Tesco brought its festive TV advert to life last week in a showstopping OOH activation at London’s Kings Cross station in a bid to help commuters ‘become more Christmas’.
The seasonal push started off as an everyday billboard featuring some of the highlights from Tesco’s Christmas product range this year. However, as part of the retailer’s Become More Christmas campaign, it gradually transformed over a 48-hour period to create a larger-than-life activation featuring digital screens, interactive performers and even festive food and drink sampling.
Created by BBH, Kinetic, N2O and EssenceMediacom, the initial digital billboard slowly slowly filled up to show a banquet full of Tesco’s festive offerings, with giant baubles, stars, Christmas trees, and fairy lights eventually spilling out of the billboard and overflowing onto the station concourse.
The OOH experience culminated with a choir singing Christmas carols on 15 December.
“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,” said BBH deputy executive creative director Felipe Serradourada Guimaraes.
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Across both roadside and rail DOOH, Kinetic and DOOH.com used anonymised first party data provided by Tesco Clubcard to ensure the most suitable creative played at each site, depending on audience data.
The creative also directed shoppers to the nearest Tesco store.
Kinetic’s Annabelle Cunningham said the installation, which blended these key digital and experiential elements, brought the campaign “beyond the frame of the poster” and onto the concourse of one of the UK’s busiest railway stations.
Part of Tesco’s wider campaign, the activation looked to capture the same feeling as the TV spot, focusing on the less traditional moments that bring on that Christmas feeling.
“Our campaign is built around the insight that the lead up to Christmas can be just as exciting as the big day itself,” explained Tesco group customer director Emma Botton.
“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.”
