10 STEPS TO PREPARE FOR HOLIDAY MARKETING SUCCESS

As consumers, the holidays are fast approaching. As retailers, we know that planning has already been happening for several months. The holiday season represents the most stressful period for retailers, but also a potentially lucrative opportunity to close out the year with huge earnings.

This year, retailers are seeing mixed expectations regarding growth in holiday spending over the Christmas period. In the United States, holiday retail sales climbed 4 percent last year to $685 billion and are expected to hit new highs in 2017 according to the National Retail Federation1. Equally in the United Kingdom, and despite a weaker start at the beginning of the season, in 2016, the sales quickly picked up through last minute Christmas shopping2. This year, however, the UK has seen a fall in consumer spending over the summer months, according to Visa’s consumer spending index, representing the longest-running slump since February 20133, which is bringing some uncertainty for brands on how the holiday sales will turn out.

In both markets, mounting political and trade instability make it difficult for brands to predict overall growth. Add to this uncertainty the overwhelming amount of marketing that consumers experience during the holiday season, and brands will need to execute a cohesive, thoughtful strategy in order to attract audiences and convince them to purchase products and services this holiday season. This can be quite a challenge for brands hoping to break through the noise. Fortunately, at Olapic, we work with hundreds of the world’s top brands to help them execute visual content strategies throughout the entire year, and have put together a set of ten steps your team should consider as you prepare for the holiday rush.

1 Reynolds, Treacy. “Holiday Retail Sales Increased 4 Percent in 2016.” National Retail Federation. 1.13.17.2 Allen, Katie. “Last-minute Christmas rush lifts UK retail sales.” The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jan/10/uk-retail-sales-christmas-economy3 Wood, Zoe. “UK consumers cut spending on clothes, cars and foreign travel.” The Guardian. 8.6.17.

INTRODUCTIONCONSUMERS ARE INUNDATED WITH OFFERS AND MESSAGING. TO STAND OUT, YOU’LL NEED TO FOLLOW THE RIGHT STEPS TO STAY ON-MESSAGE THIS HOLIDAY SEASON.

1 PICK A THEME AND STICK TO IT

The first step may be an obvious one, but it’s something many marketers overlook when rushing to prepare for their holiday programming. In order for your holiday marketing to stand out, it must be repeatable and memorable to your consumer audiences. Begin by deciding the theme that’ll tie all your holiday campaigns together, and then determine which activities will support that overarching theme. What is your largest audience and what holiday topics do they relate to? Home? Family? Love? Giving? *Ahem* partying? If you’re not sure, there’s a practical way to find out: Analyze what this audience posted about on social channels during last year’s season, and identify commonalities and themes.

London’s Heathrow Airport, for example, knows that holiday travelers are often visiting family and thus has used “family” as the theme for its series of video advertisements, including the “Coming Home for Christmas” spot which has more than 5 million views on YouTube. “Christmas is my favorite time of year at Heathrow. The airport is abuzz with families and friends reuniting for this special time of year,” Heathrow Airport’s commercial director Jonathan Coen reported to Adweek. “We love the film and hope the bears’ journey through the airport captures that excitement you feel when walking through Heathrow arrivals into the arms of your loved ones at Christmas.”4 Find your motif and use it as a holiday brand rubric. For everything your team dreams up, ask, ‘does it reinforce our theme?’ If the answer is no, let it go.

4 Nudd, Tim. “Heathrow Airport’s Christmas Ad With Two Old Teddy Bears Makes Britain Feel Happy Again.” Adweek. 11/17/16

2 ESTABLISH CHARITABLE PARTNERSHIPS

The holiday season is a fantastic time to align with philanthropic efforts that make sense to your brand and your theme. Which charity, partner, or artist can best help spread your message to the world? Ensure that you are thoughtful in choosing your charitable contribution so that it is authentic and matches the ethos you want your brand to portray in market.

For example, Barnes & Noble gives to local book collections through its Holiday Book Drive5 and Dove sponsors women’s charities that help with “beauty related anxieties.”6 Another example of a specific holiday campaign came from Coca-Cola, that supported FareShare over Christmas 2016 with its “A coke for Christmas”, where they offered a meal through FareShare for everyone who uploaded a snap of their Coca-Cola bottle.7 Come up with a short list of partners that reinforce your theme and start the conversation early (Like, really early). The benefits go beyond altruism, in fact, according to a study by Unilever, 33% of consumers are now choosing to buy from brands they believe are doing social or environmental good.8

5 “Holiday Book Drive.” BarnesandNobleInc.com. http://www.barnesandnobleinc.com/our-stores-communities/holiday-book-drive/.6 “Our Partners.” Dove.com. https://www.dove.com/us/en/stories/about-dove/our-partners.html.7 Connelly, Tom. “Coca-Cola builds on its biggest Christmas campaign in five years with ‘A Coke For Christmas’” The Drum. 12/02/20168 “Report Shows a Third of Consumers Prefer Sustainable Brands.” Unilever. 5/1/17.

