional materials such as their social media posts advertising the promotion, there’s no way to access the terms, nor are there any short terms and conditions attached which could potentially pose an issue with the ASA.
This promotion was found on Tesco’s grocery website and also had 3 supporting posts on social media and received attention from other retailers the packs were available in, including ASDA.
Alongside this promotion that could be found in-store and on Tesco’s website, Kettle also had an advent calendar-style promotion which lasted over 24 days.
The advent calendar aspects gamified the experience and encouraged customers to enter - helping Kettle get more customers engaged on their social media platforms - particularly Instagram where the promotion was hosted and held. Across 24 days, there were around 3 winners per day and a new set of prizes per day.
This Christmas promotion by Dromona was available in various retailers, including Tesco.
Featuring an on-pack in stores, this promotion utilised a URN proof-of-purchase method and directed shoppers to the promotional microsite, winwithdromona.com. Dromona makes use of animations to add a level of engagement and gamification to the promotional process, making the brand promotion overall, more interesting - enough so that they don’t lose the attention of shoppers and participants.
This incredibly popular promotion by the herbal-liqueur brand, Jägermeister returns in 2025 with its interactive and engaging freeze-to-win promotion. With 210,000 promotional packs in circulation which are accompanied by temperature-sensitive labels, they will reveal the unique code needed to enter the promotion when chilled in the freezer.
"Building on the success of our previous years, we are excited to reintroduce this interactive promotion for a third year running to continue educating our customers on the optimal way to enjoy Jägermeister. The release of the temperature-sensitive bottles once again offers our customers the opportunity to win exciting prizes and unforgettable experiences to bring the best nights of their life one step closer.”
Paul McGuiness, Head of Off-Trade at Mast-Jägermeister UK.
In January, 11 promotions were found in Tesco for just food goods alone. There was a range of promotions, some starting in December 2024 and are still currently live.
To start the year and to target the winter blues in many shoppers this January, Modelez-owned brand, Belvita, launched their instant win prize draw supported by promotional agency, PromoVeritas. The prize promotion invites consumers to be in for the chance to win a trip to Finland, which, according to 2024’s World Happiness Report published by the University of Oxford: Wellbeing Research Centre, is the happiest country.
As stated in the terms and conditions, this promotion by Belvita uses an open-winning moment method for the instant win portion of their promotion, “The first valid entry received on or after that winning moment will be awarded the Prize.” The promotion also rolls over prizes if no prizes have been claimed between winning moments, “If no entry is received between one winning moment to the next, the Prize from that winning moment will be rolled over, creating an additional winning moment.” Meaning that all 1090 prizes will be given away to participants.
In total, there will be 5 grand prizes which are the trips to Finland. 4 of these are rewarded and distributed across all entrants whilst 1 is exclusive to shoppers and entrants who bought their promotional Belvita pack from Tesco.
A major issue with Belvita’s promotion is the digital promotional page which shoppers are directed to. As a whole, websites should be designed to be responsive, meaning that regardless of the device type being used, the web content with adapt and change as per the different screen sizes being used to view the website.
Belvita has perfected the desktop experience for shoppers and participants. The mobile versions, however, haven’t been properly optimised and suggest that during development on the brand’s own site, a mobile-first approach was not taken. This is a small mistake which undercuts an otherwise, well-run promotion.
The reason why brand promotions like this should take a mobile-first approach is largely due to the majority of shoppers using their mobiles to enter these promotions.
Making its first appearance in retailers, Zombies introduces their brand to shoppers with a highly engaging gamified competition prize promotion to end their first year with an on-pack promotion in Tesco.
Whilst the promotion is no longer live, some promotional packs are still in store. With the promotion still available to interact and play with at the URL zombiesnacks.co.uk/monster-merge as of writing, it’s still fully functional and playable though there are no longer prizes being awarded.
It’s a brilliantly addictive and engaging way to gamify the promotional process and their ‘Monster Merge’ game is simple enough to play and understand quickly. It has a clear point of inspiration drawn from ‘Suika Game’ and other popular puzzle-merge games of the genre except, with a distinctive Zombie Snacks rebrand to the visuals.
