Brands’ calendars are full of important annual events, from Valentine’s Day to International Women’s Day (IWD), Pride, Black History Month, Halloween, Christmas and many more. In a crowded social media landscape, it can be difficult for brands to ensure their campaigns stand out and communicate the right message. CORQ has spoken to five creators and brands about how to make the best and most memorable marketing campaigns around key holidays and events.
Brands that get these campaigns wrong are often criticised for tokenism and box-ticking exercises. Those launching a campaign for sustainability occasions such as Earth Month without proof of its eco-friendly merit may face greenwashing allegations, while brands doing extreme sales for events such as Black Friday are condemned for pushing overconsumption. So how can brands get it right?
Key takeaways:
- CORQ spoke to Stripe & Stare co-founder Katie Lopes, fair fashion campaigner Venetia La Manna, Kai Collective founder Fisayo Longe, lifestyle creator Dom Lawrence and sustainable fashion influencer Bianca Foley about how brands can improve their work for key calendar events
- It is important to maintain long-term relationships with diverse creators throughout the year, not just for Pride or Black History Month
- 82% of 18- to 24-year-olds will spend at least 25% of their Christmas budget during the Black Friday sales according to a recent survey, and 75% of 25- to 34-year-olds plan to do the same. This means many brands feel they can’t miss out on the opportunity in spite of concerns around overconsumption and sustainability
- One of most creators’ key priorities is to work with brands and on campaigns that align with their values
- Any claims around sustainability, inclusivity and equality presented as part of a campaign must be backed up by facts and evidence
- Consumers will see through empty gestures and token charity partnerships
The overconsumption and sales frenzy of Black Friday leave many people with a bad taste in their mouths – retail consultant Mary Portas called it a “dismal imported retail event” and “the biggest shit show ever” in a 2023 Instagram post. Yet, it is an important time of year for most brands. Among 18- to 24-year-olds, 82% estimate they will spend at least a quarter of their Christmas budget during the Black Friday sales this year, and 75% of 25- to 34-year-olds plan to do the same, according to a 2024 survey of 2,000 UK adults by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising.
Speaking to CORQ, B Corp underwear brand Stripe & Stare’s co-founder Katie Lopes explains that Black Friday is “hard to align with our core values”. Quality, comfort and sustainability are at the heart of Stripe & Stare, and are not principles it is willing to compromise on.
However, ahead of Black Friday 2023, the brand described the event on Instagram as “a moment when many are shopping so not a moment we can afford to miss”.
“We know our underwear is not the cheapest option so we view this as an opportunity for customers to try our product at a slightly reduced price,” Lopes says.
Although Stripe & Stare does celebrate other marketing days, Black Friday is the only event where it offers extensive discounts, proving how much consumers have come to expect reduced prices at this time. In spite of this, Stripe & Stare does not partner with influencers for this period, as it does during the rest of the year; “It is such a noisy time that paid partnerships do not get much cut through,” Lopes says.
Alternative approaches to Black Friday
Green Friday has emerged as a counter-movement to Black Friday, where participants boycott shops promoting the event. Some brands are also attempting to launch sustainable initiatives in place of solely sales promotions. For example, IKEA offered up to 50% off its preloved furniture and an extra 25% offer on its Buyback scheme as part of its plan to make Black Friday greener. Lush used the event to raise money for its “people vs big tech” movement, and RÆBURN closed its online store and offered free repairs in its Hackney, London shop instead.
Fashion brand Kai Collective, founded by creator Fisayo Longe, has adopted an innovative approach to the event. Longe tells CORQ: “We don’t particularly like Black Friday because we’re not keen on the frenzy that results in overconsumption and regret purchases, but we know our customer wants us to participate so we are trying to find the best way for us to do so without sacrificing our values.”
For Black Friday 2023, the brand launched mystery boxes containing some of its most popular pieces, which sold out on launch day. Due to popular demand, a second drop launched a week later, which sold out within two days.
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Pride Month
Lifestyle creator Dom Lawrence says there are two calendar events where he notices an uptick in brand interest – Christmas and Pride Month.
