September 2025
Written by
Abbie Mason
E-commerce
Marketing strategy
Product launch
Tech
The Era of Oversized Marketing
The UK is in the middle of an era where marketing has to fight for cultural real estate.
From lashes sweeping across the Underground to jackets big enough to swallow Big Ben, brands are hijacking skylines and feeds with oversized campaigns.
It’s not just advertising. It’s theatre. Spectacle. Cultural takeover.
Supersized Moments That Stick
Food and beverage brands have long known the power of scale. The world’s largest Jaffa Cake, unveiled by McVitie’s, wasn’t just a sweet stunt—it was an edible headline that turned nostalgia into national press. Greggs’ giant vegan sausage roll in Leicester Square did the same, cementing its reputation as the cheeky challenger brand of the British high street.
These moments prove one thing: oversized works because oversized gets remembered. Food on a larger-than-life scale makes us stop, laugh, snap a picture, and share. It turns a snack into a spectacle, and a product into a cultural talking point.
2025: Oversized Goes Next-Level
This year has already delivered one of the boldest examples of oversized marketing in the UK. Plant-based brand Just Egg made its debut with a five-metre-tall carton that appeared to crash-land outside King’s Cross station. The cracked pavement, fake rubble, and tongue-in-cheek tagline—“Finally, Just Egg Has Landed”—turned a launch into a scene.
It wasn’t just a big box. It was a statement: we’re here, we’re different, and you can’t miss us. The campaign rolled out across OOH, social, and a food truck tour, proving oversized can be the starting point of a whole brand narrative. (SignLink)
Pints, Pizzas and Props
Oversized isn’t confined to FMCG. Alcohol brands have embraced the trend for years, from Guinness projecting towering pints onto city buildings during the Six Nations, to Camden Hells’ giant beer glass outside its London brewery—a playful landmark and selfie magnet rolled into one.
Restaurants and hospitality groups are picking it up too. Aperol’s oversized spritz glass in Covent Garden brought Italian summer energy to central London, while Deliveroo’s giant pizza slice inflatable at Old Street turned a commuter zone into a slice of theatre. These aren’t ads you walk past—they’re ads you walk into.
When Bigger Backfires
There’s a risk, though. In supermarkets, “oversized” doesn’t mean fun; it means waste. UK consumers are already frustrated by unnecessary packaging, with supermarkets producing nearly 900,000 tonnes of plastic waste annually (The Guardian). And brands like Lynx have been accused of shrinkflation—quietly reducing bottle sizes while keeping prices the same. Oversized marketing builds goodwill. Oversized packaging erodes it.
Why Scale Still Matters
Done right, oversized marketing is more than a gimmick. It’s:
A way to claim public space and force attention.
A tool to root your brand in culture, not just commerce.
A catalyst for social amplification—because nobody can resist snapping a giant sausage roll or a crash-landed carton.
The lesson is simple: size is not the strategy. Story is. Oversized only works when the scale matches the brand’s tone, audience, and ambition.
Final Thought
2025 is proving that oversized marketing isn’t going anywhere. Just Egg’s crash-landed debut shows how a giant prop can launch a brand into the national conversation. Camden Hells, Aperol, Greggs, McVitie’s—these names have all used scale to turn food and drink into cultural theatre. Because in a crowded marketplace, subtlety gets ignored. But spectacle—with substance—wins the feed, the headlines, and the crowd.