In this edition of Promotions Seen, the insights team has gathered promotional data on three separate Co-Ops: one using The Co-operative Group branding, which is used nationwide, and two Southern Co-Ops, which is one of 15 region-specific Co-Op brands/franchises in the UK.
Co-Op Irresistible Good Egg - On-Pack Promotion
Co-Op ‘Free Coffee Week’ Promotion for Easter
Brand Promotions Spotted:
Breakfast
- Kellogg’s
- Quaker’s
Savoury Snacks
- Doritos
- Walkers Snacks
- Pringles
- KP Snacks
Chocolate & Confectionary
- Galaxy
- Cadbury
Soft Drinks & Non-Alcoholic Beverages
- Fanta
- Coke Zero
- Monster Energy
Alcoholic Beverages
- Oxford Landing
- Carling
Co-Op has had a strong suite of promotions across March and April, particularly across Easter. Most notably, the major UK retailer had some strong promotions from both brands and its retailer-own-produced goods, including an on-pack promotion on its chocolate Easter eggs and a gift-with-purchase promotion for its brand alongside FMCG brand promotions.
Co-op stores tend to be smaller in size than their main competitors - focusing on several small and local shops rather than larger supermarkets. For this reason, they tend to use far fewer FSDUs (free-standing display units) and instead, utilise shelf barkers and aisle fins to make use of the space. Several floor decals were also spotted, alongside overhead signs, which still give the stores the space for shoppers to navigate comfortably and not impede their experience.
Several pieces of point-of-sale found in the store included both branded messaging as well as retailer-own messaging - mostly connected to Co-Op’s membership cards, or their own-brand products alongside seasonally relevant messaging for some brands.
Making use of the high foot traffic to the confectionary aisle and higher chocolate sales around Easter, Co-Op is running an on-pack promotion on its Fairtrade chocolate eggs.
Whilst many retailers have previously offered prize promotions as part of their brand, it’s quite uncommon to see retailers move those promotions on-pack onto their own-brand goods. Co-Op’s foire into this space is an exciting development in the brand promotions space.
Its on-pack promotion was featured on several of their ‘Irresistible Good Egg’ flavours. Exclusively available to co-op members, this sort of promotion incentivises and pushes consumers to sign up and use the membership card, an incentive to slowly build shopper loyalty over time.
This brand promotion is eye-catching and easy for customers to join as long as they already have a membership card.
However, an issue with this promotion is the lack of significant or short terms & conditions on-pack. This is one of the most common mistakes made by brands during a promotion - not only on packs but also on promotional material like point-of-sale displays.
The reason why short terms are important is they inform the shopper their eligibility status - without that clarification, shoppers can get confused about how to enter or, become disappointed to find out they can’t enter. Significant terms should cover information such as eligibility, promotional periods, entry instructions, and several other details which you can learn about in PromoNow’s insight article, Weighing T&Cs - What's Considered Significant Terms & Conditions? Failing to list these terms could lead to an ASA ruling, just referring to the link is not enough - promoters need to include significant terms.
Another issue with this on-pack promotion is the link to terms and conditions. The link provided is coop.co.uk/WinEaster, however, the capitalised ‘W’ and ‘E’, as seen on the packaging, leads shoppers to a 404 page - coop.co.uk/wineaster is the correct URL. Even though capitalising it that way makes it easier for consumers to read and spell out, it’s very frustrating for shoppers trying to enter, keying in the URL as printed.
During the week leading up to the Easter weekend, Southern Co-Op stores ran a gift-wth purchase promotion which offered customers one free hot takeaway Lavazza drink alongside every qualifying transaction - the transaction can include any in-store purchase at the main till or self-checkout but “excludes purchases of cigarettes, tobacco, e-cigarettes, baby milk, lotteries, PayPoint services, phone top-ups, stamps, gift cards, and fuel” and is valid as long as it is not used in conjunction with “any other discount, offer, voucher, or promotion”. This offer was advertised in-store with aisle fins and shelf stoppers.
Gift-with-purchase promotions are very effective for retailers looking to increase foot traffic and encourage repeat purchases throughout the promotional period, in this case, tied to a strong offer of a free Lavazza coffee.
Kellogg’s football camps have returned for a second year - after a successful run in 2024, the on-pack promotion is returning to Kellogg’s cereals in-store. This on-pack promotion will not only run across their range of cereals, including but not limited to Crunchy Nut, Cornflakes, Coco Pops, and Rice Krispies - but also on some of Kellogg’s cereal bars.
Following the instructions, shoppers and participants will be taken to the brand’s new always-on promotional website, ‘Kellogg’s Town.’ Currently, this is available as a mobile-only experience.
