Holiday 2025 Personalization Playbook: How QR-Powered Video Gift Notes Turn Every Purchase Into a Mom

Holiday 2025 Personalization Playbook: How QR-Powered Video Gift Notes Turn Every Purchase Into a Moment

The holiday season of 2025 is shaping up to be a game-changer for retail brands looking to capture the hearts and attention of their customers. As consumer expectations continue to rise, hyper-personalization has emerged as one of the most powerful ways to engage shoppers. 

One innovation that stands out in this new era of retail is QR-powered video gift notes, which offer a unique way to enhance the holiday shopping experience. This blog will explore how brands can leverage QR codes, video messages, and user-generated content (UGC) to turn every purchase into an unforgettable moment.

Why Personalization Matters?

In 2025, holiday shopping is no longer just about finding the right gift; it’s about creating a personalized, emotional experience for the customer. Hyper-personalization is the key to achieving this, allowing brands to cater to the individual needs and preferences of their customers at an unprecedented scale. By incorporating personalized elements, such as video messages, brands can build deeper connections with their customers, fostering loyalty and increasing the likelihood of repeat purchases.

QR Codes: The Gateway to Seamless Personalization

QR codes are playing a pivotal role in making video gifting and personalized video messages easy to deliver. Through a simple scan, customers can unlock a world of emotional engagement by accessing personalized content that enhances the overall shopping experience. This innovative approach is a major departure from traditional retail, where the act of gifting was often detached from any meaningful connection between the giver and the receiver.

QR-powered video gift notes have become a great way to add a layer of emotional unboxing to any holiday gift. Whether it’s a birthday, anniversary, or holiday shopping in 2025, customers can now make their presents more personal by sending a heartfelt message through a quick video scan. These video messages not only elevate the excitement of opening a gift but also create lasting memories, which are crucial in building long-term brand loyalty.

The psychology behind UGC is rooted in the emotional impact it has on audiences. When users share their experiences with a product or brand, they are essentially telling a story that others can relate to. This form of content is inherently more authentic and trustworthy than traditional advertising, making it an invaluable asset for brands.

No-App Capture: The Future of UGC in Retail

One of the major barriers to collecting UGC in the past has been the reliance on apps or third-party tools that required a steep learning curve. However, with platforms like BrandLens, capturing user-generated content has become seamless. BrandLens features allow customers to easily create and share video content without needing to download any apps. This no-app capture experience has made it simpler than ever for brands to tap into the power of UGC to boost e-commerce sales.

In 2025, we can expect to see more brands leveraging gift box video content to increase engagement. The ability for customers to instantly record and share their personalized experiences creates an organic and authentic form of marketing that resonates deeply with other shoppers.

Best Practices for UGC Video: Creating Content That Resonates

While UGC is a powerful tool, it’s essential to ensure that the videos created align with the brand’s overall messaging and aesthetic. Here are a few best practices for incorporating UGC video into your holiday campaigns:

1. Encourage Authenticity: Rather than scripting or staging content, allow your customers to express themselves in their own way. Authenticity resonates deeply with audiences, and customers will appreciate the freedom to share their personal experiences.
2. Make it Shareable: Ensure that the content created is easy to share across multiple platforms, from social media to email. Offering incentives for sharing can also drive even more engagement.
3. Integrate UGC into Your Marketing Funnel: Incorporate UGC in various stages of the customer journey, whether it’s pre-purchase inspiration, post-purchase engagement, or during the unboxing experience. This helps keep your brand top of mind and encourages repeat purchases.
4. Leverage QR Codes for Easy Access: As mentioned earlier, using QR codes to link to video content can simplify the process of creating and viewing personalized UGC. Make sure the experience is frictionless for your customers.

Case Study: Engagement & Activation Through Video Gifting

One of the most successful holiday campaigns in recent memory came from a popular global brand that combined video messages and QR codes to create an unforgettable holiday UGC experience. 

Hershey’s personalized video gifting is an excellent example of how brands are tapping into this trend. Hershey’s created a powerful holiday campaign in 2024 by offering customers the ability to add personalized video messages to their chocolate gift boxes, creating a memorable gifting experience that resonated emotionally with recipients. As shoppers increasingly demand unique and meaningful gifts, personalized video messages are emerging as a powerful tool to make every present feel more special.

The result was a scalable personalization strategy that was not only emotionally impactful but also easily replicable at scale. The brand’s investment in QR-powered video gifting paid off, as sales soared and social media channels buzzed with the content generated by customers.

2025 Content & UGC Trends: What to Expect This Holiday Season

As we move into the holiday season of 2025, several trends are expected to dominate the retail landscape:

• Increased focus on emotional unboxing: Consumers are looking for more than just the product—they want an experience that taps into their emotions.
• Scalable personalization: Brands will continue to find ways to scale personalized experiences, whether through video gifting, custom messaging, or interactive experiences.
• UGC as a key conversion tool: Brands that successfully integrate UGC into their marketing strategy will see increased engagement, loyalty, and ultimately, sales.
• Video as the dominant content form: Video content will continue to reign supreme in holiday campaigns, with a special emphasis on UGC video content.

Holiday Campaign Ideas

Here are some holiday campaign ideas for 2025 that incorporate QR codes and UGC video content:

1. Interactive Gift Boxes: Allow customers to scan a QR code on their holiday gift box to unlock a personalized video message or a surprise unboxing experience.
2. Personalized Video Holiday Cards: Let customers record and send personalized video cards to loved ones, making the gifting experience more personal and memorable.
3. UGC Contests & Challenges: Launch a social media contest encouraging customers to share their UGC holiday unboxing videos for a chance to win a grand prize.
4. Post-Purchase Video Messages: Send a thank-you video message to customers after their purchase, linking them to an exclusive holiday offer or discount.

The holiday season of 2025 is set to be one of the most personalized and engaging yet. Brands that embrace QR-powered video gifting, holiday UGC, and hyper-personalization will not only create memorable moments for their customers but also drive deeper emotional connections that result in long-term loyalty. By harnessing the power of UGC, video messages, and innovative technologies like QR codes, retail brands have the opportunity to create truly magical experiences that will leave a lasting impact on shoppers this holiday season and beyond.