In a competitive holiday marketing landscape, Instacart has carved out a distinctive voice by embracing nostalgia, creativity, and strategic storytelling. Its latest campaign, “Get a little magic delivered”, revives the beloved stop-motion animation aesthetics made iconic by Rankin/Bass films like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman, while positioning Instacart as the seasonal savior for overburdened households.

The campaign features a whimsical blend of live-action crises—ranging from mischievous pets toppling décor to intimidating holiday recipes—transitioning into enchanted animated worlds populated by talking animals who fulfill orders just in the nick of time. While playful and visually charming, the campaign is solving for a real audience pain point: holiday overwhelm.

Targeting the so-called “Magic Makers”—the unsung heroes behind the perfect family gatherings—Instacart’s campaign highlights the invisible labor of holiday preparation and offers technology-fueled respite. The message is clear: your seasonal burden doesn’t have to be yours alone. With a few swipes on the app, consumers can outsource time-consuming errands to Instacart and still experience holiday magic.

The initiative was developed in collaboration with Starburns Industries and RadicalMedia, with creative direction steered significantly by Instacart’s in-house agency, Local Produce. These partnerships demonstrate a shift toward hybrid agency models in marketing, combining agile internal teams with external production expertise—a smart move for brands looking to maintain speed and authenticity in campaign storytelling.

From a distribution standpoint, the holiday ads are strategically omnipresent: running across linear television, OTT platforms, paid social, and digital video. Notably, the execution includes a deep partnership layer, leveraging retail media activations with over 25 consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands such as Duracell, Oatly, Kerrygold, and Breyers. These brands appear throughout the campaign in both physical product placements and generalized branding integrations.

Instacart has also layered in viral social mechanics with compelling convenience hacks—most notably, the “Lie Pie” kit. Collaborating with the agency Rethink, Instacart has engineered an amusing gift box that provides a fully baked pie alongside raw ingredients, enabling gift-givers to masquerade as pastry chefs. Promoted by reality TV figure Boston Rob, the kits will be available in major metros like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, with proceeds supporting Feeding America.

This approach smartly links functionality (last-minute delivery) with entertaining, shareable experiences—meeting today’s digitally fluent consumers where they naturally spend their time: social feeds. Moreover, the “Lie Pie” campaign subtly introduces consumers to the breadth of Instacart’s non-grocery options, expanding brand perception beyond food delivery into broader lifestyle utility.

Another compelling undercurrent in this campaign is the human-touch creative direction in an age when many brands are prioritizing AI in their marketing stack. Instacart’s decision to lean into handcrafted animation versus algorithm-generated visuals is more than nostalgic—it’s responsive. In a marketplace where machine-generated content increasingly dominates ad real estate, this tactile sensibility acts as an emotional counterbalance, delivering warmth that algorithms can’t fabricate.

For SaaS innovators and tech-forward companies, the message embedded in Instacart’s strategy is instructive: customers crave not just functionality, but felt resonance. Marketing technology—however advanced—must be used in service of storytelling that acknowledges human moments. Whether it’s logistics, automation, or content personalization, the emotional tone of a customer journey can make or break loyalty, especially around moments where sentimentality peaks, such as the holidays.

As digital platforms continue to evolve, successful B2C and B2B brands alike will need to balance precision targeting with authenticity. DevSparks helps companies bridge this gap by blending AI-driven automation with sophisticated digital strategy—keeping products relevant, user interfaces intuitive, and campaigns emotionally intelligent.

Instacart’s holiday campaign reminds us that technology isn’t supposed to automate humanity out of marketing—it should amplify what’s meaningful. At DevSparks, our work helps SaaS platforms and digital brands craft not only scalable systems, but compelling narratives that resonate across channels and cultures.