Kellogg's Town uses a prize-draw mechanic that Kellogg's runs as part of their partnership with the English Football League (EFL), Manchester City, Celtic, and Rangers.
Football promotions are hugely popular and successful for brands. Football fans are dedicated and reliably engage with content and promotions relating to their favourite clubs. Moreover, with the ongoing Premier League matches, there’s a lot of excitement and active support in the sport, giving brands a brilliant opportunity to create and run seasonally relevant promotions that will garner more attention and foot traffic.
PepsiCo-owned brand, Quakers is running a promotion in collaboration with the National Trust and the National Trust For Scotland. The promotion is available at joy-pepsico.eu the company’s always-on promotional microsite JOY by PepsiCo. The on-pack promotion is featured on Quaker’s 10-pack and 20 family-packs.
Running several promotions on the microsite at the same time creates further opportunities for PepsiCo to cross-sell products to participants.
If your brand is also looking to leverage always-on as part of your promotional strategy, you can learn more by reading the insight article, Always-On Promotions | Creating with PromoNow or speak to a promotional expert to start the process of becoming ‘always-on’.
The Quaker’s promotion with the National Trust utilises both instant win and prize draw mechanics as well as 11-digit URNs (unique reference numbers) as the main method of proof of purchase to ensure the validity of entrants.
Doritos (Walkers Snacks) have partnered up with Warner Bros A Minecraft Movie (2025) based on the best selling game, Minecraft. The on-pack promotion features new movie inspired flavours such as 'The Creeper Vinegar' and 'The Ghost BBQ'.
Like the Quaker’s promotion mentioned previously, this on-pack promotion is hosted on JOY by PepsiCo at joy-pepsico.eu alongside several other brands owned by PepsiCo.
This promotion utilises an instant win and prize draw promotional mechanics to decide winners. Entrants will see “a Doritos Square animation” if they have won a cash prize of up to £10k. Alongside the cash prizes, there were also merchandise prizes available to be won in the instant win and the promotion will conclude with one wrap-up draw winner for a £500 cash prize.
This on-pack promotion is available across Walkers Snacks’ Quavers, Wotsits, and Monster Munch product lines. Again, this promotion is available and hosted on JOY by PepsiCo at joy-pepsico.eu and is also a brand partnership with A Minecraft Movie (2025). Similar to the Doritos x Minecraft movie promotion, this on-pack promotion uses both an instant win and prize draw mechanic and a unique 12-digit code to verify purchases.
Prizes offered include various Minecraft merchandise, movie tickets, and a grand prize of a week-long trip to Los Angeles, California, which includes a 7-night stay at a 4* hotel for the winner and a guest. The experience includes a trip to Warner Brothers Studio in Hollywood and £500 to spend.
Hosted on their gamified always-on microsite, poptopia.pringles.com, this on-pack promotion is a brand partnership with Super Mario, featuring limited edition packaging across several of their Pringles flavours. However, the promotional aspect is linked to their Super Mario x Pringles Mystery Flavour packs. This promotion uses twin mechanics; a Game of Skill and a Prize draw. Participants guess the Pringles mystery flavour to win. If there are multiple participants with the correct flavour, then a prize draw will determine the winner. If no-one correctly guesses the flavour, then the prize draw will choose the winner.
Although this particular on-pack promotion will only have one winner, this format has so far, been successful. It engages general shoppers as well as long-time customers to interact with the brand; to taste and to guess the flavour.
The entire experience is gamified and taps into the psychological appeal of games and by extension, gamification. This promotion dials in consumers’ sense of achievement, competition, and at times, cooperation. There’s a competitive spirit and gratification associated with getting the answer right, it encourages discussions with friends and online community. This gets people curious and tries for themselves to taste and guess - incentivising purchase and more discussion.
KP Snacks has had a longstanding partnership with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), launching The Hundred, and creating the on-pack promotion as well as their always-on microsite at everyonein.co.uk where competitions are hosted alongside other content to encourage people to get more involved in cricket.
Their on-pack promotion runs across a large range of their product lines.
The promotion includes a spin-to-win animation to engage entrants and this year is now hosted on cricket.everyonein.co.uk, a change from the previous promotion hosted at everyonein.co.uk.
The entry form now takes on a rather clean and polished look but still retains the overall branding and feel from previous years as well as improving the UX and UI designs throughout the promotional process.
Galaxy Chocolate has had their on-pack promotion supporting and partnering with Young Women’s Trust, a registered charity “building a fairer future for women” by offering free employment and workplace coaching to women, aged 18 - 20. This year, Galaxy are “donating £150,000 in 2025” With that donation, Galaxy will have donated over £375,000 since their partnership with the Young Women’s Trust began.
