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How do you get ready for the New Year?
You probably dig out the festive tinsel, hang up garlands, place a figurine of Santa Claus or Father Frost in a place of honor, and hang a stocking for gifts on your door or fireplace. However, the magic atmosphere isn't confined to our homes. New Year's advertising, discounts, and promotions start rolling out at the beginning of December. It's time to think about how to prepare your brand for the holiday season. Let's explore why you should "dress up" products in New Year's packaging and what other holiday marketing strategies are already out there.
Product redesign
With the start of December, the refreshed product design catches customers' eyes first. Brands often switch to traditional New Year's red and green, showcasing classic holiday scenes featuring Santa Claus, reindeer, snowmen, and snowflakes on packaging or the products themselves. For instance, since the late 1990s, Starbucks has annually released a special series of holiday cups with New Year's motifs. The design changes each year-one cup might feature a snowman, another with New Year's patterns and reindeer sleds, another with Christmas tree decorations, and recently, this year's symbol, a dragon.
KFC also embraces the holiday season with a unique twist. During the holidays, the fast-food chain offers special iron baskets filled with chicken nuggets, wings, strips, or thighs instead of the usual cardboard ones. While these iron baskets are pricier, showing one when purchasing your next basket earns you a fantastic discount valid all year round. Additionally, it's impossible not to mention Coca-Cola, renowned for its iconic New Year's marketing campaigns. Their bottles, adorned with festive labels featuring Santa Claus and his reindeer team, stand out on store shelves.
Updating the visuals of related products
Brands update not only their products but also entire websites, social media pages, and, at the very least, landing pages. For instance, the American department store chain Macy's adds an image of Santa Claus to its virtual landing page, encouraging customers to stock up on New Year supplies. Taco Bell, the international fast-food chain, gets creative with snowflake images on its usual design, and its landing page even features special gift socks. Google, a name that needs no introduction, traditionally updates its search page by adorning the browser name with a New Year's garland and replacing the letters O with Christmas baubles.
Social media contests
Social media and messaging apps are perfect platforms for running contests, holiday quizzes, and challenges. These activities boost audience engagement, sales, and brand recognition and attract new customers. For instance, the cosmetics company Lush releases unique holiday sets of cosmetics each year and raffles them off on social media. In some challenges, participants can win discounts and exclusive offers. For example, the Coco Village store offers a $10 purchase bonus for winning a quiz.
Collaborate with influencers
Influencers are an excellent way to broaden your audience and draw significant attention to your brand. This approach is particularly effective during the New Year holidays when various media personalities can recommend your company to their followers as a great place to find gifts for family and friends. Pandora frequently employs this strategy, using influencers to promote its Christmas jewelry collections.
Promotions and free delivery
Busy individuals, even on the eve of the New Year, will find free holiday delivery especially useful and beneficial. This convenience can be a deciding factor for customers who have yet to use your products, prompting them to choose you for their New Year's gifts. If offering free delivery on all orders isn't feasible, consider providing discounts or charging only for urgent deliveries. For instance, Puma offers a 100% discount on delivery during the holidays if you place an order at night. Similarly, Buck Mason offers expedited delivery options.
And the most memorable is New Year's video advertising
This approach, while the most expensive, is also the most effective way to announce your brand and its New Year updates. Notable examples to follow include Coca-Cola and M&M's with their iconic Santa Claus campaigns. Their touching and atmospheric videos have inspired many, including the Edeka supermarket chain, Duracell, Amazon, Marks & Spencer, and numerous others.
What do you do if the New Year is fast approaching and you still need to be on trend?
If the New Year is fast approaching and there's still no festive spirit, it's time to address that-even with makeshift solutions urgently. Here are some tips to help your brand quickly embrace the seasonal trend:
Tip 1. Brainstorm
Brainstorming is one of the most effective tools for generating various ideas and options, such as for New Year's website designs, contests, and numerous promotions. We've previously discussed how to conduct brainstorming sessions and the different types here. It's crucial to hold multiple brainstorming sessions for each aspect of the brand, whether it's updating product design, collaborating with influencers, or organizing challenges, quizzes, and other interactive activities. This approach enables you to quickly and efficiently formulate detailed and clear ideas for immediate application.
