Friday 28 November 2025: PR & Marketing News Round‑Up | Lickable Wrapping Paper, Insane Bakes & Bold Christmas Filmmaking
Team Visible is back with this week’s Friday PR & Marketing News Round‑Up, and as we’re hurtling toward Christmas, we’ve seen brands offering up more inventive launches and unconventional product ideas to really make themselves seen among the festive marketing madness.
Read on for our picks of the week…
Ole & Steen ‘Insane Pastries’ Enters UK Supermarket Aisles
Danish bakery Ole & Steen has put four of its cult and TikTok famous pastries into select Waitrose stores and online for the first time. As popular choices at its nationwide cafés, shoppers can now buy top treats like the Signature Cinnamon Social and Cardamom Buns in supermarkets. It positions the move within a wider premium bakery push in UK grocery, with Waitrose using the exclusive tie-up to reinforce its ‘Home of Food Lovers’ positioning.
Why it matters for PR & Marketing: For any bakery, taking the step into supermarkets is a big move, for both brand and customer alike. This expansion shows how artisanal or niche food brands can scale via supermarkets, a play that balances a sense of exclusivity with accessibility.
Aldi Launches World‑First Lickable Pigs‑in‑Blankets Wrapping Paper
As part of a campaign to support their Specially Selected festive food line, supermarket giant Aldi has unveiled a limited‑edition lickable wrapping paper that smells and tastes like everyone’s favourite Christmas dinner addition, Pigs‑in‑Blankets! This bold move has divided opinion and sees the season of giving turn gifting into a quirky, sensory experience.
Why it matters for PR & Marketing: This campaign is built for social shares, earned media, and experiential surprise, blending food, nostalgia, humour and holiday spirit. Aldi is reminding marketers that sometimes the weirdest ideas get the loudest reactions, and is a great example of creative thinking, driving media impact without a huge media spend.
Google Taps into Love Actually Sentiment for 2025 Christmas Ad
Google has released a festive ad brand film to promote its Pixel phone. It leans heavily on emotional storytelling, nostalgia and pop‑culture cues, echoing the seasonal classic sentiment of the most watched Christmas film of all time, Love Actually. The move reflects how tech brands are using cultural touchpoints more and more to humanise their messaging over the festive period.
Why it matters for PR & Marketing: As audiences become more desensitised to traditional advertising, emotional narrative and cultural resonance are becoming more effective. This campaign shows how even large tech brands can benefit from storytelling that feels human, an angle worth considering for any brand preparing content for the festive season.
Ricola’s Scented Scarves: Merging Wellness, Nostalgia & Lifestyle
Ricola has launched a quirky winter accessory, limited-edition scarves infused with the scent of its iconic cough drop flavors. Marketed with the slogan ‘Protect your throat in style’, these premium scarves are lightly scented in two aromatic versions: Lemon Balm and Mint Peppermint, with a handy hidden pocket for stashing cough drops, blending practicality with a playful nod to the brand’s throat-soothing heritage.
Why it matters for PR & Marketing (with caution): As most of us experience some form of cold and flu during the winter months, this fragrant campaign is a bold move from Ricola. It illustrates the rise of sensory branding and generative novelty in marketing, playing on the heritage of the ‘go to’ brand for soothers. It’s also a stark reminder that when consumers are saturated with predictable festive campaigns, unusual sensory or lifestyle tie‑ins can create standout shareable moments.
Ireland’s Data Protection Commission launch bold ad campaign
Ireland’s Data Protection Commission has launched a bold campaign called ‘Pause before you Post’, a powerful film created to warn parents about the hidden dangers of ‘sharenting’ which involves routinely sharing children’s photos and personal details online. The advert cleverly dramatises how an innocent stream of posts can quickly build a child’s digital footprint and expose their identity.
Why it matters for PR & Marketing: The striking film brings to the forefront the impact of ‘sharenting’, using a bold creative which demonstrates the story more like a drama than a TV advert. This helps the content cut through crowded feeds, feel culturally relevant, and earn attention. The unsettling tone, emotional stakes and simple line make it highly shareable and discussion‑worthy.
Final Thoughts
From a cheeky lickable wrapping paper to promoting the awareness of ‘sharenting’, this week’s mix of stories shows that marketers are going bold this Christmas. Whether it’s playful product stunts, ambitious scaling moves, or emotionally charged storytelling, the brands getting attention are those willing to take creative risks.
Planning a fresh push on PR and comms? Speak to the Visible PR team today at hello@visiblepr.co.uk