This competition had a creative approach and was a strong first move into the promotional space. Zombie Snacks maintained a firm sense of brand identity through each stage of the process and created something to engage hundreds of their customers with strong digital channels and prime in-store floor space via the Tesco Accelerator program they are part of - launching 600 point-of-sale displays in 300 prime Tesco stores.
“Our customers love to try innovative new products, whether that’s a speciality product they can’t get anywhere else, or a brand that has sustainability at its heart, so it’s a real pleasure to launch this expanded programme, helping to support the development and growth of exciting brands at Tesco”
Ashwin Prasad, Tesco CCO.
Yoghurt drink brand and lunchbox classic, Frubes, owned by Yoplait reaches shop shelves with a prize promotion - offering various gift vouchers and a grand prize through a prize draw system.
Frubes uses an algorithmic instant win system for this promotion, assigning prizes independently via an algorithm. What this means is that the number of winners will be dependent on the number of entries as per the entire pack universe. Whilst the on-pack suggests a 1 in 1,630 chance of winning in the short terms and conditions - the only way that all prizes advertised on-pack will be given away is if every promotional pack has an accompanying and equivalent entry. The pack universe stated in Frubes’ terms and conditions is 3,260,720.
Whilst this algorithmic mechanic is fine to use in prize promotions as long as it’s mentioned as a significant term on promotional materials, there are other options available when picking winners that will ensure as many participants get the chance of winning a prize such as an open winning moment which also rolls over prizes, much like the promotion by Belvita as mentioned above.
Butterkist has partnered with the box-office success movie, Wicked, distributed by Universal Pictures and production companies, Sky Studios and Marc Platt Productions. The promotion appears on a range of popcorn flavours and uses a prize draw mechanic to determine winners for the promotional winners.
The on-pack promotion features a ‘flash’ design on the front of the promotion and directs audiences to promoentries.com/butterkist-wicked-2024. Overseen by PromoVeritas, this promotion is a classic prize draw with 5 winners in total.
Partnerships between snack brands and movies, studios, and streaming services have been a fairly frequent occurrence in the promotional space. Movies and media have been frequent partners for promotions in the FMCG and CPG space due to their distance from being a ‘competitor’. Moreover, movies are beloved forms of media and usually, audiences will feel strongly about a movie, sometimes far in advance of its release date, often waiting for its release date years in advance.
For example, Wicked already had a strong fanbase for the Broadway musical. The movie adaptation of the stage musical was first announced in 2016 and was set to be in theatres at the end of 2019 and has since had much anticipation leading up to its actual release in 2024.
Movies with incredibly dedicated fanbases like this often open the door for partnerships with brands to be successful and well-performing. Whilst partnering with a beloved film or media doesn’t guarantee the success of a brand promotion, working with these studios may expose your brand to new audiences.
Popchips has partnered with Tom Grennan, Latitude, and Isle of Wight Festival 2025 for their ‘Pop It Weekly’ promotion, with accompanying on-pack designs for the promotion reaching shop shelves.
This prize promotion went live on January 27th at popitweekly.com. The microsites prominently feature animations to engage shoppers and would-be participants. They also use a simple form where participants can opt-in for the prizes they wish to win which helps the brand better understand what their audience values, helping to build better prize pools for brand promotions in the future.
Returning to store shelves after an amazing performance last year, this promotion has 101 winning packs which will be distributed among on-pack promotions. These winning packs will include a winning ticket and a ‘crossed’ Cadbury Dairy Milk finger. The promotion is not yet live, but it is set to go live on 1st February and then stay live until the 1st of July which on-packs in-store even in mid-January.
The promotion and winner claim is hosted at the URL fingerscrossed.cadbury.co.uk where shoppers can either claim they’re a winner of the crossed fingers portion of the promotion or, sign up to their online instant win and prize draw for the chance to win.
Winning ticket promotions usually have a fairly low win rate but get participants excited to participate. The more promotional packs there are, usually the less chance there is to win. However, the win rate can be increased with something called CPP otherwise known as, ‘Controlled Product Placement’ or ‘reverse shoplifting’. This is when the winning packs are placed at a random location discreetly which greatly increases the chance of the winning pack being chosen and redeemed.