The QR code and messaging on promotional Galaxy packs, acts as an effective way for the Young Women’s Trust to reach more people. For purchases made in Co-Op that were bought in conjunction with scanning a Co-Op membership card, and scanning a Co-Op membership card, Mars will donate 3p per pack. Shoppers will receive a paper receipt, confirming their donation. The promotions runs for just under a month, in Co-Op stores across GB.
Returning with yet another football promotion, Cadbury has partnered with football players, Jill Scott, Leah Williamson, Katie McCabe, and Lauren James to create a ‘meet-and-greet’ experience for the winners of the promotion alongside other merchandise and signed memorabilia.
This on-pack promotion is available across a “wide range of Cadbury chocolate, Cadbury biscuits, Maynards Bassets sweets and Trebor mints are included in the promotion.” This promotion utilises both instant win and prize draw promotional mechanics - using a barcode and batch code as proof of purchase confirmation.
Cadbury has been running football-related promotions for quite some time now, having a dedicated microsite for their football club, Cadbury Athletic FC, alongside dedicated pages to Cadbury’s football-related activities including ‘competitions’ which also include brand promotions.
Coca-Cola-owned drinks brand, Fanta has an on-pack promotion available, Win What You Wanta, available on the Coca-Cola app. Like all the promotions available on the Coca-Cola app, participants can play the promotion-specific games and questionnaires. These will reward the entrant with points in-app which can then be redeemed against a promotion to enter.
For example, in Win What You Wanta, there’s a specific game in the ‘Games’ tab of the app which includes a text form which asks the entrant “Tell Us What YOU Want?” - completing it earns entrants 200 ‘Fanta Wanta’ points which can only be redeemed against the Fanta promotions. To enter the cash prize draw, it costs 50 points, to win experiences, it costs 150. This point-based system makes the gamification feel more justified, creating a legitimate incentive to play and participate in the games.
However, the issue with app-based promotions is that they discourage participation - app downloads are often seen as a ‘long-term’ decision by users - it takes time to download and even then, users have to create an account. For this reason, many brands opt to use web apps which can still run all types of gamification - brands can benefit from an always-on microsite where the attention is centred on the brand but requires low effort and levels of commitment from shoppers and consumers to navigate and use it - they’re immediately given access to the microsite as opposed to an app where it takes more time and effort to enter.
This on-pack promotion by Coca-Cola is completely free to enter but still can be found advertised in pack stores. Coca-Cola’s Love Pizza promotion is composed of winning moments and prize draw mechanics, this promotion was available for a few months up until late March.
Coca-Cola has run similar promotions in the past, such as their ASDA-exclusive ‘Love Pizza? Win Pizza’ promotion in 2024.
Although this promotion was not featured on-pack, in the entryway of the particular co-op the insight team visited, the promotion was displayed on an FSDU (free-standing display unit). This promotion is a prize draw, available at Monster Energy’s website where there is a dedicated page to the brand’s promotions - including current, ongoing, and a few past promotions.
Historically, Monster Energy has targeted its promotions towards ‘extreme sports’ and gaming, previously having collaborated with Call Of Duty, one of the top-grossing ‘first-person shooter’ video game franchises. Sports experiences often feature as prizes to win, such as this Snow & Surf experience and the UFC prize earlier this year.
Australian wine brand Oxford Landing has reached shelves with its on-pack promotion. The brand's overall packaging remains the same, with the addition of a bottleneck sticker containing the significant terms and conditions.
Their promotion consists of both an instant win and prize draw promotional mechanic - featuring on a promotional microsite which appears to be always-on at hsfepromotions.com.au for (HSFE) Hill-Smith Family Estates which features more promotions from some other brands under HSFE including The Y Series and Winesmiths. Both current and past promotions act as a reference to consumers and shoppers. Signalling a semi-frequent promotional schedule that encourages newsletter subscriptions to stay up-to-date.
An on-pack promotion by Carling takes advantage of the heavy footfall during football season. Carling has been an FA Cup partner since 2023 and will sponsor TalkSport’s Emirates coverage on both the FA Cup and UEFA Nations League. This will prominently feature Carling's brand throughout match reviews and previews.
Carling uses 8-digit unique numbers as a proof of purchase method for the brand promotion with 3 prize draw options - a general prize draw selected from all valid and eligible entries; a prize draw for correct answers in the trivia portion of the promotion; and lastly, a wrap-up prize draw to close the promotion.
To find out how your brand can run a promotion with an end-to-end platform - speak to one of our promotional experts. Consider using the PromoNow platform. Speak with a platform consultant at +44 (0)20 380 555 38 or email [email protected] to learn more.
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