While most of the UK’s leading supermarkets have invested in big blockbuster Christmas adverts to showcase their festive offer this year, symbol group Spar has taken an alternative route with a tongue-in-cheek campaign that puts convenience, value and joy at the heart of the big day.

We sat down with AF Blakemore & Son group marketing director Sarah Ellis to discuss the return of the Big Deals campaign that focuses on the items most commonly forgotten at Christmas, and find out how shoppers can win big in the Golden Quarter through Spar-aoke. 

Spar’s national Big Deal campaign is back for another year, with a focus on the core “stock up” lines that people need over the festive period.

“The campaign is all about really great prices on products that customers need in the run up to Christmas. We’re still in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, so it’s about how do we give them that treat that isn’t breaking the bank and we start quite early, because we know that people buy in advance,” Ellis says. “Then we’ve overlaid the fun, festive aspect with someone who is a big deal at Christmas, which is [‘I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday singer] Roy Wood.”

However, this year at Spar, the retailer is also looking to highlight the ‘don’t forget’ items that “make or break Christmas Day,” by dressing them up with a festive makeover.

“It might be the cranberry sauce, it could be Christmas Eve night when you’re about to put the turkey in the oven and suddenly go, ‘I don’t actually have a tray that’s big enough, because I never cook anything this big for the rest of the year round’. It’s all of those really simple elements.”

Spar’s sales trends data has helped identify the products that are forgotten until Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, with the campaign looking to take the stress out of hosting, as the retailer’s stores are some of the few that remain open on the big day.

Ellis explains: “Convenience isn’t just about location. Yes, we are convenient in that we are on your doorstep, but what we’re also providing is that solution, whether that is ‘I’ve spent so much time thinking about Christmas that I’ve actually forgotten that I need to feed the family tonight’ type thing, or ‘I can’t be bothered to cook’.

“The other part of it, though, is the community aspect. One of the core pillars of Spar is nurture your neighbourhoods, which is about us being embedded in the communities in which we operate, in which we serve, and we very much talk about ‘you’re not our customers, you’re our neighbours’.”

She adds that by dressing up and shouting about the simple items from kitchen foil to cranberry sauce at Christmas, it reminds shoppers of that simple, convenient shop that Spar can offer.

Following a successful run of Spar-aoke – an in-store initiative where shoppers can win prizes for taking hold of the mic and belting out a song – during the Euros, the retailer has brought it back for Christmas, in a bid to spread joy throughout stores.

The convenience retailer reached out to rock musician, Roy Wood, who created the Christmas classic with his band Wizzard, who “loved the concept”, according to Ellis.

“He loved the thought of bringing some of that Christmas spirit and joy into store. When the song plays, you run over to where the Spar-aoke stand is, grab the mic, give your rendition and win your shopping, and then there’s going to be a big prize to win the cost of Christmas.

“Roy was an absolute joy, he loved working with us. You could just see people’s reaction when he walked in, even the Gen Z generation who were thinking ‘what’s going on here’, were like ‘ah I know who it is now’ – it was great. We bring the store to life as much as we can.”

Whether a shopper is searching for savings, last-minute essentials, or a dose of festive fun, Spar is prepared to help shoppers stock up and share the Christmas spirit ahead of the big day.