Tip 2. Create a new product or enhance an existing one
Of course, creating a New Year's product is a labor-intensive and costly process. However, even the most obvious ideas can be beneficial. For instance, if you manage a restaurant or fast-food cafe, you can create a themed menu and decorate dishes festively. If your company produces chips, consider making a collection with flavors inspired by traditional New Year's salads. For product redesigns, try using motifs from classic New Year's fairy tales or switch to traditional holiday colors.
Tip 3. Launch a contest
This is the most cost-effective method, both financially and timewise, to engage your audience and showcase that you are keeping up with trends. Encourage your followers on social media to take part in a prize draw offering collectibles, discounts, and bonuses. Depending on your business, you can organize a contest for the best New Year's dish recipe, create a quiz like "What New Year's trip should you go on?" or "Who are you from New Year's fairy tales?", or a quiz about the history of your brand-particularly engaging for loyal customers. This approach not only boosts engagement but also helps maintain a positive brand image in the eyes of your audience.
Tip 4. Ask artificial intelligence for help
In today's world, companies frequently turn to artificial intelligence to come up with ideas for New Year's videos, write scripts, and, in some cases, completely recreate them. Coca-Cola did this, but the advertisement was received ambiguously, and viewers were disappointed with the video created by the neural network. However, if deadlines are looming and you still need to update for the New Year or offer themed products to your clients, AI can assist you in generating ideas for new designs or social media contests for your brand. To learn more about how neural networks can benefit businesses, check out the article "How Artificial Intelligence Can be Used in Your Business" on the Lectera website.
Tip 5. Forge an exciting collaboration with a brand
Consider creating joint promotions with other brands, such as stores, cafes, and more. It's essential to choose businesses that your target audience would be interested in. This strategy helps you reach your regular customers and expand your audience by attracting segments you have yet to engage with. For example, the collaboration between Pandora Jewelry and Disney resulted in unique jewelry pieces featuring beloved Disney princesses. This nostalgic collection appealed to women who grew up with characters like Cinderella and Snow White, making the new collection irresistible. Collaborations like this can boost customer trust and loyalty, as well as open new opportunities for your brand in the coming year.
Tip 6. Engage an influencer
First and foremost, when selecting a media personality to advertise your brand subtly, it's crucial to understand the characteristics, needs, and interests of your regular customers. Choose influencers whose target audience aligns closely with yours. Please pay attention to the quality of their followers, particularly the level of engagement and reach of their posts. Additionally, the comments and behavior of the media personality should be studied. Note how the influencer interacts with their audience, as well as the other products and brands they endorse. The tone of voice of your company should match the influencer's communication style and appearance. Keep in mind that not all influencers will attract new customers, boost sales, or enhance consumer loyalty.
Tip 7. Conduct an audience survey
To gain a clear understanding of customer preferences and changes in consumer habits related to the upcoming holidays, consider conducting a small survey among your regular and most loyal customers. Gather information about which products or services interest them the most. This will help you adjust your assortment and create the most attractive offers for your audience. Additionally, regular customer surveys can help you predict trends in your industry. Since all trends and innovations respond to audience demand, try to anticipate them and lead the way over the coming year. Also, use the survey to collect honest feedback on existing products to improve their quality, release small updates, and offer significant discounts on the eve of the New Year.
By creating a New Year mood among your audience, the brand will be able to:
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Boost sales, as the holiday seasons are typically the most profitable for many companies. New Year shopping has become a common practice, with people ready to spend more. New Year designs, themed contests, and sales further attract customers and stimulate demand.
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Enhance the emotional bond with your audience and foster trust.
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Preserve a unique brand image, distinguish it from competitors, and solidify its market position.
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Always be on trend and the lips of your mass audience.
If you're brainstorming ways to grab your audience's attention in the final days before the New Year peak season, take inspiration from the most successful examples. Try to make the most of the remaining time by launching a pre-New Year contest, raffling off a couple of products with unique New Year designs, or collaborating with a blogger or media personality familiar to your target audience. Remember to extend holiday greetings from the company, express gratitude for your customer's loyalty, and interest them in new products and updates that await them next year, including upcoming collections, collaborations, and promotions. Remember, the key is to evoke emotions in your audience and remind them that your brand will make the holidays brighter, more comfortable, tastier, and happier!
