It may be roasting outside, but for marketers, Christmas is just around the corner. Maddie Cullen of Ready Agency provides some tips on targeting consumers during the festive period

Christmas. The busiest time of year for marketers. But it doesn’t start as the nights are drawing in; most people are already planning ahead for the festive season.

Christmas is a time for increased sales, but also for increased competition. Brands fight tooth and nail to be one of the items wrapped up in a bow, stuffed in a stocking or served up for Christmas treats.

Here are a few ways brands can make sure they’re the ones under the Christmas tree this year.

Even Rudolf has one

It should come as no surprise that mobile is the top focus for brands this year. People are increasingly having ‘micro moments’, which are the quick searches and checks on their phones, giving consumers instant information at the swipe of a finger.

It’s these minutes/seconds that brands should be slotting themselves into. If a brand can be a solution to a mobile user’s query, that can be the first step on the journey to purchase.

In the last few years 42% of people planned to do all of their Christmas shopping on mobile. Brands should make sure they’ve optimised for mobile and their site is user-friendly, otherwise a busy Christmas shopper could give up and try somewhere else.

However, it’s good news for those brands that do capture the attention of an eager shopper. Research shows that people are happiest online when shopping! So customers are going to be in a good mood and therefore likely to spend more and treat themselves or others.

But it’s not just during the lead up to Christmas that brands need to be on phones. Christmas Day is actually one of the busiest mobile shopping days of the year. People may have cash burning a hole in their pockets, or a bad present to replace, but either way, they’re actively buying on Christmas day.

Like Father Christmas, be everywhere

But not everyone is doing all of their shopping on mobile – for some people the journey goes on for much longer than that.

More and more consumers are researching reviews, images and videos before buying gifts. This can take them from a product website to their Facebook chat to a celebrities Instagram account and anywhere else they can find.

People increasingly start an order in one place and finish it at another, whether that’s changing from browser to app or from desktop to phone. Omnichannel should be the word on every brand’s lips this year.

Consumers are also splitting up their shopping techniques. Some people research online and buy in-store, and some research in-store and buy online. Brands must make sure that they can accommodate both types by making it easy to buy and providing essential information at every touchpoint. Whether this is on their website or social media or on the packaging, make sure that consumers have no excuse to put the product back on the shelf! (Digital or otherwise).

In the festive season people are out and about more. Socialising takes over sitting in front of the TV or browsing on a laptop – but they’re still on their phone. This is what connects all the research consumers are doing in-store and online.

The success of the strategy can be seen when brands that aren’t embracing an omnichannel approach like Next are failing to engage. Having a nice shop front means very little if your online presence is non-existent. Like consumers, be connected.

You don’t know The Ice Queen?

If there’s one thing we’ve learn from the last year, it’s that influencers aren’t going away anytime soon.

In the winter months they have all the same benefits as usual but amplified. Christmas is the perfect time of year for influencers because people are ready to be, well, influenced. Consumers are constantly on the lookout for inspiration for gifts, decorations, food and anything they can buy to make this Christmas ‘the best one yet’.

Influencers are also great at breaking through the noise and reaching consumers that otherwise wouldn’t be aware of what a brand is selling. This is especially important at the most competitive time of the year!

One in five YouTube views are instigated by a search. This means that those viewers have a ‘lean-in’ mindset. They’re the perfect people to reach with YT pre-roll and brand partnerships. A lot of these people are actively looking for information. A carefully selected influencer can start that journey to purchase for them.

Amazon used influencers well with their Prime campaign last year. They teamed up with a few YouTubers to show how useful the service can be in the lead up to the big day. Ingrid Nilsen assembled a box of goodies for her best friend and her dog and Alex Wassabi collected gifts for his girlfriend. Each of the influencers did something personal and real and showed their millions of followers why Amazon Prime works so well, especially when Christmas shopping.

Utilising content creators generates an added advantage for those brands that do it well at Christmas.