Ahead of Pride this year, Lawrence – who is part of the LGBTQ+ community – took matters into his own hands and created a document to send out to brand contacts, detailing the type of content he would be creating and the expectations he had of brands. “I don’t want [the brands] to be like ‘okay, we’re working with you guys because we want to wash our hands of any pre-existing guilt’,” he tells CORQ. Lawrence specifies that he hopes their interest in LGBTQIA+ issues would last throughout the year, not just during June. The document was well received, and even landed the creator brand deals for Pride.
Lawrence isn’t the only one to request that brands do better around Pride activations. Ahead of Pride Month 2023, activist Tanya Compas said “we’re all bored of your campaigns” and called out brands for just replicating the same formats. In June 2024, presenter Will Njobvu said one high fashion brand only reaches out to him for Pride, but ignores him the rest of the year. “I want brands to know that this is wrong and it is tokenism. I will continue to decline if I feel like you’re using me just to tick a box. Same goes for Black History Month,” he wrote in a Threads post.
One of the most engaging Pride ads this year was Zain Shah’s partnership with Indeed, talking about issues LGBTQIA+ people face at work (5.5% engagement rate). Another was beauty creator Colleen Milner’s ad with NYX Cosmetics, where she discussed her four-year relationship with her girlfriend for the first time. Her video received more than 6.2 million views, 74,700 likes and 2,900 comments on TikTok. The learning here? Let creators take charge of the narrative and tell stories from their own perspectives.
“The brief has to align with my values”
Sustainable fashion creator Bianca Foley used to jump on campaigns around holidays or marketing events earlier in her career, before she made her pivot into slow fashion. “Now the brief has to align with my values,” she tells CORQ.
As a creator with a focus on sustainability, she sees an increase in brand attention for a few key annual events – January for “new year, better choices”, April for Earth Month and Sustainable September. “Last year, I think I was in my house three days for the whole of September. There were so many events – unsustainable September I think some people have started calling it,” Foley says.
She urges eco-friendly brands to spread their releases throughout the year and not focus their efforts on a single month, week or day when everyone will be fighting for consumers’ attention.
The creator stresses that just stating something is “responsibly sourced”, “conscious” or “sustainable” isn’t enough. “You can’t just say a word, and it’ll make you a better brand,” she says. Foley often goes to events and asks brand representatives about their green initiatives – “a lot of the time they haven’t got a clue,” she says.
Foley believes brands should focus more on education, and explain what they are doing, how they are improving and how they would like to see the industry move with them. She highlights Davines and OVO Energy as brands that have done this at events she has attended.
“Solidarity rarely comes in the shape of a T-shirt or a moisturiser”
For fair fashion campaigner Venetia La Manna, there are certain events when she won’t partner with brands. “The only days I really try to avoid are Black Friday, IWD and Earth Day, usually because I need that time to focus on creating content about the brands which are using those events to greenwash and encourage us to over-consume,” she says.
La Manna uses her platform to call out companies for their social and environmental malpractices, and is sceptical of brands using marketing events to glaze over exploitative behaviour. “We need to be extremely wary of brands using these events to co-opt climate and social justice movements. Solidarity rarely comes in the shape of a T-shirt or a moisturiser,” she says, and adds: “I’d love to see brands find ways to encourage their customers to donate directly to causes that don’t involve buying.”
IWD was created as a day for championing women’s rights, history and achievements, but is now used by a lot of brands to sell products. In Foley’s opinion: “It has become a promotional event, there’s no other way of saying it.”
Many brands opt for charity partnerships for days such as IWD, but Foley stresses that charity partnerships for these events need to serve a purpose. “It’s not just a logo at the bottom of a menu or something in their goodie bag. It needs to be more impactful to allow your audience to become aware of the charity itself,” she says.
Are marketing events still relevant? “I get why [brands] do it because it’s going to be searched more, it’s going to be a trending topic and a hashtag,” Foley says. “But I think it sometimes holds more of a standing if they’re doing it outside of those months.”
Consumers will see through empty gestures and token charity partnerships. If brands have key causes or charities that align with their values and they would like to highlight, they should consider making these year-long initiatives, not one-off collaborations. Include diverse talent throughout the year and champion the brand values both inside and outside of the company – that way the campaign for the marketing day holds more value.
By Dina Zubi, CORQ news and features writer. Picture credit: Kai Collective via Instagram
