After one of PromoNow’s biggest ‘Promotions Seen’ hauls and articles to date, done during April 2024 at Sainsbury’s, PromoNow’s insight team has covered promotions collected at Tesco over two months. The insights team has revisited Tesco and has found 12 promotions that have been seen and featured in previous articles. 8 new promotions in the foods & drinks category; 2 Tesco text-to-win promotions, spotted via promotional display; and 4 alcohol brand promotions. Totalling to 26 promotions seen.
Tesco’s promotional efforts as a retailer
Mars Wrigley – Your Chance To Win £10,000 For You & Win Funding For Them (Win-Win)
Nakd – Win ClassPass Fitness Memberships + Free Trial With every pack
Cawston Press – Inside Out 2 – Enter For A Chance To Win A Holiday
Capri-Sun – Free Sports Session With Every Pack
Walkers – Win £500 Every 90 Minutes
Bertolli – Win a £5,000 Mediterranean Holiday With lastminute.com
Vimto – Love The Taste Or Your Cash Back
KP Snacks – Everyone In With A Chance To Win £10,000
Funkin Cocktails – Win Up To £25K Worth Of Prizes
McGuigan – Black Label – Cheers To 30 Years
Aperol – Win Tickets To Latitude
Arla, Big Milk – Win Adventures And Goodies With The Gruffalo
Across the checkout queues at the entrance and exits of the stores were free-standing display units (FSDUs) lined up next to each other. There were well over a dozen, and featured various brands and products to prompt last-minute and impulse purchases as shoppers are getting ready to pay.
As usual, Tesco has a strong host of promotions and promotional displays. Some that caught the eye were their shelf takeovers by brands. These units popped out in the aisles, with strongly branded signs and colours. Against the rest of the product offerings, these takeovers stood out in their product categories.
There were also these shelf display cubes which gave brands the chance to add some flavourful copy about the brand or its products to the shelves in a unique, unmissable, and readable format. This sort of display that takes up shelf space breaks up the monotony and compels the shopper to pay attention.
Tesco, as mentioned in previous articles, is no stranger to hosting their text-to-win promotions. Two of which, as mentioned previously, were spotted in-store through promotional displays, the two being a text-to-win for Cadbury and the one for Duracell.
Tesco text-to-wins’ are easy and quick to enter. The frequency in which there’s a new text-to-win makes them an easy favourite of shoppers.
Previously agencies such as Link Communication who handled experiential marketing experience for brands could facilitate in-store sampling at Tesco.
Now only Tesco appointed staff can run sampling at Tesco owned sites. In store may mean a limited sized table, limited catering, limited staffing and limited branding. All of which combine for an equally limited brand experience, limited reach and limited results.
– Link Communication
As an official partner of the England Teams, Mars Wrigley hosts a promotion across some of their brands including Snickers, Extra, and Kind. The on-pack promotion is hosted on Extra Gum’s brand page at extragum.co.uk/winwin. For entrants, purchase is necessary and once they’ve entered, they’re in for a chance to win over 7,000 prizes. Mars Wrigley worked with agency, VCG The PromoRisk People for this particular prize draw promotion.
This on-pack promotion by Nakd in partnership with ClassPass, overseen by PromoVeritas, spans over 3 months. Following the promotional entry requirements on-pack will lead shoppers to the microsite nakdxclasspass.com/ where they will have to enter a 10-digit URN (Unique Reference Number) which can be found inside each promotional pack. This promotion does require a purchase but each successful and valid entry is accompanied by a month-long free trial to ClassPass as a gift with purchasing their Nakd pack. Whilst there are 60 instant win prizes guaranteed to be won and distributed via ‘winning moments’, there’s also a wrap-up draw that gives away any unclaimed and unwon prizes. Since a free trial is awarded with each successful entry, it also rewards every entrant for their participation in the promotion.
The on-pack promotion and in-store point-of-sale (POS) materials will also be supported by further efforts in digital shopper marketing, paid and organic social media content, as well as experiential activations like sampling.