Let’s serve dessert before mains

This year, be different.

John Lewis have set a standard for Christmas advertising to create an emotional, entertaining story. The majority of major supermarkets follow suit. But unless the copycats have a clear enough branding, people will just associate the memory of an emotional ad with John Lewis. The brands that break the mould this year will capture much more attention. Amazon’s ad last year that focused on products actually rated higher for likability than the John Lewis monster story.

That isn’t to say don’t be emotional. Christmas celebrations are rooted in feelings. Brands that lose sight of this risk offending people – as Poundland has learnt from their Elf behaving badly campaign. You can joke about Christmas but don’t go too far as to make a mockery of it. Most people love and enjoy celebrating the holiday and don’t want that feeling dragged through the dirt.

A brand that did this well was H&M, with its ad directed by Wes Anderson. It told an emotional story, but still featured a cast of characters decked out in H&M attire. The story was fun, but the brand message was clear enough that when people thought back, there wasn’t any mistaking the brand.

But remember, what worked one year isn’t guaranteed to succeed the next. People and trends change. Christmas is close to the New Year and summing up the finished year – customers want familiarity, but they want something exciting too. (As we all know from the disappointment of opening up a pair of socks again – thanks grandma!)

Brands need to keep a strong presence online but shouldn’t lack in traditional areas either. At Christmas, every touchpoint counts. Techniques that work at other times of the year, like influencers, still work at Christmas. The difference is, everything needs to be rooted in emotion.

Even if some people eat Christmas dinner after presents, we’re all still human.

Maddie Cullen is Marketing Assistant at Ready, a multi-disciplined creative agency specialising in breakthrough promotional and tactical marketing campaigns. Clients include Soap & Glory, Kiddylicious, Burt’s Bees and Molton Brown.

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O2 is offering customers the opportunity to cover their fridges with snapshots, with a ‘gift with purchase’ offer giving away free Kodak Mini 2 Bluetooth printers (worth £89.99) when they buy an eligible handset either instore, online or over the phone.

The activity aims to drive awareness and sales of flagship Android handsets from brands like Sony, Huawei and LG. To leverage the superior camera features and high-quality photography capabilities of the latest handsets, O2 wanted to create an added-value reward that could really bring these elements to life at point of purchase

The campaign was created by integrated agency Blue Chip, which is managing creative, concept development and print production, including devising a scratchcard mechanic to enable customers to claim their free printers, which will be delivered by post within 28 days of consumers registering a claim.

Dan Selas, Account Director at Blue Chip, says: “We know these handsets are appealing to a certain type of audience that love to be creative and take lots of high quality photos, and the Kodak Mini 2 Bluetooth printer is the perfect companion for these handsets as it allows you to produce amazing vibrant prints from your best pictures.”

The promotion runs until the end of June across the O2 state nationwide.

Blue Chip is a multi-award-winning Manchester-based integrated agency that works for clients including Essity, Kellogg’s, SPAR and Muller.

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Discover Delicious, an organisation dedicated to promoting the food and flavour of Wales, is launching a new consumer-facing online marketplace, DiscoverDelicious.Wales, which celebrates Wales’ best loved producers and the products that have made them local foodie favourites.

The integrated consumer launch campaign for the marketplace was developed by Bath-based AgencyUK. The activity includes TV advertising, PR, social media, experiential and brand activation. TV advertising broke this week. The launch follows a number of successful consumer test campaigns that have been underway since April 2018.

Discover Delicious is part funded by Welsh Government and is a partnership between Way Out Events and AgencyUK. The Discover Delicious brand, communications strategy and eCommerce site have been developed in collaboration, with AgencyUK’s in-house team leading on delivery.

