Program Manager, Kimmy Favazza, explains how you can leverage the widespread enthusiasm brought on by a major holiday for heightened activation success.

 

I should preface this post by admitting that I am a huge sucker for holiday-themed activations and advertising. Although I don’t discriminate against any holiday, I am especially fond of Thanksgiving, Christmas and the Fourth of July. To me, they represent family, laughter, love and a whole lot of eating and drinking.

Coming at it as a professional marketer, I realize that things are different for brands trying to make an impact during a major holiday weekend. There is an influx of people, emotions are running high and everyone is in a hurry. I’ve come to realize that there are a few tips and tricks to making your holiday weekend activations effective and impactful. While there are several different approaches, I’ve narrowed it down to two steps to create a wildly successful event.

#1: Theme it

In 2011, Lowe’s launched its “Lights Across America” campaign – a Christmas-themed commercial depicting different people across the country decorating their homes with the same string of lights. It ends with an outer-space view of the world with the U.S. all lit up from coast to coast.

It had an emotional effect on me that got me pumped up for Christmas and made me proud to be a part of such a cool country. Not only am I still talking about it, but I also almost traded in my J. Crew Christmas list for anything from Lowe’s … almost. The point is: holidays offer a strategic way for brands to identify with consumers. The theme doesn’t have to take hours of creative concepting because it’s already there, all lit up for the world to see – just like a massive string of lights around Christmas.

For instance, on my all-time favorite holiday – the Fourth of July – millions in the U.S. wear red, white and blue, stars and stripes. No need to reinvent the wheel here … Anheuser-Busch saw its opportunity and grabbed it before any other brewer could, thus conceiving the famous Budweiser American flag cans. What’s more patriotic than drinking a beer dressed up the same way you are? They have an awesome purpose that tugs at my patriotic heart strings, not to mention being the perfect props for an Insta pic. Anheuser-Busch also partners with the Folds of Honor Foundation, which helps support the families of America’s fallen and disabled soldiers. On every patriotic beer, there is a code that can be entered on a designated website, which signals A-B to make a $1 donation to Folds of Honor. Because they first partnered in 2010, A-B has raised nearly $10 million for military families. So … you mean to tell me that I can make a difference just from drinking a beer? Sign me up!

So, how does a brand draw a crowd to their event site or ad campaign over a major holiday? Capitalize on the built-in theme – but put a spin on it to make it yours.

#2: Prepare for chaos

Now that you have appropriately themed your event, what can you expect? Crowds … a throng of people … pure chaos. When it’s the holiday weekend, families are back in town, people are off work and kids are home from school. A well thought-out action plan is needed to make sure your weekend event is a success. Here are the factors you should take into account.

Know your city.

Research other activities that are going on in your city and how they might affect you or your staff getting to the event. The holidays are chock-full of festivals, fairs and parades. Coinciding events could lead to street closures and traffic. Have a route mapped out and be sure to share it with all staff and volunteers. Additionally, do your research on all appropriate permits. The last thing you need is to get shut down at one of the busiest events of the year because you failed to look up the city’s ordinances.

Know your audience.

During the holidays, venue entries and events are usually free to the public, whether it’s a Fourth of July festival or a mall on Black Friday. This means you might not always face the target audience on which you were planning. Get creative; find a way to make your product relatable to any attendee. Additionally, most people have an agenda. Whether it’s to run into the mall on Christmas Eve for that one present for MarMar (which you completely forgot about but absolutely have to get), or to be at the Fourth of July Parade an hour before it starts (because you promised your kids they could sit up front) — people are in a hurry. There is no time to chat. Cut the messaging to a minimum; make it short and sweet to get the message across.

Have a plan B, C and D.

As we’ve come to learn in our industry, the only constant is change. Not only can we expect the details to change, but we also should plan for changes with back-up scenarios. For instance, at a large-scale holiday weekend event, hiring additional staff is a must. Planning on at least one of those additional staff to bail is even more crucial. Have additional staff “on-call” to swoop in at the last minute and save the day. Create a back-up plan to your back-up plan and know you’ll probably use them both. If all Hades really breaks loose, I usually keep a Budweiser Red, White and Blue in my purse and the “Lights Across America” commercial bookmarked on my phone.

Talk to Kimmy for more details about activation during major holidays by sending an email to KimmyF@theswitch.us.