“Over the coming months, nākd’s visibility will be at a huge peak, not just as a result of our digital ATL campaign, but also because we’re making our ClassPass promotion unmissable across multiple touchpoints, including in-store and online. This means there is a golden opportunity for retailers to drive category sales by making sure they’re stocked up on bestselling nākd multipacks.”
Jo Agnew, nākd’s Marketing Director
Cawston Press and Inside Out 2 (and by extension The Walt Disney Company) come together for a movie partnership and on-pack promotion with Element London as the prize provider.
“We’re delighted to be working with Disney and Pixar to inject even further joy to our much-loved Fruit Waters range and spread the power of natural goodness to Disney and Pixar cinema fans in the UK [...] The project sees our first collaboration with a global IP scale and integration across our whole marketing plan targeting both on-trade and off-trade customers. It’s also excitingly the first time Cawston Press will reach a new cinema audience!”
Milly Tuck, senior brand manager at Cawston Press
Returning readers may have seen Sainsbury’s Nectar ‘off-shoot’ promotion in the previous Promotions Seen article. In this case, it’s the primary promotion, run by and for Britvic’s brand and product line, Robinsons. The promotion features an on-pack promotion with a bottleneck tag, this style of on-pack addition is usually seen for promotions on alcoholic goods, it’s a good way to feature a promotion ‘on-pack’ without altering the original packaging itself – although, using a ‘scan to win’ QR code on the regular packaging that leads to an always-on microsite would cut down on packaging costs in the long term. For this promotion, Savvy are the agency they worked with, as well as Active Consultancy for the prize fulfilment portion of the promotion. Overall, the promotion lasts for just over a month, and closed at the end of May, and is supported with in-store point-of-sale materials and digital marketing, including organic social media content.
This is an on-pack promotion. Details on the packaging will lead shoppers to the promotional microsite, https://caprisunsportssession.com/. On the promotional microsite, the promotion is self-described to be “about helping children get active and try a new sport or activity in their local area”. This promotion ensures shopper satisfaction by ensuring every valid entrant gets to walk away from the promotion with something, in this case, a voucher to be used at a sports outlet. This campaign was highlighted with digital efforts on YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok. Capri-Sun leveraged influencer partnerships – mostly with family-based influencers to target their audience on a larger scale. Digital Rewards Group (aka KidsPass) are powering the sports sessions.
“Capri-Sun’s mission has always been to create carefree moments, bringing children and families the ‘taste of fun’. But we know that isn’t always so simple, as the cost-of-living soars, and parents find themselves under increased financial pressure, which in turn can limit opportunities for family togetherness and play. Through our new initiative, we are proud to be playing our part in bringing sport and smiles to families across the UK.”
Anke von Hanstein, Senior Marketing Manager GB&I Capri-Sun
In partnership with the UEFA Champions League, Walkers uses this opportunity to target the highly dedicated and loyal audience in football with their No Walkers No Game promotion. Using an on-pack promotion featuring various football stars, the promotional packs hit the shelves before the promotion’s start date on the 6th of May and are due to finish around mid-July. As a PepsiCo subsidiary, this promotion by Walkers is hosted on a new website – similar to an always-on promotional microsite but instead, for several of PepsiCo’s brands, specifically under the Polish and UK markets. To enter the promotion, it requires registration into JOY by PepsiCo, the website. To enter the No Walkers No Game promotion, participants will also have to enter the batch number on the promotional pack which can be found in the ‘best before’ box.
Working with lastminute.com to provide prizes and TLC, the marketing agency, Bertolli’s on-pack promotion was spotted on shelves which directs shoppers to participate at the promotional microsite, bertolliwinaholiday.co.uk. To enter, the entrant will need to enter a batch code which is found on the lid. The promotion was also advertised by retailers, for example, the official Morrison’s Facebook page and X (formerly Twitter) account, Morrisons Daily made a post about the promotion.
