From traditional holidays like Christmas and Labor Day, to food holidays like Carrot Cake Day and National Sandwich Month, there’s always something to celebrate with food! National holidays and food holidays provide an opportunity to market these celebrations across your store, which can increase sales of seasonally relevant items. The AWG Brands team has made it easy to capitalize on seasonal holidays with event marketing themes and assets.
Each AWG event cycle, two to four marketing themes are selected by the AWG Brands team based on the season. Themes can be centered around popular holidays like Thanksgiving, or lesser-known events like Snack Food Month in February or National Pretzel Day, which is April 26.
Once themes are selected, the marketing and merchandising assets are created. These plug-and-play tactics make it easy for retailers to deploy a complete marketing campaign in store and online. The AWG Brands Supplemental Ad, End Cap program, social media posts, website articles, digital coupons flyers, email content, and in-store signage are created by AWG’s design team to create a cohesive program. See page 26 for an example of a program created for National Family Meals Month in September.
Where can you find all of this? The AWG Brands Retailer Playbook. Talk with your AWG Brands sales representative to receive a link to the online playbook and start utilizing these tools today.
Tips for the Holiday Trade
With so many holidays to celebrate, how do you pick which ones are right to promote in your store? Customers expect all retailers to offer specials for major national holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. Food holidays allow retailers to be more selective and creative. Try these tips:
- Promote Complementing Products: Check with national brands on their food holiday marketing. For example, Blue Bunny might have a huge marketing campaign for National Ice Cream Day. Add onto their campaign to increase additional sales by promoting AWG Brands’ ice cream fixings and toppings such as Always Save Chocolate Syrup, Best Choice Cones, Clearly by Best Choice Frozen Fruit, or Best Choice Superior Selections Nuts.
- Skip Restaurant Competition: Everyone knows that on National Donut Day, Krispy Kreme and Dunkin’ Donuts will have deals. Instead of trying to market on over-crowded food holidays that will also have competition from restaurants, save your energy and resources for lesser-known food holidays, like Peanut Butter Lover’s Month (November) or Ranch Dressing Day (March 10).
- Get Creative! From Homemade Soup Day (February 4) to Zucchini Day (August 8), there’s a food holiday for everyone. Host a recipe contest, build a fun display, or have a giveaway to create excitement with your customers and celebrate your favorite products.