Laura Pickup, founder of Discover Delicious says: “We’re proud of the fantastic food and drink in Wales and really excited to see this campaign promote the incredible products to a wider market. Our Discover Delicious team collectively bring over 20 years of experience in marketing Welsh produce and, with AgencyUK’s support, our mission is to bring Welsh flavours to consumers’ tables nationwide and put Welsh food on the map. We’re here to support producers from all corners of the country in that mission, amplifying their profile and products as part of a connected network that promotes the rich gastronomy of Wales.”

The site already features hundreds of products, but Discover Delicious is actively recruiting more producers to join its community.

Sammy Mansourpour, managing director of AgencyUK, adds: “We know we have a strong brand with huge potential and we can now look forward to amplifying the Discover Delicious story in 2018 through engaging content and compelling advertising campaigns. We’ll start with a TV, PR and Social Media campaign this June.”

The project has received funding through the Welsh Government Rural Communities – Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, which is funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Government.

AgencyUK is an award-winning full service strategic digital, advertising and creative marketing communications agency based in Bristol, Bath and London.

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Lucozade Zero and fashion retailer Missguided has announced a collaboration, ‘Zero To Pay’, which will be brought to life through on-pack promotion and experiential marketing.

The on-pack promotion will offer consumers a range of discounts which can be unlocked through codes on mini cans of Lucozade Zero. Targeting city centres, train stations and shopping centres, the sampling campaign will offer bespoke miniature cans featuring unique Missguided discount codes. The activity will be bolstered at high footfall locations with a ‘Zero to Pay’ nail bar, offering Lucozade Zero-inspired complimentary nail art.

Integrated agency The Big Kick was named lead agency for the campaign, while experience agency TRO is delivering the experiential element.

The Big Kick developed the creative platform and negotiated the partnership with Missguided, with the core aim of driving awareness of Lucozade Zero and supporting the distribution of 3 million sample cans throughout the UK. TRO is activating the ‘Zero to Pay’ campaign, including a nationwide programme of activity spanning 12 cities over the course of eight weeks.

All sample cans are printed with a unique code; there are also ‘virtual’ cans with codes on available from the Missguided website. Codes can be redeemed online for a guaranteed 30% off one-time use voucher, plus the opportunity to win a range of further Missguided vouchers.

To enter the prize draw and claim the 30% off, consumers have to go to www.lucozadeenergy.com/missguided and enter the unique code, their name, gender, date of birth and email address. Multiple entries are permitted, although each code can be used only once. All valid entries go into the daily prize draw to win extra discount vouchers, ranging from £50, 30% off for a year, 40% and 50% off for three months and 30% off for 10 years. All vouchers can only be redeemed through the Missguided.com website.

The campaign went live mid-March 2017 from and runs until May 31st, including an instore event at Missguided’s flagship store in Westfield, Stratford which took place on Thursday March 30th with resident Missguided DJ, Snoochie Shy, on the decks.

Shoppers were able to enjoy rewards from the likes of Mark Hill Blow Dry Bar, styling tips from The Confetti Crowd and Shine Shack Make Up who were instore providing free treatments to help get customers ready for the weekend.  There were also chances to win ‘Zero To Pay’ on shoppers’ most expensive basket item throughout the afternoon.

Charlotte Flook, Senior Brand Manager, Lucozade Energy, commented: “With a shared target audience of young, fashion savvy females, the partnership with Missguided presents fantastic brand synergy. TRO has designed a bold liquid on lips campaign which will achieve mass trial and get consumers excited about the product.”

Siôn Stansfield, Account Director, TRO, said “Following the success of our ‘zero gravity’ experiential activation for the Lucozade Zero product launch last summer, we’re excited to be activating a whole host of activity to reach the hearts and minds of the product’s target audience. With the product at the heart of the campaign, we have an ambitious target of distributing 3 million samples.”

Andrew Ryan,Head of Brand at The Big Kick, added: “Partnerships are still a great way of delivering saliency for FMCG brands. The ‘Zero To Pay’ platform allows the Lucozade brand the opportunity to engage with millennials by giving them rewards that hit their ‘sweet spot’ – fashion! Missguided’s bold and confident brand was the perfect match for Zero, inspiring our audience to ‘find their flow’ around the UK, and get rewarded.”

