The best Christmas logos: What happened when brands got festive

Header image displaying examples of the logos mentioned in the article with the title, 'The best Christmas logos' in a sans serif font in the middle of the image.
(Image credit: Tesco, M&S, Google, Meta, Unilever, Target. Font: Coolvetica. Design: Mabel Wynne.)

A logo seems like the perfect vessel to show off key moments in a brand's yearly calendar with a clever addition or temporary iteration, but you’ll be surprised to find out that some of the most famous moments of Christmas marketing don’t always come with revamped logos.

The yearly John Lewis Christmas advert and the Coca-Cola Christmas branding are some of the most famous pieces of Christmas marketing, but neither change their logos for the season. This shows us that a revamped logo is not always needed. But there are many household brands that still make an impact with a Christmas addition to their logos.

01. Google

Image asset of Google's 2024 Christmas doodle.

(Image credit: Google)

I don’t need to tell you about the fame and design relevance of Google’s ‘doodles’, meaning it places itself instantly on this list without effort. Created by designer and illustrator Maisie Derlega, this year’s Christmas doodle of the Google logo features the standard design adorned with beautifully illustrated fairylights wrapped all around the letters. And a seasonal hot tip to add: if you click on the ‘share’ icon next to Google’s logo on the homepage, a link will appear for you to copy. If you paste this into your browser you get to see a darkened version of the Google homepage featuring the lights lit up and glowing in a live animation. Small touches like this are what makes this season feel just that touch more exciting.

02. Tesco

Photograph by Alamy of a Tesco Extra adorned with an LED green Christmas cracker hat.

(Image credit: Alamy/Tesco)

2012 came to an end with an extravaganza of green LED Christmas hats. They lit up over 200 Tesco Extras across the UK, certainly adding a touch of festive fun for last-minute turkey shoppers. The hats also appeared in shots of Tesco in their 2012 Christmas adverts, as a fun novelty for shoppers at the time, an excellent marketing decision in a year where even at Christmas, grocery demand was rapidly declining. I expect the Christmas party hats quickly righted that statistic for Tesco.

03. M&S Food

The end still of an M&S Food advert with the letters of the logo spelled out with fairylights.

(Image credit: M&S Food)

In a 2018 Christmas advert, M&S Food redesigned their logo as spelled out in fairylights to match the blue and snowy, Norwegian-esque design of the advert. This gold and glittery version of the logo featured in more of their Christmas branding that season, and I am a huge advocate for bringing it back. M&S Food have also added a gold shine to their logo at Christmas in recent years, but the letters spelled out in fairylights is a design that thrives in digital formats (and is also a personal favourite of mine) so I think it should become a much more frequently used design of the company’s Christmas branding.

04. Unilever

Unilever's often-used Christmas version of their logo.

(Image credit: Unilever)

Unilever put their house illustrator to work with the Christmas version of their famously intricate logo. They swapped out their nature-inspired collection of birds and plants carefully placed in their brand’s title letter ‘U’, with an assortment of Christmassy items including baubles, presents, snowflakes and other winter-inspired objects. It’s a subtle and classy way to show the brand’s celebration for the festive season while reminding consumers of the message of Unilever’s iconic logo and the important message behind it.

05. Facebook

Facebook's old logo (now Meta) with the two letter 'o's replaced with a pile of snowballs.

(Image credit: Facebook/Meta)

Staying on the politically neutral side, Facebook chose to err on the edge of ‘generally festive’ rather than specifically Christmas-focussed. It's unclear when Facebook opted for this design, and I am surprised the move is not more well-documented, or even used again by Meta. It swapped out its two letter ‘o’s for snowballs, a smoothly non-invasive seasonal touch. Nothing of the kind has yet been seen this year, but a wintry addition to everyday logos always brightens up the season, so I can only hope that Meta chooses to bring back a newly appropriate winter design to its various logos in 2025.

06. Target

The Target logo designed as a Christmas bauble with additional glitter effects.

(Image credit: Target)

Back in 2020, Target joined the Christmas party of revamping their logo. They transformed their world-famous, literal ‘target’ symbol into a bauble concisely with just a piece of string and some glitter. They also added some sparkle to the stripes, conveniently already a festive red. Some renditions of the Christmas logo have used snow rather than glitter when designed for the company's banners. It’s a design that perfectly maintains Target’s succinct and eye-catching brand while simultaneously evoking the Christmas season.

To create your own designs, see our list of the best laptops for graphic design.

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Mabel Wynne
Writer & multi-disciplinary artist

Mabel is a writer and multi-disciplinary artist. She is a regular freelance contributor to Creative Bloq and has also written for T3, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, and other Future publications. She's currently working on obtaining her degree in illustration and visual media from UAL, as well as running her independent publishing house Mabel Media, which has just launched its debut fine print publication, ‘One day I could be living again’, stocked in Magalleria, MagCulture and the London Review of Books bookshop. When she's not writing or making art in the physical form, she's making films for Mabel Media, rollerskating or travelling.