The agency that worked on this Cheestrings and Garfield movie partnership promotion was Lime Communications, with Element London as the prize provider. Following the on-pack promotion during the promotional period, shoppers will be taken to the Strings & Things website, https://stringsandthings.com/; the homepage is focused on the partnership promotion and uses a button to direct the user to stringsandthings.com/garfield. The promotion begins with weekly draws for digital cinema tickets and finishes with a grand prize including Sony Bluetooth headphones, and 1 family movie-themed holiday to California.
In support of the on-pack promotion, there was also a video ad produced along with various posts on social media channels through organic posts and paid influencer ads; as well as having the on-pack promotion featured on various preview images on retailer’s grocery product listings.
Strings & Things hasn’t stopped at bolstering digital support but also made a conscious effort to support the promotion with various other channels, including in-store, on the radio and via banner ads to maximise their visibility and engagement. Strings & Things also plans to take this activation and partnership to Germany and France, making concerted efforts to make a global outreach.
This ‘love me or your money back’ on-pack promotion includes special promotional packaging across various bottle sizes of Vimto. The on-pack instructions direct users to the microsite vimtolovethetaste.co.uk where shoppers can get their money back if they don’t enjoy the taste. Vimto uses proof of purchase validation methods to make sure entries are legitimate and from actual customers, with a payout via paypal.
KP Snacks presents and returns with the ‘Everyone In’ promotion in 2024 after a successful promotional period in 2023. As an official team partner of The Hundred, KP Snacks has yet again rolled out on-pack promotions on brands under their company. Following the link on each promotional pack will take shoppers to the microsite, which was also used last year, everyonein.co.uk, but under the page, https://everyonein.co.uk/win to enter the promotion itself. This promotion presents an opportunity for KP Snack to once again, present and highlight each brand they own and get shoppers more interested in cricket and existing cricket fans into the various KP Snacks brands.
Funkin Cocktails presents a purchase-necessary, on-pack promotion. This instant-win prize draw leads shoppers to the microsite, funkincocktails-competition.co.uk/ either manually with the link or by scanning the QR code. The promotion uses a unique 8-digit code, a unique reference number (URN), located on the bottle neck tag - which is concealed by the way the tag is folded and attached to the bottle. The promotion uses an interactive and engaging scratch-to-win mechanic for their instant win which engages entrants in a promotion that uses Funkin Cocktails’ characteristically playful branding and vibrant visual style.
This on-pack promotion celebrating its 30th anniversary features a sleek and minimal sticker tag around the neck of the bottle which includes a QR code leading to mcguiganwines.co.uk/comp where shoppers can join the promotion. This prize draw uses receipts to verify eligibility for this purchase necessary promotion. McGuigan works with the marketing agency, Altavia to bring shoppers this on-pack promotion.
Another on-pack promotion which features a bottleneck tag – this purchase-necessary promotion uses a 6-digit URN code to verify entrants. Shoppers can follow the URL found on-pack or scan the QR code to be taken to campari.com/en-gb/milan-tripc where participants can enter after entering their details. Campari works with the marketing agency, Altavia to bring shoppers this on-pack promotion.
A Tesco-exclusive promotion, Aperol brings to shelves their on-pack promotion to participating Tesco stores. The promotional bottle-neck tag features a 6-digit URN code and shoppers can locate the promotion at aperol.com/en-gb/latitude-tickets. Aperol works with the marketing agency, Altavia to bring shoppers this on-pack promotion.
Although this promotion has been around for some time and has been spotted numerous times, it has only just now made it to a promotions-seen article. In this on-pack promotion, Arla partners with the children’s book series, The Gruffalo, to bring a unique, family and kid-friendly promotion on their Big Milk product line, which is already targeted towards young children making this partnership a perfect opportunity. There are various family prizes but the promotion is also accompanied by free content for children such as activity sheets and colour pages.
The prize draw is set to last for two years, from January 2023 until the end of 2024. Each month there are 10 prizes to be given away and 5 winners, the winnable prizes include Gruffalo merchandise and shoppers can enter the draw via the URL, arlafoods.co.uk/brands/arlabigmilk/gruffalo.
This concludes May and June’s in-store insights – the team continues to keep track of brand promotions in various categories, updating readers on the biggest promotional news.
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