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Mars Chocolate UK has updated its annual film-related on pack promotion through a partnership with Google Play which sees the confectionery giant offering consumers money off films as well as discounts off TV shows, books, music and apps.

The new Sweet Nights In campaign will reward consumers with 50% off the latest movie rentals and £3 credit they can use across a wide range of TV, books, music and apps.

Consumers who buy three promotional flashed products across Mars’ standard pouch, multipack bar and large block ranges and then register the codes printed on the packs at www.sweetnightsin.co.uk will receive voucher codes which they can then redeem for 50% off the film rental of their choice from Google Play. They also get a £3 credit to their Google Payments account.

Brands involved in the promotion include Maltesers, Galaxy, M&M’s, Mars, Snickers and Twix.

Bep Dhaliwal, Trade Communications Manager – Mars Chocolate UK, says: “Our Sweet Nights In promotion is our first brand activation involving our biggest blockbuster SKUs across bars, bitesize and block segments. Rooted in cutting edge shopper and consumer insight, we’re confident this promotion can help drive growth across the category, boost sales for retailers, and provide consumers with a great chance to enjoy blockbuster films with Mars’ blockbuster brands.”

Previous Mars UK film-related promotions, such as last August’s Sweet Sundays, have seen the confectionery brand offer cinema tickets as incentives.

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Just Eat, the online food delivery marketplace, has celebrated PizzaExpress joining the Just Eat platform with a “Pizza Wall” activation on National Pizza Day in London’s Bishops Square just outside Spitalfields market.

The Pizza Wall was designed by integrated agency tpf, and made up of 24 “pizza box” hinged doors branded with both the Just Eat and PizzaExpress logos.

Members of the public were invited to lift the lid on one of the 24 pizza boxes to see if they would win a prize. Each box contained a “pizza slice” with either a winning message of money off a PizzaExpress order through Just Eat or a fascinating pizza fact. Everyone taking part received 10% of their next Just Eat order.

The eight-hour activation saw more than 1,000 people took part in the experience, while an estimated 20,000 plus people were exposed to the brand.

tpf managed the project from concept through to on-the-day organisation, balancing the overall look and feel to ensure clear delivery of key messages.

Gail Middleton, director at tpf, says: “The Pizza Wall combines both iconic brands, and taps into the excitement and anticipation everyone feels as they prepare to open their takeaway box for a delicious slice of Sloppy Giuseppe or American Hot.”

There are four London PizzaExpress restaurants which now take orders through the Just Eat app – Spitalfields, Euston, Royal Festival Hall and Notting Hill – with more restaurants to be added soon.

The work follows on from tpf’s first project for Just Eat in November last year, an experiential campaign which took over Bristol’s Anchor Square. The activity introduced E-A-T (Emotion Analysis Technology) which combined cutting edge face scanning and emotion mapping technology to analyse consumers’ faces and tell them what food they were in the mood for.

tpf is an independent agency specialising in promotions, publicity and digital marketing in TV, sport and entertainment.

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Healthy food brand Graze is giving out one million samples to raise awareness about its on-the-go snack food range, available at retailers.

Brand ambassadors will be handing out packs of Graze’s Veggie Protein Power – which it says is one of its bestselling retail varieties and includes spicy chickpeas, edamame beans and black pepper cashews – outside busy central London mainline rail stations until February 3rd 2017.

Graze has timed the campaign to coincide with the increased interest in healthy eating in January.

The sampling campaign is being handled for Graze by experiential agency Hotcow. Sally Durcan, Managing Director of Hotcow, says: “We know from previous research that brand recognition can increase by over 40% with commuters taking the product to work and having it on their desk. We also know that reminding people of the brand taste has a significant impact in keeping existing consumers buying the brand and new ones moving in to try the brand.”

