«Marketer's calendar 2024.12 case studies for inspiration»
2024
February, 22 2023

Marketer's calendar 2024. 12 case studies for inspiration

Marketing
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Have you noticed how the advertising market is revitalized during the holidays? Themed promotions, special offers, discounts, and competitions from brands on social media inevitably accompany the red day of the calendar. All of this is known as seasonal marketing, with the consumer as the protagonist.
Marketer's Advent Calendar: noting the big dates
«Nearly 80 percent of Americans intend to celebrate Christmas, Thanksgiving, Mother's Day, and Easter in 2024», — according to Numerator
The holidays are an ideal time for companies to increase awareness and attract new audiences. It's a chance to raise marketing standards by utilizing social media, email newsletters, and endless creativity.

Online sales are predicted to account for 21.8% of total global trade by 2024. In the meantime, shopping via social media will reach new heights, with TikTok and Instagram channels becoming the center of e-commerce.

As part of the advent calendar, we will highlight some of the shopping habits and marketing strategies of famous brands through case studies from Black Friday to the start of the new year.

February. All Lovers' Day

Ryanair Airlines focused on the "lone audience" that day. It created a story about a man who is fed up with romance on February 14 and tries to escape the general love craze somewhere (Amsterdam). The brand called this venture "Escape the nonsense" with the hashtag #EscapeTheHonsense.

The Ryanair brand defied the clichéd Valentine's Day stereotypes by offering cheap special fares to support single people.

March. International Women's Day

Goldieblox & Rube Goldberg tried to get girls interested in technology, engineering, and math with the Princess Machine campaign. The brand won Intuit's "Small Business, Big Game" competition, earning the right to air the commercial at the Super Bowl.

The campaign reached more than 100 million viewers and went viral online. Viewers were encouraged to look at Rube Goldberg's abstruse Rube Goldberg Machine as a brightly colored toy that cartoonishly demonstrated the overcomplication of simple processes. For example, instead of simply bringing a napkin to the mouth, an entire structure is attached to the head of a person who performs 13 actions to lift the napkin at once.

April. Laugh Day.

For April 1, 2023, Duolingo and the streaming service Peacock have teamed up to produce a show about dating called The Language of Love. Viewers were offered a three-month 50% discount on Peacock Premium.

The companies have released a trailer of the show on the official YouTube channel of NBC Universal and Duolingo. In it, speakers of different languages face a difficult task: they must try to communicate with each other and confess their feelings, given their limited arsenal of expressions. This is strange, awkward, and sometimes even a little threatening. The memetic image of Duolingo, the green bird that haunts those who do not learn foreign languages every day, fits perfectly with the reality of this show. He is the one who pushes the most unfortunate romantics into the pool.

May. Mother's Day

With its "Swear Like a Mother" campaign in 2017, the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese brand managed to combine two ideas in one commercial: not to scold children and to feed them ready meals. The offer with the popular hashtag #SwearLikeAMother was advertised on social networks and YouTube.

Because more than 3 billion people on earth cannot afford a healthy diet, the ad was not only touching but also reminded a large audience of the really serious issues facing our planet.

June. Children's Day

A popular Indian Flipkart ad from 2011 dispelled the fear of online shopping by showing children as adults in funny situations.

A child's mouth speaks the truth, doesn't it? Flipkart has drawn an interesting parallel with children in the adult world. Although many everyday situations look funny, the overall message remains clear: if it's easy even for children to shop online, why are adults afraid of it?

Cosmic July

World UFO Day is celebrated in the summer. For Elon Musk, there was no way around this topic. In 2018, Tesla showed off its capabilities with an advertising campaign, and SpaceX launched a Falcon Heavy rocket with a Tesla Roadster as cargo. This demonstrated the possibility of taking people and goods to Mars.

The campaign carried out by Tesla and SpaceX led to over 600,000 discussions on social platforms and over 400,000 pre-orders to purchase the car.

August. International Dog Day

In 2023, Apple launched the "Invincible" campaign, which showcased the creation of customized prosthetics for animals with disabilities using 3D printing, LiDAR, and TrueDepth technologies. The commercial was recorded entirely on the iPhone 14.

As a result, 26.5 million iPhone 14 Pro Max and 21 million iPhone 14 Pro were sold between January and June 2023, more than any other model from any other manufacturer.

September. Knowledge Day

Knowledge Day is a great data point for marketers to actively promote online courses — the best time to encourage not only children but also adults to learn, expand their knowledge, and increase their IQ.

Microsoft’s Teams brand has developed a "Back to School" video campaign that attracts the attention of three target groups: Children, parents, and teachers. The offer, launched during the pandemic, showcased the features of Microsoft Teams video conferencing software that enables effective remote learning. Although the ad was aimed at a narrow audience, it was successful: in early 2024, Microsoft announced that 320 million monthly active users were using Teams.
October. Halloween
«Halloween spending in 2023 exceeded $12 billion worldwide», — according to the National Retail Federation
In 2021, Nike celebrated Halloween with the release of the Dunk Low sneakers, which glow in a spooky pattern in the dark.
This case study is notable because a Google search for "Nike Dunk Low Halloween" makes it pretty hard to find it directly from Nike. Bloggers and other sources have taken over the marketing process, posting thousands of shorts and reels on social media.

November. Black Friday

On Black Friday, consumers are on the lookout for sales and special offers, in search of bargains. They are usually driven by the fear of missing out on something exciting (Sindrome FOMO).

On Black Friday, Samsung Australia hosted an unusual auction in collaboration with The Reverse Auction. The brand allowed consumers to bid as low as they could for a range of items (TVs, Galaxy series smartphones, headphones). The results were impressive: 50,000 people signed up for the auction, and as buyers competed for the items, their optimum price level was determined. Most of the lots went to the new owners at a price 50% below the retail price.

December. Cyber Monday

This is the second most popular and, for e-commerce retailers, the most important shopping day of the year, when the buying frenzy reaches its peak. Just like Black Friday, shoppers can expect huge discounts and an unprecedented range of gifts.

On Cyber Monday, Walmart presented new lucrative offers for customers with a personalized approach. The store's customers got early access to shopping and online savings of up to 80% in their favorite categories by using Hearting or "My Saved Deals" In addition, the company opened up the possibility of overnight delivery!
Cyber Monday 2024 will generate $13.7 billion in sales — Demandsage (a company specializing in SEO data collection and digital marketing research)

January. Christmas and New Year

Research by System1 and Kantar named Aldi and Coca-Cola as the best Christmas campaigns. This is a time when consumers are not only looking for gifts but also for the spirit of Christmas!

Who better than Coca-Cola, known for its memorable Christmas commercials? On New Year's Eve 2024, the brand decided to return to its roots: In a touching commercial, Santas gathered for a trip around the world in these very decorated trucks. But it's not enough to just follow tradition, so the company reinforced the advertising campaign with all modern attributes. An interactive entertainment offer was presented on the company's website in the form of a "Find your inner Santa" test, for the results of which you could win prizes. The brand also introduced AI into its own Create Real Magic platform, where users could "animate" any picture.

In conclusion

During the holiday season, shoppers are especially interested in finding the best deals and companies selling their goods. And although seasonal marketing seems like something trivial, it doesn't cancel out its phenomenal effectiveness.

At any time of the year, AdSkill experts will help you optimize your holiday marketing strategy and launch effective promotions. Contact us and get behind your buying habits in 2024!