Tesco embraces imperfect traditions in Christmas campaign

Tesco has launched its 2025 Christmas campaign, That’s What Makes It Christmas, across social media and email.

Created in partnership with BBH London, the campaign embraces the funny, chaotic, and unscripted moments that define the festive season, moving away from the traditional portrayal of Christmas as picture-perfect.

Structured as a series of standalone 10, 20, and 30-second films, the campaign captures a variety of familiar scenarios that reflect how people across the UK truly experience the holidays. From competitive family board games and Secret Santa dilemmas to overfilled fridges and awkward chats with neighbours, each vignette celebrates the quirks that make Christmas uniquely human.

BBH and Tesco highlight relatable festive experiences

Becky Brock, Group Customer Director, Tesco: “At Tesco, we know that Christmas isn’t just about the picture-perfect moments, it’s about everything perfectly imperfect that happens around them too – that’s where the real magic is. With That’s What Makes It Christmas, we want to celebrate the wonderfully relatable chaos that fills homes across the UK. Tesco shows up for customers across the festive season in so many ways, and we hope that the campaign resonates with the nation and helps everyone celebrate what makes it Christmas for them this year.”

Felipe Serradourada Guimaraes, Executive Creative Director, BBH: “At BBH we say we haven’t had a truly great creative year until we’ve delivered a great Tesco Christmas campaign. This year, we’re reframing and revelling in the reality that Christmas isn’t made by those picture-perfect, frameable moments. It’s during the messy, weird and unscripted chaos where the Christmas spirit really kicks in, and that felt like a different take on the festive season.”

Campaign extends beyond screens and into stores

Directed by Jeff Low and produced by Biscuit Filmworks, the films are scored with Holly Jolly Christmas and narrated by comedian John Bishop.

Jeff Low, Director: “The creative team at BBH had a good idea. The sort of idea you think, ‘has nobody done this before?’ I filmed that idea as faithfully as I could and I think it worked out pretty well because I didn’t get cute about it. I honestly just tried to craft a story that conveys that initial idea.”

For the first time, Tesco is bringing the creative concept into stores. Customers can buy hand-drawn Christmas cards from the estate of Robin Shaw featuring humorous, chaotic festive scenes, and F&F Christmas jumpers designed with tongue-in-cheek responses to family questions, such as Yes, I’m still single.

Integrated media plan drives national engagement

Media for the campaign is led by EssenceMediacom and includes a partnership with Channel 4’s Gogglebox, where participants will share their own That’s What Makes It Christmas stories. The multi-channel rollout spans AV, Audio, Press, OOH, Digital, and Social, featuring contextual placements such as buses wrapped in paper that’s run out, Metro cover-wrap bingo cards for ticking off chaotic Christmas moments, and petrol pumps delivering festive messages to travellers heading home.

Through its focus on authenticity, humour, and shared experiences, Tesco’s campaign aims to spark a national conversation about the moments—messy or magical—that truly make it Christmas.

www.tesco.com

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