HOW BRANDS ARE SERVING UP SUMMER CAMPAIGNS IN 2025
- Juice
- Jun 27
- 6 min read
Updated: Jun 30
This month the sunshine landed and so have the summer campaigns across TV, Social, OOH, and In-Store channels. We’ve selected some of our favourite stand-out campaigns, from emotional squash ads, to fashion brands bringing the heat and savvy in-store promos, here are the moments shaping the summer.
In-Store: Sun, Sea & Sports
Skittles – “Zing-bathing” 🏖️
Skittles’ 2025 Zing-bathing campaign kicks off summer with a new mouth-watering Citrus pouch flavour, alongside the existing range to get some fresh excitement for impulse shoppers. We worked on supporting the above-the-line campaign with in-store POS and prize activation. Lounging on deckchairs, soaking up the sun, the vibrant visuals turn stores into mini seaside escapes, with immersive beach vibes carried over to digital screens and in-store placements.
Wimbledon – Pimm's, Stella Artois & Lavazza 🎾
Drinks categories are serving up Wimbledon activations for the lead up to the British tournament. We certainly see the value of tapping into popular events and moments to connect with shoppers, and retailers love the added value too, rewarding brands with premium real-estate in-store. Pimm's Serve a Summer Icon campaign uses a Nectar Price drop to ensure they convert at shelf with end of aisle positioning. Stella Artois are also getting in on the game with two promotions; an on-pack promo with relevant and enticing prizes for tennis fans, and free tennis socks with every purchase. We loved the floating mobile on the Aisle Fin for a unique spin. Lavazza are also celebrating 15 years as the Official Coffee of Wimbledon, their floor sticker made us stop and take notice.
Corona – “WIN an Escape to Paradise”
Corona’s in-store promotion, “Win an Escape,” entices shoppers to quench their thirst and get a chance to win a beautiful summer getaway. Designed with Corona’s brand ethos of relaxation and escape, the campaign's simple design, messaging and on-point aisle display helps to draw us in, cutting through the noise, and transporting us to the beach. With warm weather holidays on the mind, the appeal of an aspirational prize offers a simple and engaging way to tap into a summer moment that gives us a great reason to grab a few cold ones.
Cornetto – “Indulge to the Max” 🍦
As we headed to the back of the store to pick-up our ice-cream, we were treated to Cornetto's Indulge to the Max signage. Big hanging banners and floor stickers made us think about making a spontaneous purchase in aisle. A successful use of traditional POS that disrupts and influences shopper behaviour.
OOH: Drink it in & Eat it up
Robinsons – “Real Love in Every Drop” 🧃
Robinsons’ puts emotional storytelling at the heart of their powerful Out-Of-Home campaign. With nostalgic imagery, heartfelt messaging and a small yet important twist on their copywriting, the campaign taps into everyday family rituals, positioning Robinsons as a brand that understands the importance of family connection. The bold OOH creative extended that emotional reach into the public space, celebrating small moments of love and reconnection across the country. The TV spot set the emotional tone, while in-store activations reinforced the message at the point of purchase. [1]
Waitrose – "Let Your Summer Side Out" 🍓
Waitrose have launched a fresh OOH campaign across the UK, celebrating the relaxed spontaneity we all know and love about summer get-togethers. Using bright, relatable imagery and playful copy-lines, billboards feature dual scenes that get our stomaches rumbling, mouths watering, and heads simmering with the thought of quality summer get-togethers. We're enjoying M&S's approach to brand building, focusing on food quality and thoughtful interactions over product price and pack imagery, we're really buying into the emotive story they're telling. [2]
KitKat – “Phone Break” 🛑
Clever, witty and thought provoking, KitKat's new OOH campaign tells us to Take a Break from our phones. This campaign is driven by insight as "91% of people feel better after going offline for two weeks, with screen time averaging nearly 4 hours a day". This campaign highlight our obsession with our phones and pokes fun at what is a serious nationwide problem, making us think twice about reaching for our phones and instead getting outside and reconnecting with loved-ones this summer. [3]
