Coca-Cola have announced the return of their famous Christmas Truck Tour across the nation, aiming to spread the festive spirit and raise awareness for some societal issues.

The popular annual Christmas tour undertaken by the large red truck will be hitting cities across the UK in 2024, in support of FareShare, the country’s largest charity in fighting food waste and hunger.

Each person that attends the Coca-Cola Christmas Truck Tour will have the equivalent of a meal donated on their behalf, with the soft drink company aiming to donate up to the equivalent of one million meals through FareShare this Christmas period.

The charity works with the food industry to help redistribute surplus food to 8,000 charities and community groups in the UK.

In 2024, the Coca-Cola Truck Tour aims to focus on spreading kindness, with the company’s Christmas campaign message being: “The World Needs More Santas”.

Encouraging visitors to spread their Christmas spirit by sharing acts of kindness, the truck will be parked in major cities under sparkling festive lights, while Christmas-themed games will be available to visitors, and a lucky dip to win exclusive Coca-Cola merchandise.

The Coca-Cola Truck is a food truck too, at the end of the day, so some seasonal tastes will be up for grabs along with an ice-cold Coca-Cola Zero Sugar for customers.

Other features of the Coca-Cola Christmas campaign include:

Holidays are coming advertisement

The Truck will be making its annual festive appearance on our TVs later this November, with the classic ‘Holidays Are Coming’ ad signalling the beginning of the campaign.

Coca-Cola will also introduce an AI-generated interpretation of the original advert, in a modern twist of the ad.

We’ll be seeing the truck tour the country later this month (Matthew Horwood/Getty Images)

Real magic experiences

The soft drink company will also share a ‘festive digital AI experience’, allowing people to have conversations with Santa or a snow globe avatar, creating a personalised snow globe animation that you can share with friends.

This will be accessible by scanning the QR code on a Christmas bottle or can of Coca-Cola.

‘The world needs more Santas’

The slogan is being used for the second year running, as the advert reminds everyone to spread Christmas kindness to ‘spark the inner Santa’ in us all.

This advert will be soundtracked by British singer-songwriter Celeste, with a cover of ‘Anyone Can Be Santa’.

Florence Wheatley, the marketing manager for Coca-Cola Great Britain, stated: “Coca-Cola has and remains synonymous with Christmas, with many people eagerly awaiting the Coca-Cola Christmas Truck Tour and Holidays Are Coming advert to create a little festive magic.

“This year, we’re delighted to continue our relationship with FareShare to support its mission to reduce hunger and surplus food waste. We hope that every person that attends the Truck Tour not only experiences the magic of Coca-Cola Christmas, but also supports FareShare, knowing that the equivalent of a meal has been donated on their behalf, acting as a little moment of kindness to ensure that thousands of people across the country enjoy a more meaningful Christmas.”

Coca-Cola is using AI to bring some new features to customers as part of their Christmas Campaign (Mark Renders/Getty Images)

Kirsty Ford, the Head of Fundraising at FareShare also said: “We are so grateful to Coca-Cola for their continued support for FareShare. These invaluable donations help us get good-to-eat food to the people who need it rather than going to waste. Every day, the food we redistribute to a network of over 8,000 charities in every region helps to strengthen communities. Coca-Cola’s generous support for FareShare is instrumental in helping people affected by the cost-of-living crisis. This support means charities can unite more people through food to form connections and access essential support services. Thank you for helping FareShare make the food go further.”

If you can’t visit the truck in person, a promotion with Coca-Cola Zero Sugar and Coca-Cola Original Taste from November will allow fans to scan on-pack QR codes to be in with the chance to win Christmas shopping vouchers.

List of possible key destinations

• Glasgow
• Edinburgh
• Gateshead
• Leeds
• Dublin
• Belfast
• Liverpool
• Sheffield
• Manchester
• Rushden
• London

Coca-Cola Christmas Truck Tour fans can follow announcements about the schedule which will be made over the coming weeks at @CocaColaGBI (Instagram) and @CocaCola_GB (X).