Graze launched in the UK in 2008. It began by offering an online subscription service where people could sign up for regular deliveries of its healthy food boxes, which can be bought in over 200 combinations. It launched a range of snack products in retailers in July 2015, initially with an exclusive rollout via 850 Sainsbury’s stores. Graze snacks are now available in 7,000 stores across the UK including Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda and Boots.

Graze has also expanded into the US market, both via its online subscription model and through a partnership with US pharmacy chain Walgreens, part of the group which ultimately owns Boots in the UK.

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Generation Z shoppers (those aged from 15 to 24) are shop-happy and digitally-savvy consumers who are open to being influenced by retailers – but they also have high expectations of them.

They are more likely than the general shopping population to think that retailers consider their age group important, while half of them believe that retailers and brands understand their age group, compared with a third of the rest of shoppers.

Danielle Pinnington, Managing Director at research company Shoppercentric, which has published the new report, says: “Generation Z are a fascinating section of the shopper population. They’ve grown up in a truly connected world and are starting to access the kind of money that means they can flex their spending power. A lot has already been written about who they are as consumers, but there’s been no particular focus for those interested in shoppers. We wanted to take a closer look at what their expectations and needs are since they may not be today’s big spenders, but they could give a real pointer to where the future of retail lies… if we take the time to listen to them.”

Other findings of the report include:

• Generation Z are more likely to say that happiness runs deeper than material possessions alone: 34% strongly agree that they want to feel they are getting good experiences and that life isn’t all about what they own, versus 28% of older shoppers.
• Generation Z shop (instore/online) at least seven times a month (rising to eight times a month amongst the men in this age group). For them, going to physical shops and malls is as much a social pursuit as it is about buying things: 52% of Generation Z said that going out shopping was a fun way to spend time with friends/family, versus 44% of adult shoppers at large.
• Ecommerce provides a welcome distraction for Generation Z, with 62% of them agreeing that online shopping is a great way to stop getting bored, compared with 53% of older shoppers. Indeed, 70% of Generation Z shoppers agree that they “often browse online with no intention of buying (versus 63% of older shoppers).
• Just over one in four Generation Z consumers (28%) say that they spend lots of time on YouTube getting ideas and recommendations, compared to 13% of older shoppers. They are also twice as likely as other shoppers to cite product displays as important when shopping instore, and 49% agree that they use the displays instore/online to give them ideas (versus 41% of the broader shopping population).
• They also use their smartphones in-store more often, with 53% agreeing that this way they can get better information to help them decide what to buy when instore, compared to 38% of older shoppers.
• Generation Z consumers love a bargain: 48% agree that they tended to buy the cheapest they could so that they could buy more things they really like. 62% are also tempted to buy if an item is on promotion versus 55% of older shoppers.
• Generation Z are also the first truly digital generation, having grown up with the Internet and the World Wide Web. Almost all of them (97%) have either a laptop or a PC, 96% have a smartphone and 63% have a tablet.
• The biggest problem for retailers is that Generation Z are Generation Returner – they have no problem buying more items than they want, and returning what they don’t want. In fact, 28% of Generation Z agree that they buy lots of things online knowing they’re going to send most back, compared with 10% of older shoppers.
• They are more impulsive and more willing to take risks with an order than older shoppers; 44% of Generation Z say that they often buy things on the internet that they hadn’t planned to purchase, versus 32% of older shoppers.
• Speedy delivery is more important to Generation Z than to older shoppers, with one in five putting same day/next day delivery in their top three most important factors for shopping online, compared with one in ten older shoppers.

Social Media plays a huge role for Generation Z, and they are more likely than older shoppers to be connecting beyond their social groups of family and friends or even like-minded groups, to retailers or brands. Specifically:

• 79% of Generation Z use Facebook vs 66% of older shoppers; 24% regularly use it to contact retailers or brands.
• 50% of Generation Z use Instagram vs 17% of older shoppers; 41% regularly use it to contact retailers or brands.
• 49% of Generation Z use YouTube vs 27% of older shoppers; 32% regularly use it to contact retailers or brands.
• 41% of Generation Z use Twitter vs 26% of older shoppers; 48% regularly use it to contact retailers or brands.

