Christmas is always an exciting time for PR and marketing, as the festive season often prompts brands to get creative and playful. Coming up with a unique Christmas campaign, whether it’s a bold stunt, limited edition product, fun data-led index or a pop-up, allows brands to stand out in the lead-up to one of the most competitive shopping periods of the year.
Now that the countdown to Christmas is officially on, we decided to highlight ten of our favourite festive campaigns from recent years. Some of them pull at your heartstrings, while others offer a good giggle, a useful tool, or even a bit of a shock factor, but what they have in common is that they get people talking – and that’s exactly what Christmas PR is all about!
What’s in this article:
- Domino’s: Dipmas Calendar
- Mars Wrigley: ‘No Bounty’ and ‘Bounty Centerpiece’ Tubs
- Dunelm: Delivering Joy
- Nelson's Distillery & School: Christmas Dinner Gin and Brussels Sprout Vodka
- Royal Mail: Singing Post Boxes
- Amazon: Second Chance Store
- Music Magpie: Ultimate Christmas Movie Index
- Heinz: Christmas Dinner Soup
- Musclefood: Budget Christmas Meat Hampers
- Christmas Tree World: Christmas Tree Decoration Calculator
Domino’s: Dipmas Calendar
This quirky campaign is the most recent one from our list, and was only launched this year. Domino’s announced the release of its first-ever advent calendar. I know what you’re thinking – what on earth would Domino’s be hiding behind those tiny doors? The answer is, of course, their iconic Garlic & Herb Dip!
Each door reveals a pot of the brand’s signature dip, with a playful message that challenges people to dunk different festive classics – from Brussels sprouts to candy canes and even chocolate coins – yuck! While I can’t imagine masses rushing to try those combinations (unless there’s a secret community of candy-cane-and-dip fans out there), it’s definitely up there with some of the most bizarre advent calendars to date, so it’s already gained lots of attention, with coverage in authoritative titles like The Sun, FOODBible and Verge Magazine.
It’s a perfect example of a simple, tongue-in-cheek idea that immediately grabs attention and gets sent straight to the group chat for a laugh.
Mars Wrigley: ‘No Bounty’ and ‘Bounty Centerpiece’ Tubs
Mars Wrigley hit PR gold when they tapped into the long-standing Bounty debate. People often have a love or hate relationship with Bounty bars – you’re either team Bounty or absolutely not. There’s no in between.
So the brand decided to conduct a survey to see how many people would support having Bounty removed from Celebrations tubs and 39% of the nation said yes! Following that, Mars Wrigley announced a limited-edition Celebrations tub without the Bounty, and the news spread like wildfire. It was all over national press and social media – even public figures like Richard Osman, Piers Morgan and Lorraine Kelly commented on the topic.
The reason why this campaign worked so well lies in its simplicity. It’s nothing flashy, just a small twist on a classic treat – but emotionally divisive enough to polarise opinions and spark festive debates. The following year, Mars Wrigley flipped the concept on its head with a ‘Bounty Centrepiece’ campaign, which offered tubs containing only Bounty chocolates. And unsurprisingly, it was another hit!
Dunelm: Delivering Joy
Furnishings and homeware retailer Dunelm first launched its #DeliverJoy initiative back in 2020, and because of its great success, the campaign has been rolled out every year since. The campaign encourages shoppers to donate gifts to people in need by visiting their local Dunelm store and find the "Delivering Joy" tree, which is decorated with gift tags. Each gift tag describes a specific gift request, so people can choose one, buy the item and return it to the store, so it can be donated to someone who could use an extra bit of festive kindness.
With the initiative having provided more than 500,000 gifts since it was first launched, it’s one of those heartwarming Christmas campaigns that reminds you what this season is really about – small acts of kindness that make a big difference.
Nelson's Distillery & School: Christmas Dinner Gin and Brussels Sprout Vodka
Fun and bizarre special edition product launches can work wonders during Christmas, and Nelson’s Distilley and School hit the mark when they released a selection of unique festive spirits. The one that really got people talking was their Christmas dinner flavoured gin, capturing the essence of a festive roast dinner with the sweetness of cranberry and the potent notes of sage that remind of stuffing and turkey.
Another standout product was Brussels Sprout Vodka which, again, sounds unhinged – but that’s exactly why both of these products managed to get so much spotlight. They provided easy headlines for journalists, and gave consumers something to laugh about (or try if they dared).
