Boots faced a challenge. Although they offered the widest gift selection on the high street at Christmas, research had shown that awareness of the breadth of their product range was very low. Boots ran their "3 for 2 Mix & Match" campaign in the run-up to Christmas 2005. The ad was enhanced by using Interactive TV, which allowed viewers that pressed red the opportunity to explore gift ideas. Interactors were able to select what type of person they were buying for, then the "gift generator" presented a selection of gift ideas which were then texted to their mobile.

To promote the "3 for 2 Mix & Match" offer; To increase awareness of the breadth of products available at Christmas; To raise brand perception amongst Christmas shoppers; To help customers who were frustrated at having to buy multiple gifts and struggling with ideas; To drive footfall to stores.

"Interactive TV allowed us to achieve our Christmas campaign goals of communicating our depth and breadth of offering. Our campaign also trod new ground by taking this means of brand interaction to a whole new audience". Robert Dreblow, Account Director, Mediacom.

Three sample groups were researched - interactors, viewers and non-viewers to the ad. Interactors were significantly more likely to mention Boots first, as a place where they would buy gifts if Christmas shopping tomorrow. This was regardless of their pre-disposition to Boots. When asked for spontaneous recall of the content of the ad, "3 for 2 Mix & Match" was mentioned by 80% of interactors. Interactors enjoyed the ad nearly 20% more than non-interactors and were 24% more likely to visit Boots because of it.

"The Christmas Mix & Match campaign was Boots' first foray into interactive TV advertising. Christmas is a key time of year for Boots and we are delighted that during the busy Christmas period, when our customers are swamped with festive messages, our interactive campaign achieved fantastic stand out with demonstrable results. Following the success of the campaign, we are already looking into using interactive TV for future Boots campaigns." Chris Ladd, Media Manager, Boots The Chemist.