3 DEFINE YOUR CAMPAIGN HASHTAG STRATEGY

Connecting your theme to your consumer-base, and allowing them to participate in content creation are primary ways to spread your holiday message and gather content that can be used beyond the season. This requires a well-crafted holiday hashtag that is unique to your brand, easily memorable, and can inspire digital audiences to use and share on it.

Often, we see that our client brands tend to connect their holiday hashtags to an emotion, including: Humor, Charitability/Giving back, Sentimentality, Surprise, Nostalgia, Thankfulness

The hashtag doesn’t need to include the brand name, such as Lululemon’s #givepresence, but can if there is an organic fit, such as with Anthropologie’s #dearanthro. “The importance of being present in the moment and spending time with those who are important to you is part of our culture, as well as inspire others to spread others to do the same during the holiday season,” said Jean-Marie Shields, VP of Global Brand, Lululemon. “We’re constantly evolving, and the Give Presence campaign message is about placing our community values front and center and connecting it with our online experience.”9

“Our goal is to inspire all of our global communities, both offline and online, to spread the message of #givepresence.” 10

9 DiPardo, Michelle. “Lululemon Holiday Campaign Values Presence Over Presents.” Marketing Magazine. 12/3/14.10 Dua, Tanya. “On the comeback trail, Lululemon rolls out cheery holiday campaign.” Digiday. 11/25/14.

4 FUEL THE LAUNCH BY CURATING USER-GENERATED CONTENT

Worried about how many studio shoots stand in between you and having a content repository big enough to stay on-theme? Don’t be. Your crafted holiday hashtag can help inspire your digital community to create high-quality user-generated, or “earned,” content that can be utilized (provided you secure permission) across all elements of your campaign. The more content that is shared, the more related users will participate, which will expand the overall effectiveness of the campaign. Consider again Lululemon’s #GivePresence which has garnered over 13,000 unique pieces of consumer-contributed content on Instagram, or Anthropologie’s #DearAnthro, which generated 5,000 assets.

Remember that your audience has the best understanding of how your products fit into their lifestyles, including during the holidays, so rely on them to help promote your campaign. Include your hashtag at all touchpoints, including on holiday packaging, in emails, and on in-store displays to educate your consumer on how you’d like for them to share.

Earned content effectiveness goes beyond engagement and can lead to increased purchase behavior. In fact, according to Facebook IQ, holiday shoppers who make purchases on mobile devices are 1.81x more likely to say they use Facebook to research gift ideas and 1.85x more likely to use Instagram for gift inspiration.11 Olapic has worked with many leading brands to help them curate, activate, and analyze the performance of their earned content using our Earned Content Platform.

11 “Facebook’s Festive Conversations.” Facebook IQ. insights.facebook.com.

5 DEFINE YOUR MAIN CAMPAIGN IMAGE

To stay on-brand, wrap-up your holiday marketing in a package of visual consistency. This starts with defined brand guidelines, which should be implemented across every visual element of your holiday campaigns, from banner ads, to email images, to the color of approved emojis. Human brains process visuals 60,000 times faster than text 12 and consumers should recognize your visual through-line across all channels at just a glance.

Maintain consistency by portraying your products alongside objects or backdrops associated with your theme (think Starbucks’ holiday cups hung on a Christmas tree) or a lifestyle photo representing the theme. Create a content repository in preparation for the imminent deluge of visual assets and set your guidelines down in writing with a campaign brief that is shared with relevant stakeholders.

12 Gillett, Rachel. “Why We’re More Likely to Remember Content with Images and Video.” Fast Company. 9.18.14.

CONSUMERS SHOULD RECOGNIZE YOUR VISUAL THROUGH-LINE ACROSS ALL CHANNELS AT JUST A GLANCE

6 TAP INTO SOCIAL INFLUENCERS

Still not getting the content that you’re looking for? Brands should also consider executing an influencer strategy to help seed holiday content and broaden reach during the season. There is a seemingly endless supply of influencers available, depending on the style and audience you are targeting. Many of whom may also happen to be your customers, or potential customers, who have cultivated large followings that fit your target profiles. By tapping this community to create high-quality visual content, you can better connect your product to the aesthetic your audience wants, especially during the holiday season. This is particularly useful if you are just getting started on a holiday campaign, and don’t already have an enormous volume of earned content to ignite your existing base. Through Olapic’s Creator Platform, you can identify influencers that will best fit your needs and manage the end-to-end relationship on the same platform.