Holidays are coming, holidays are coming, holidays are coming… you’re singing it now, right?

We all know that the Coca-Cola Christmas ad is the official confirmation that it’s time to get Christmassy. And with the company confirming the return of its annual truck tour, it seems it has got a rival this year.

Yep, Lidl is coming. The supermarket has launched its own big red Christmas cola truck that’s going on tour with a full list of UK locations and dates revealed.

Just when you thought Aldi vs M&S with their caterpillar cakes was the peak, this really takes the cake – or takes the coke, I guess.

Based on its own-brand Freeway cola drink, Lidl’s truck is going to visit nine cities starting from next week.

At each of its stops, the supermarket is going to give out over 2,000 present boxes, food shops and samples.

Plus, if you do go to one of the tour stops, you get to submit your own little Christmas wish, which Lidl is apparently going to grant a number of. But maybe be a little realistic lads, don’t go wishing for a Tesla or a new-build.

Joanna Gomer, Marketing Director at Lidl GB, said: “Giving back to the communities we serve is really important to us and our exciting new Freeway truck allows us to get right into the heart of them this year.

“By touring nine stops across the country, we’ll be using our giant truck to hand out present boxes, give away festive food shops and grant wishes that will make dreams come true.

“Look out for the Freeway truck on its tour and most importantly, come join the fun.”

Here’s the full list of the Lidl Freeway cola truck locations:

• Dundee – 14 November
• Harrogate – 16 November
• Hull – 17 November
• Nottingham – 21 November
• Wolverhampton – 23 November
• Wrexham – 24 November
• Luton – 28 November
• Bournemouth – 30 November
• Southampton – 1 December

The tour starts next week. (LIDL)

This announcement follows Coca-Cola’s, as their 2024 Christmas Truck Tour aims to spread both the festive spirit and support FareShare, the country’s largest charity in fighting food waste and hunger.

Each person that attends will have the equivalent of a meal donated on their behalf, with the soft drink company aiming to donate up to the equivalent of one million meals through the charity this Christmas period.

Coca-Cola Christmas Truck Tour fans can follow announcements about the schedule which will be made over the coming weeks at @CocaColaGBI (Instagram) and @CocaCola_GB (X).

It’s that time of year again where the John Lewis Christmas advertisement drops, and it’s another tear-jerker for UK audiences.

Long have we known that watching this yearly ad would bring us to tears, but it might have even topped its own standards this time.

Officially, we can now whack the tree up, deck the halls, and prepare ourselves for a merry ol’ time.

Last year, we were treated to a story of a young lad whose grow-your-own Christmas tree kit turned out to be a Venus flytrap.

Okay, so that doesn’t sound Christmassy, but wait.

The boy picked up the plant at a local market while thinking he was about to grow the perfect Christmas tree, and the poor Snapper was then cast outside when the family bought a proper tree.

The beautiful moment came when the boy decided to include the Venus in their celebrations, regardless, with a touching little message about letting your traditions grow.

Now, if that wasn’t enough, 2024’s John Lewis ad features a memory-strewn emotional story which sees a woman frantically buying a last-minute gift for her sister.

Titled The Gifting Hour, it tells the story of Sally, who is running into the retailer’s Oxford Street flagship store, which is the first time a John Lewis store has appeared in its own Christmas ad.

Poor Sally is in the shop just 15 minutes before closing time, and after frantically looking at things to choose, she falls through a rack of dresses and ends up in the attic of her childhood home.

Like a Narnia-esque dream, she then begins a journey through her memories of growing up with her sister as she continues to look for the perfect gift.

Through their beautiful relationship growing up together, finally, she’s able to find something that can show her sister exactly how special she really is, when she’s thrown back into reality – and her sister appears to be outside of the store.

It’s going to make you cry (PA)

Sally and her sis then walk away, as the childhood version of the younger sibling is reflected in the John Lewis window.

It’s a beautifully touching story about revisiting the important times in life with those you love and remembering why they make your life so special.

