Love them or hate them, seasonal holidays can mean big bucks for business. Whether it’s Halloween or Hanukah, key calendar dates provide an annual opportunity for brands to engage consumers and maximise sales.
Last year saw many big brand names get into the holiday spirit and find new and creative ways to use these seasonal hooks to their advantage. Here is a roundup of my favourite seasonal campaigns of 2015:
Spring: Popular department store, Debenhams, used Easter as a beautifully engaging hook to get people through its doors and onto its social channels. The retailer held an Easter egg hunt in its stores nationwide, inviting customers to seek out eggs and upload pictures to Twitter to be in with a chance of winning a bundle of chocolate goodies. The campaign had the dual benefit of encouraging customers into Debenhams stores and driving engagement with the brand on social media. Simple idea, eggspertly delivered.
Summer: Uber brought a slice of summer to consumers in nearly 60 countries by delivering complimentary ice creams via its usual app. Despite some customers becoming disgruntled at the limited availability of the sweet treats, the #UberIceCream campaign delighted office-workers the world over and achieved impressive reach and engagement across various social media channels, casting the brand in a summery and positive light.
Autumn: Not one for me personally, but a great use of a seasonal hook: last Halloween Airbnb offered two ‘lucky’ customers a night in a Parisian Catacomb which is home to the bodies of six million dead and labelled the ‘world’s largest grave’. The campaign was a spooktacular (sorry) way of raising awareness of Airbnb’s hugely diverse portfolio of properties and achieved mass cut-through in the media, not to mention across social media.
Winter: What better way to warm up and rejuvenate yourself on a cold winter’s day? A lovely big warm cup of herbal tea of course! Last winter, popular tea brand, Pukka Herbs, provided free samples of its range of herbal teas to 300,000 office workers in south east England in a targeted sampling campaign.
The Work Perk campaign reached the brand’s target demographic directly at their desks, introducing them to the brand and exciting product range during peak tea drinking season. Recipients were given the opportunity to fill out an online questionnaire to share their feedback which was a great way for Pukka understand how the teas resonated with consumers.
The social workplace environment was ideal for stimulating ‘talkability’ around the teas with many recipients taking to social media to post pictures of their freebies, engaging directly with the brand in the process too.
It makes sense to think shrewdly about the seasons when it comes to planning marketing activity ahead of time. There are endless ways to be creative with calendar hooks to drive engagement both online and offline, to not only maximise sales but also build your brand with positive consumer experiences.
By Craig Williams, Global Business Development Director at The Work Perk
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