P-O-P Spotlight: Holiday Activations
Each month, the Path to Purchase Institute shines a light on some of the most eye-catching and creative displays and physical activations that our boots on the ground recently captured in stores. This time, we’re showcasing select Christmas- and holiday-themed displays spotted in November and December.
Nestle Purina’s Beggin’ merchandised its dog treat flavors in a fun corrugated floorstand depicting a dog nutcracker. Spotted at Petco, the branded display communicated a “‘Tis the season for Beggin’” message.
At BJ’s Wholesale Club, Lindt & Sprungli’s Ghirardelli occupied prime merchandising space via one of the retailer’s “Products You’ll Love” rolling display racks with affixed digital screens (from The Looma Project). Two festive shelve units stocked seasonal chocolate packs, while the digital screen played an account-specific ad depicting a recipe tutorial for Ghirardelli’s chocolate spin on a DIY gingerbread house.
Heineken leaned into its "Social Off Socials" global campaign this holiday season with a #DisconnectToConnect initiative, leveraging messaging that encourages consumers to put down their smartphones and engage in real-life social interactions. At a Metro in Toronto, P2PI spotted a pallet display merchandising stacks of beer, topped with a large, corrugated Heineken Original ornament and outfitted with a festive pallet skirt communicating “Good times for real” and the initiatives messaging. The company has recently leaned heavily into messaging around stepping away from phones, social-media overload and embracing real-life connection.
Mondelez International promoted its snack brands Chips Ahoy!, Triscuit, Wheat Thins and, most prominently, Oreo, in festive, co-branded “Make Every Moment Merrier” rolling floorstands that also included an interactive element. The Oreo-themed floorstands, spotted at Ahold Delhaize’s Food Lion, depicted a QR code that invited shoppers to “scan for holiday recipes and more.” The code linked to a festive microsite (snackworks.com) highlighting and detailing a bunch of holiday-themed recipes.
Other Honorable Mentions
Since 2003, P2PI has served as marketers’ eyes in the aisles and offered its member community access to a robust Image Vault, which today comprises nearly 160,000 images (and counting), across a variety of retailers, product categories, channels, touchpoints and themes. Each month, we will showcase a sampling of eye-catching physical activations and themes from the vault.
