Pret A Manger
Illuminating the season
The first global festive packaging roll-out for Pret, designed to delight customers, bring joy to the high street and highlight The Pret Foundation.
First-ever
global festive rollout for Pret A Manger
For this winter campaign, Pret’s packaging became the centrepiece of the brand’s festive storytelling. The creative challenge was to design something that could work globally across multiple packaging lines - while retaining a distinctly Pret personality, delighting customers and embedding a charitable story.
We took inspiration from fairy lights, capturing their inherent warmth and glow. Each strand was hand-illustrated with a tactile feel, reflecting Pret’s craft and quality. Tiny Pret stars were embedded in each bulb, subtly tying the design back to the brand’s DNA. Bold, deep colours paired with soft pastels gave the illustrations a luminous, cheerful presence on the high street.
The packaging also played a key role in bringing the festive feel to Pret shops, with small details like sandwich boxes aligned to form one continuous string of lights along the shelves.
Every detail was considered to create moments of joy. A smiling marshmallow Melvin head was hidden inside sandwich boxes, with four different sayings depending on which box you received. The lights varied across the range, and playful plug points connected the string, adding surprises that encouraged interaction and sharing. Each territory received slightly different plug designs, making the campaign feel bespoke, whether in the UK, France or the US.
The fairy lights were used to shine a light on key messages including The Pret Foundation and their coffee subscription, giving the seasonal packaging purpose as well as beauty.
The Pret Christmas campaign proved that thoughtfully designed packaging can do more than simply hold a product - it can create joy, tell a story and bring the brand closer to its customers during one of the most competitive seasons of the year.