Social: Culture Meets Creativity
Coca-Cola – “Share a Coke” 🥤
Coca‑Cola’s 2025 Share a Coke campaign brings a fresh, fun twist to a fan favourite. With a focus on personalisation and connection that speaks directly to Gen Z, the classic name-on-a-bottle idea is back, but now with even more variety, including nicknames, surnames, and playful terms like “Bestie”. In stores, the bright, summery labels stand out on shelves, but the real magic happens online with personalised cans, sharing and promotions. It’s a simple, joyful way to turn a can of Coke into something more personal and even more sharable. [4]
Loewe – “Tomato Balloon” 👜
Loewe shows us how to launch a huge social moment with their surrealist Tomato Balloon campaign. Featuring a giant tomato-shaped hot air balloon over a stunning backdrop in Turkey, the campaign was inspired by a viral tweet. The brand has history in using organic motifs and their Creative Director is known for adding a touch of humour into his fashion collections to add interest and intrigue. They blew up the tomato idea into a viral moment of their own with their physical hot air balloon video and tomato clutch bag and accessories. What started out as a funny tweet from a fan became so much more, showing how reactive marketing can really boost a brands presence, relevance and popularity. [5]
Blank Street Coffee – “Summer Socials” 💚
It's not so much 'one campaign' that we want to highlight here, but more of an appreciation of Blank Street Coffee's overall aura when it comes to their social approach. From their new quirky summer specials, that get us craving an ice-cream and iced matcha, to seasonal store updates, pop-up picnics, and quirky short films, Blank Street have broken beyond being "just a coffee shop", becoming a lifestyle brand that connects with customers and inspires loyalty through engaging activations that fans want to consume and turn into organic content. Bravo Blank Street. 👏
TV: Stories That Stick
F+F – "Style It Out" 👗
Tesco’s fashion and home label F+F has gone with a refreshingly fun and human take on fashion. Instead of the usual direction of depicting perfection, the set of ads capture life’s little hiccups: a dress caught in a car door, locked out of your home, or caught sun-bathing in the rain. The campaign shows you can still look stylish amidst the chaos of 'undignified' moments. The bold fun and brave direction really stood out to us as a great example of how going against the norm can really help a brand standout in their category. [6]
McDonald's – "The Big Arch" 🍔
McDonald’s new Big Arch TV ad, Rumble, brilliantly captures the universal feeling of intense hunger with a simple, relatable idea: a stomach growl so powerful it shakes an entire office. The ad turns a mundane moment into a funny one, whilst solving our distracting hunger problem with the arrival of the new Big Arch burger. We love this adverts clear problem solved idea, building on a single, human truth and builds a whole world around it without over-complication. Proof a big idea doesn’t need to be complicated to be memorable. [7]
Aldi – "SpecialBuys" 🐙
Brilliantly British, Aldi’s latest 'SpecialBuys' advert centres on Mary, pulling up on her mobility scooter towing a trailer piled high with quirky bargains. A great use of comedic timing to visually represent the affordable, desirable and random purchases to be had on a Thursday in the middle aisle. It leans on the single insight that Aldi shoppers relish the thrill of finding unexpected deals, and delivers it with warm humour. [8]
SUMMER CAMPAIGN TAKEAWAYS
The summer campaigns winning hearts and carts in 2025 are those that nail cultural resonance, keep the idea ruthlessly simple, and execute it seamlessly from shelf to scroll. Each brand carved out a unique moment, whether on-screen, on-shelf, or on social platforms.
Seen something we missed? Drop your favourite Summer ’25 creative on our LinkedIn, and also watch out in July for our own Support Her Lionesses activation which has started to go live in stores. The case study for that project can be seen here, with more updates to come in our next blog. Game on for Euro 2025 and a hot July!
SOURCES
campaignlive.co.uk
thedrum.com
famouscampaigns.com
marketingweek.com
Joel Marlinarson - Tik Tok
creative.salon
thedrum.com
lbbonline.com