For this promotion, controlled product placement will likely be used to distribute winning packs since PromoVeritas, who have historically favoured this ‘winning pack’ handling method, will be supervising the distribution.
“This instant-win partnership with Netflix leverages the common point of audiences between the two brands. As a go-to movie snack, partnering with Netflix makes for a seamless and comprehensive collaboration. The promotion is supported by a microsite and a new popcorn flavour, 'Proper Netflix & Chilli Caramel Popcorn', with an on-pack promotion. The promotion also utilises influencer marketing, partnering with a handful of TikTok creators, as well as using their social media channels to show off some prizes as well as to generally promote the instant win and the new popcorn flavour with more influencers and notable names like @jackremmington & @ashholme.”
Past Promotions, Proper Popcorn X Netflix - Proper Night In
Following a successful year of running in late 2024, this promotion is wrapping up in 2025, urging any late entrants to join the promotion with promotional packs still in stores.
With their organic tea line as the ‘hero’ brand of this prize promotion, Clipper has launched their on-pack promotion for in-store shoppers at retailers.
Featuring on the page clipper-teas.com/eco-holiday-prize where the digital for the promotion is being hosted, is an outline of the prizes being given away and a form for participants to enter their details for the promotion. Clippers focus on being eco-conscious within this promotion to emphasise the benefits of their organic tea line and their “Natural, Fair & Delicious” teas to both their customers and the environment.
Featuring their usual always-on weblink, winwithbatchelors.co.uk, this promotion is a brand partnership with DC and Warner Brothers, featuring an on-pack design seen in stores across a range of their Pasta ‘n’ Sauce and Super Noodles product lines.
The promotional microsite prompts entrants to submit their phone numbers and then enter a one-time passcode (OTP) - leveraging PromoProtect from PromoNow to combat fraudulent entries. After that, they’ll be able to enter the promotion via the form. The promotion uses receipt validation as a form of proof of purchase, prompting users to submit a photo of their receipt in the relevant section of the form. Many promotions, including this one for Batchelors, will do manual receipt validation for selected winners, if the receipt is incorrect or unclear, the promoter will randomly select another winner until all winners drawn for the promotion have valid receipts.
For all valid entrants, there is a 20% discount code which participants can use on any DC product on the Warner Brothers shop - this works similarly as a gift-with-purchase promotional mechanic which leaves all entrants feeling like they still won something when they leave and wait for the results of the draw. This also benefits their partner, WB, who may see a surge in merchandise sales from their site.
After many successful years of running this promotion, Nescafe has brought back its ‘Win A Salary’ prize promotion to shelves with the usual on-pack being spotted in stores this January.
The grand prize is relegated to a prize draw mechanic whilst the online instant win features various cash prizes available to be won using winning moments, of which, there are 1,000.
This Nescafe promotion uses the unique reference number on the pack as the initial proof of purchase. The code is concealed under the front label, protecting against false claimants who haven't purchased a pack as necessitated by the promotional terms and conditions.
In support of this yearly promotion, Nescafe has posted on their social media accounts, encouraging their audience to grab a promotional pack and enter the promotion themselves.
Year after year, of successful prize promotions from Cadbury Creme Egg, the Mondelez-owned brand returns with their ‘Admit it to Win it’ campaign at their promotional microsite admit-it.cadbury.co.uk. It encourages participants to share how they enjoy their Creme Eggs to make the brand promotion feel more engaging through its interactivity.
The promotion uses an instant win mechanic, utilising a ‘closed’ or ‘burned’ winning mechanic, as stated in the terms & conditions.
“The first entry of a valid entry on or after that winning moment will be awarded the Prize. If no entry is received between one winning moment to the next, the winning moment will not be rolled over.”
Creme Egg ‘Admit It To Win It’ | Campaign Terms & Conditions
Whilst there was no on-pack portion of the promotion, the campaign was accompanied by several stand-out point-of-sale materials including FSDU as pictured above. Being a purchase-necessary promotion, seeing an on-pack promotion would allow it to be more memorable and convenient for shoppers who are on the go and busy.
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