Pinnington observes: “We’re all aware that Generation Z are easily bored and have a very short attention span, but on the flipside, they have great confidence and a terrific support system provided by social media which helps them to manage risk when they’re choosing what to do and what to buy. Plus they’re aware that retailers are interested in them and that they’re worth getting to know – this is in stark contrast to how many older shoppers feel.”

She concludes: “Generation Z know that they’re being courted, so it stands to reason that they expect to be impressed before they part with their cash. This apparent self-assurance is important because it will set a high bar against which retailers and brands will be judged moving forwards. Each touchpoint with these shoppers needs to be a positive experience and reflective of the brands’ tone of voice and values whilst remembering that this is a generation that enjoys shopping, so retailers will need to deliver to that brief and make it fun both instore and online.”

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Lambrini has partnered with online retailer Very.co.uk for an on-pack offer targeting the 21-34 year old female demographic.

The promotion aligns the Lambrini brand with one of the UK’s leading online fashion and home retailers, based in Lambrini’s home city of Liverpool. The on-pack offer will run until the end of December on promotional 75cl bottles of Original, Strawberry and Cherry Lambrini flavour variants, and features a prize draw mechanic.

To enter, consumers need to purchase a promotional bottle of Lambrini, then log onto lambrini.co.uk and enter their unique code.  They will instantly discover if they are a winner.

Lambrini fans will have the opportunity to win £250 to spend on Very.co.uk every week. There are eleven prizes to be won during the main promotion in the run up to Christmas and one further £250 prize in an additional final draw in Spring 2017.

Michelle Chadwick, Senior Marketing Controller for Lambrini at Halewood Wines & Spirits, comments: “Our on pack offer will reward Lambrini fans with £250 to spend on Very.co.uk’s range of stylish fashion and homeware collections, and will ensure the brand remains front-of-mind with consumers throughout the autumn. This partnership compliments our planned event activation, including the Official Drinks Partner of Fake Bake, presence at the annual Girls Day Out event in Glasgow and the bar sponsor at Clothes Show Live.”

Kenyatte Nelson, Marketing Director for Very.co.uk, adds: “Our customer demographic aligns closely with Lambrini’s and, with their huge distribution network, this partnership will help us build even more brand awareness in the run up to Christmas.”

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The Entertainer, the fastest-growing high street multichannel toy retailer in the UK, is running a competition offering the chance to win one of everything listed in its 2016 Christmas catalogue, worth more than £13,300.

The toy store chain has also just celebrated its 35th birthday on Saturday 8th October with a range of in-store events and a Scratch Card giveaway with nearly 50,000 prizes to be won.

Customers at all 126 of the group’s UK stores had the chance to participate in exciting promotional activities including money-off offers, giveaways, competitions and celebratory balloons and stickers.

The Entertainer also launched its 2016 48-page Christmas catalogue, which, for the first time ever, includes a special competition for the chance to win the entire contents of the catalogue.

Gary Grant, Managing Director and Founder of The Entertainer, said: “We are thrilled to be celebrating our 35th birthday milestone this October and the fun in all our stores on Saturday 8th is our way of saying thank you to all our customers – big and small – for their loyalty to The Entertainer. We will continue to bring fun filled events nationwide and maintain our commitment to children and the importance of play.”

The Entertainer is also just about to launch its first-ever Christmas advertising campaign. It appointed multichannel marketing agency bigdog to handle its advertising account in August, after a three-way pitch. The new 30 and 10 second ads will air from early October through to December.

The Entertainer employs over 1,200 staff across its 126 stores and a further 160 in its Head Office in Amersham, Buckinghamshire. It also has a successful website with 19 million visits a year.

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