The two-minute TV advert ends with the perfect strapline: “The secret to finding the perfect gift? Knowing where to look.”

Ah, it’s exactly what you’d expect from a brand who makes us cry year after year.

John Lewis customer director Charlotte Lock told PA: “Our ad heroes the thoughtful gift-giver and celebrates ‘the gifting hour’, the moment when you go a little deeper in your heart and in our stores to find something really special and meaningful for the ones you love.

“Our shops are the beating heart of our brand and our customers love the ritual of Christmas shopping there – so we wanted to give the store a starring role in our ad for the first time.

“This year the John Lewis Christmas advert features an original song rather than a cover track, and we’re offering the nation the chance to put their own stamp on it and become the ultimate cover star.”

The brand has set up a competition for it (PA)

Franki Goodwin, chief creative officer at Saatchi & Saatchi, the company that created the ad, said: “We’ve all been there – time’s running out and you’re still looking for the perfect gift for someone in your life who’s impossible to shop for.”

It’s made even better with Richard Ashcroft, the former Verve frontman, providing the soundtrack with his song Sonnet from his Acoustic Hymns album, which switches up the usual cover-style music that John Lewis usually uses in their advertisements.

Now, the brand is holding a TikTok competition to find an aspiring artist to cover the song, for which Ashcroft and record label BMG are helping with.

Whoever wins will be able to record their own version of Sonnet, and it will feature in a special Christmas Day airing of the ad on TV, as well as being officially released by BMG.

All proceeds from the winning track will go to the John Lewis Partnership’s Building Happier Futures programme to help ‘care-experienced’ people.

It’s just the gift that keeps on giving.

IT’S CHRISTMASSSSS. Okay, it’s definitely not. I mean, there’s still over a whole month to go until the big day.

But that doesn’t mean the festivities aren’t kicking off already. While your neighbours already start putting their lights up, the iconic ads have begun on telly.

Besides from the classic John Lewis advert and the supermarkets competing to win over the nation, there is of course the very famous big red lorry that many argue signals the start of Christmas.

The iconic ‘Holidays Are Coming’ Coca-Cola ad has become an annual icon as its pretty much as famous as Santa’s own choice of transportation.

And it’s not just limited to our TV screens in the breaks of I’m A Celeb. Oh no, you can actually see the truck in real life.

Each year it tours the UK and Ireland to hand out cans of the legendary drink and spread that festive joy.

‘Tis the season for Coke after all – the coca-cola kind of course.

The ‘Coca-Cola Real Magic Experience’ tends to keep people in anticipation for when the truck will arrive in their area.

The cheeky coke heads don’t usually reveal the locations in one go, instead they announce where they’ll be heading next once they’ve arrived in one area.

Two dates have so far been confirmed by Coca-Cola – RDS Simmonscourt in Dublin from 30 November to 3 December and then Belfast’s Titanic Slipway from 8-10 December.

So, once it kicks off over in Ireland, we should start to get the rest of the UK dates for the tour.

The full list of locations hasn’t been confirmed yet by Coca-Cola but last year the truck visited the following areas: Baldock, Beckton, Bradford, Bristol, Cardiff, Coventry, East Leake, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Kent, Leeds, London, Manchester, Sheffield, Watford and Wolverhampton

Matthew Horwood/Getty Images

While it tours the UK, the company tend to support charities throughout. In recent years, it has partnered with hunger and food waste charity FareShare.

Tickets are currently available for Dublin and Belfast on Eventbrite priced at €2 plus a €0.55 Fee and €0.59 VAT.

€2 per ticket is to be donated to the Irish Youth Foundation in Dublin and Youth Action Northern Ireland in Belfast.

If you go along to the ‘Real Magic Christmas Experience’ in Belfast, there’ll be local food vendors, ‘fun festive experiences’ and music.

Guests can also queue for an iconic Coca-Cola Truck Photo, which could be an easy way of bagging a Christmas present this year.