Royal Mail: Singing Post Boxes
Royal Mail installed a number of festively decorated post boxes across the UK that would play Christmas tunes when letters or cards were posted. The campaign was created to spread cheer, but also to encourage people to keep up with the Christmas card tradition. The tradition has been in significant decline, so adding this playful touch gave people a reason to film the post boxes, share them online, with some even going out of their way to find their nearest singing box.
Amazon: Second chance store
Amazon opened a pop-up ‘second chance’ store, inviting customers to shop used and returned items with discounted prices. Not only did the online retail giant tap into the growing popularity of second-hand shopping, they also donated all of the profits made from the pop-up store to children's charity Barnardo's.
The campaign was effective because it managed to highlight multiple elements at the same time – saving money ahead of Christmas, the environmental impact of second-hand shopping, and also giving to children in need. So while any brand could host a pop-up to market their products, the concept was used to tell a broader story, making it feel less promotional and more purposeful.
Music Magpie: Ultimate Christmas Movie Index
In digital PR, we love a good festive index. If there’s any seasonal data we can dig into to rank, score or compare, you best believe we will.
Music Magpie did exactly that with their Ultimate Christmas Movie Index. They looked at 20 of the most popular festive films of all time and ranked them against 20 different criteria to determine the ultimate Christmas movie. According to their research, Home Alone, Elf and Love Actually are the top three Christmas films of all time, whereas a lot of people’s favourite The Holiday actually ranked last on the list.
With many people having strong opinions on what are the best Christmas films (and the age-old debate over whether Die Hard should even be included on the list), the index was a perfect example of a data-driven, shareable campaign that made people discuss and check whether their favourites made the cut.
Heinz: Christmas Dinner Soup
Heinz Christmas Dinner Soup campaign is another example of excellently executed festive product launches, which also won at The Drum Awards for Marketing 2022 in the Social Media category.
Relevance and timing played a big part in this campaign’s success, as Brits were worried about pulling off a traditional Christmas dinner because there was a turkey shortage that year. Heinz also conducted a survey, which revealed that many UK adults said they would eat Christmas dinner more often if it did not take so long to cook and if it weren’t so expensive.
So Heinz had a solution – they created the ‘Heinz Christmas Dinner Big Soup’, featuring all the festive trimmings. Demand for the product exceeded expectations, with the first 500 cans selling out in a matter of hours, driving the brand to release another batch.
Heinz’s idea was clever and simple, showing that a well-timed idea can make a big impact during the festive period.
Musclefood: Budget Christmas Meat Hampers
This is a campaign that we actually worked on ourselves at Motive (a little humble brag!) Popular online food retailer Musclefood launched a range of Christmas Meat Hampers, packed with all the meat a family would need over the festive period, priced to compete directly with the supermarkets.
To drive awareness and really land the message around value, we arranged samples for relevant journalists, set up competitions and also created a case study with a savvy influencer and mum-of-six, asking her to cook up Christmas dinner for her family as cheaply as possible using the hamper, and also make use of the leftovers for other meals. Her Christmas dinner worked out at just £7.58 a portion which was a great line that helped us showcase the value of the hamper.
The whole Christmas campaign, including competitions, product reviews, the case study, and link-building Christmas content, resulted in 178 x coverage items, 38 x case study placements and 250 x backlinks – which was a big win for the brand.
Christmas Tree World: Christmas Tree Decoration Calculator
And finally, the tool we never knew we needed. Christmas Tree World created an online calculator that tells you exactly how many baubles and lights you need for your tree, based on its size and shape.
It’s clever and useful, and provides genuine value by solving a real festive dilemma. It also provides long-term PR gains, as the calculator is an evergreen asset that can be pitched out year after year, securing fresh coverage each Christmas without needing to come up with a whole new concept each year.
Key takeaways
- Christmas is the perfect time for brands to get more bold and creative with their PR and marketing campaigns. It offers a way to stand out during one of the most competitive shopping periods of the year.
- You don’t always need a huge budget or a complex concept, as simple ideas often win during Christmas. A fun twist or a quirky product can quickly spark widespread conversation.
- Tap into emotion (or controversy!). Whether it’s a heartwarming act of kindness or a divisive debate like the ‘No Bounty’ tub, emotional hooks often drive shares and engagement.
- Tools and data-led campaigns, like calculators and indexes provide genuine value and also provide an incentive for journalists to link to your website.
The festive season is a great reminder of what creative PR can achieve. Contact the Motive team today to discuss how we can help bring your next PR strategy to life!
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