Influencers will dramatically increase your holiday campaign’s reach, and quickly. By incorporating them in the run-up to the holidays, you’ll catch consumers with teasers while they’re still in research mode. According to the National Retail Federation, more than one-half of all holiday shopping research occurs in October or earlier. 13

13 “2017 Retail Holiday Planning Playbook.” National Retail Federation. 2017.

7 DRIVE ACTION

Another step that many marketers overlook in the excitement of holiday marketing is to ensure there is a clear call-to-action in all campaign messaging. Don’t be afraid to get personal with your consumers and encourage them directly to participate in your theme, especially on social channels. By having them share stories, tag friends and family, make philanthropic donations, or participate in content contests, you can more quickly scale the reach and impact of your campaign, and increase the likelihood that consumers will translate that engagement into purchase behavior.

8 OPTIMIZE CONTENT FORMATS TO ENGAGE AUDIENCES ACROSS CHANNELS

Brands must create content that is optimized for the appropriate channel. This has become increasingly challenging as new channels have emerged, particularly ephemeral channels such as Instagram Stories and Snapchat. At the same time, consumer preferences have shifted. One primary example of this shift involves video. Almost 50% of internet users look for videos related to a product or service before visiting a store. 14 Traditionally, brands shot horizontal, longer-form video, and as digital channels emerged many simply chose to place the same creative on digital properties, without regard to the end-user experience. However, today, most users view video on mobile devices, and have come to favor short-form, vertical video on social and other digital channels. In fact, according to eMarketer, 83% of respondents were confident in Facebook videos for driving purchases, while 67% were similarly assured in videos placed on Instagram. 15

During the holiday season, many brands struggle to commit budget, time, and resources to creating short-form video. But engaging with consumers, especially younger ones, requires a modern approach. According to a survey by Brightcove, 46 percent of respondents reported making a purchase as a result of video.16 At Olapic, we’ve developed a solution to help scale this process, known as Content in Motion (CiM). CiM allows marketers to turn static images into beautiful, high-quality animation for use across channels. When executed during the holidays, these animations can create “thumb-stopping moments” for users on social spaces and beyond. And given the scalability of these assets, brands have the bandwidth to create campaign specific assets, even if they’re only usable for short periods.

14 Three Key Shopping Micro-Moments for a Mobile World. Google Think.15 “More Spending on Social Video Ads Is Planned.” eMarketer. 6/23/17.16 “The Science of Social Video.” Brightcove. 2017.

9 USE EMOTION TO BUILD AN EFFECTIVE CAMPAIGN

Emotion is a current that runs through all relationships, including the relationship between brands and consumers. During the holidays, if you can attach your theme to an authentic and aligned emotion, you can better create deeper, long-lasting connections with your audience that will extend into the following year. Make sure you are true to your brand promise however, and don’t hijack a powerful emotion if your brand message and tone don’t typically lead you to communicate that way. A swarthy men’s shaving accessory brand that suddenly goes sappy might turn audiences off, as would a fashion-forward makeup brand that suddenly becomes overly nostalgic. Stay consistent and your audience will follow suit.


10 PROMOTE YOUR CAMPAIGN ACROSS CHANNELS

Come launch day, it’s critical that you have enough content to get started. Prepare your campaign for success with a myriad of banners, landing pages, email assets, social posts, packaging and in-store displays, etc. Retailers are used to preparing for the holidays, but it requires a slightly different approach to do so in a way that will connect visually with consumers and drive them to create content on your behalf.

It’s important to engage across all channels where you would normally connect with your audiences. Maintain consistency and stay top-of-mind by including content on all digital and social channels, but also in print and traditional media, direct mail, and more. Of course, you will need to develop a wealth of content in order to facilitate this type of roll-out, but if you execute the steps outlined previously, and tap your consumer audiences, influencers, and new forms of media, you will be well prepared to distribute content effectively.

Holiday marketing success really comes down to message consistency. By tapping into a single overarching theme powered by emotions and stunning visuals, you’ll build recognition across channels and take more than your share of the holiday marketing pie.


Olapic is an innovator in visual content solutions. From pioneering the first visual earned content platform to creating unique, on-brand content formats for use across all consumer touchpoints, Olapic helps drive brand engagement and performance, at scale, for hundreds of the world’s top brands.

An official member of Facebook Marketing Partner programme, Instagram Partner programme and Pinterest Partners, Olapic is headquartered in New York City with offices in New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Berlin, Hong kong, Tokyo and Córdoba.

Want to learn more about how to amplify your holiday marketing with visual content? Email us at [email protected] to schedule time with one of our expert strategists.

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10 STEPS TO PREPARE FOR HOLIDAY MARKETING SUCCESS · The first step may be an obvious one, but...

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