I have been noticing that some tried and true Christmas traditions have been slightly modified to become hot and trendy product offerings in today’s marketplace, from ugly Christmas sweaters to Advent calendars to Santa photos. What holiday traditions can your business modify for marketing gold? Consider how these ones have changed:
The Ugly Christmas Sweater
How popular has the ugly Christmas sweater become? I actually gave an idea to one of my pet business clients a couple of years back to come up with an ugly Christmas sweater for a dog. What dog owner wouldn’t buy that? But now companies, recognizing the crazy popularity on social media, have taken this popular phenomenon and made it into other products. The online fashion retailer, Top Shop, for example, raised the level of the ugly sweater and has a special section on their website entitled, Novelty Glam Sweaters (they even make it sound better), with slightly more fashionable designs. Then there is also the Ugly Christmas Sweater Kit ($30 at Nordstrom) aimed at teen girls that still want to express their individuality.
Advent Calendars
Advent calendars holding a small piece of chocolate for each day of December have been around since the 1950s. Then Lego got the brilliant idea years ago to come up with their Advent calendar and I went from spending $3 on a calendar to spending $30. Other companies have jumped on the Advent calendar craze as well, from offering whisky (Drinks by the Dram) to nail polish (Ciaté London). It is a great way to get customers to try a variety of your products or introduce them to new ones. Plus, they are great for generating publicity for your business.
Santa Photos
Malls and photo shops have been doing the traditional photo on Santa’s knee since anyone can remember. However today’s malls have now decided to capitalize on the crazy success of the kid’s Disney movie, Frozen, and offer a winter theme Frozen experience in addition to their annual Santa photo, even encouraging young girls to come dressed in their Elsa or Anna dresses for the photo. Why didn’t anyone think of this years ago when the movie Elf came out? Recreating the scene from the toy store would be a big hit!
Have I been able to inspire you for Christmas 2015? It is never to early to start thinking about how you can take a holiday tradition and make it work for your small business, even if just for the publicity it would generate.