A recent LinkedIn post by retail giant John Lewis has sparked a mixed response and heated debate on the social media channel. Half of the respondents appear excited that Christmas is just around the corner, and the other half are outraged that the “C” word has been mentioned in September, let alone accompanied by pictures of the most festive trees we’ve ever seen.
Whilst opinion is also divided here in the Wild PR office, we won’t be putting our tree up just yet. However, for some of our clients, Christmas has been on the agenda since January and strategies have been in place and starting to be implemented in July. But why do we have to plan our communications strategy so early?
As well all know, Christmas is a booming time commercially. CIPs stated that Christmas was worth £42 billion to the UK economy in 2016, with the average household spending around the £800 mark for Christmas related purchases and activities. According to The Drum, £6.4 billion was spent on TV advertising alone for Christmas 2016 and £3.5 billion on digital media.
To stand out from the crowd, brands and marketers must start planning their Christmas campaign in January and have the strategy in place by July, ready to start implementing the plan in September at the latest. This will allow brands to reach as much of their target audience as possible by the 25th of December.
Research has shown that there are currently 13 touchpoints that a customer or client needs to make with your brand before they will purchase from you or request your services. Getting started early means that you have more chance of creating these touchpoints for your festive offering with your customer base and ultimately increasing sales.
According to Yesmail 38.1% of people start their Christmas shopping before November and 69.8% before the 1st December. Therefore, advertising to the vast majority of the population during the three months leading up to Christmas is imperative but getting started well beforehand will achieve the best results.
If you’re not already implementing your Christmas campaign strategy by September like John Lewis you could be missing out.
If you need a hand with your Christmas strategy for 2019, or even for 2020, get in touch today.