Unwrapping the Reality: Why Tesco’s ‘Perfectly Imperfect’ Christmas Campaign Is More Than Just an Ad
While the festive season is often framed by ‘picture-perfect, wholesome moments’, Tesco's 2025 Christmas campaign, ‘That’s What Makes It Christmas’, boldly chose to celebrate the reality: the "funny, chaotic, unscripted moments" that fill homes across the UK. This new approach, developed in partnership with BBH London, moved away from the single hero film model in favour of a series of "standalone films"; vignettes that show customers finding their festivity in "perfectly imperfect moments".
This year, however, the campaign’s core insight, that the real Christmas magic is found in the "wonderfully relatable chaos", has extended far beyond the screen. For the first time, Tesco integrated the creative elements into tangible products. This includes hand-drawn Christmas cards by Robin Shaw, depicting chaotic scenes, and, most notably for today, F&F Christmas jumpers designed with tongue-in-cheek messages to "answer inevitable awkward family questions (e.g. “Yes, I’m still single”)".
In celebration of Christmas Jumper Day, we sat down with the team behind the scenes to explore how this commitment to truth-telling transitioned from script to store. We delve into the strategic decision to embrace multiple narratives, the artistic choices behind the new product lines, and how a wearable piece of clothing became the ultimate expression of the campaign’s "real because it's true" heart.
How did the specific "perfectly imperfect" moments, like the awkward family questions, inform the actual messaging and design of the F&F Christmas jumpers? Was there a process to whittle down the most universally relatable or "it's funny, cos its true" awkward Christmas moments that warranted their own jumper?
We found something really funny and brutally honest about well-meaning family members asking the same questions every year, so we thought having answers to these questions directly on jumpers saves those awkward moments in a way that feels in line with the wider Christmas campaign. For the design, we loved the look of traditional hand knitted jumpers with embroidered details so tried to mimic that look and feel for Tesco. The jumpers still feel traditional, just with a cheeky twist. Originally, we had come up with a list of questions people might ask at Christmas, but we knew we wanted the jumpers to reflect the most common questions, so jumpers like ‘Yes, I’m still single’ were a no-brainer.
Moving from film narrative to a physical, wearable product like the F&F jumper is a significant leap. What was the internal collaborative process like between the creative, media, and F&F product teams to ensure the jumpers and cards felt like an authentic extension of the campaign's 'That's What Makes It Christmas' ethos, rather than just standard merchandise?
Moving from the film narrative to products like the jumpers and cards felt like a natural path for us to take. The jumpers and cards are very much in the world of the Christmas ad; they’re honest, cheeky, and fun and feel very much like Tesco’s version of Christmas.
Given that the campaign aims to generate cultural conversation, how do you see the F&F Christmas jumpers, specifically the ones designed to proactively answer awkward questions, participating in or even changing the typical conversation around Christmas Jumper Day? Are these jumpers intended to be more of a protective social shield or a fun conversation starter?
The jumpers can be anything anyone wants them to be - a fun conversation starter or a protective shield from that annoying aunt who doesn’t understand boundaries. We wanted the jumpers to speak to a wider universal truth about awkward questions at Christmas and how everyone reacts differently to them. Questions at Christmas time are unavoidable, but we hope the jumpers are a fun way of approaching and thinking about them.
The decision to move away from a single "hero" film allowed for niche, relatable stories. Did this strategic shift to multiple narratives also create more opportunities or a stronger rationale for developing integrated products like the jumpers and cards, since a broader set of experiences were being celebrated?
With the films exploring different Christmas scenarios, we knew we could do the same for the products. Christmas is more than just one experience or one day so it was fun to explore these through the illustrations on the cards and the jumpers.
The cards, drawn by Robin Shaw, intentionally depict the campaign's "chaotic Christmas scenes". What was the goal in using the hand-drawn, illustrative style from the Raymond Briggs estate for these cards, and how does this particular aesthetic elevate the campaign's core message of celebrating the 'perfectly imperfect' reality over a more polished, traditional Christmas visual?
Using Robin Shaw’s style and aesthetic to depict our more honest and ‘perfectly imperfect’ version of Christmas felt natural. His drawings add a layer of innocence and fun to chaotic scenes like a cat attacking a Christmas tree, or falling over whilst ice skating. We sought to create a new tradition of cards using beautiful illustrations to depict the relatable experiences of the festive period, deliberately moving away from idealised, "too-good-to-be-true" Christmas portrayals. Our cards reflect what Christmas really is, and by working with Robin we feel like we managed to really capture the mood and feeling of each scenario in a way that feels relatable.
