New Year Campaigns: Top Tips for Marketing Success
Auld Lang Syne. Party poppers. Resolutions that are broken by January 4th…
New Year is a time for partying and setting goals. This makes it the perfect time for running an engaging New Year ad campaign.
Add the fact that the festive spirit is fading fast and people want to cheer themselves up with a spot of online retail therapy, then you’re onto a winner.
In this guide, we’re going to get your creative juices flowing with some New Year’s marketing and ad campaigns that go off with a bang.
Create a Buzz with Special Promotions and Discounts
The “out with the old and in with the new” mentality makes New Year the perfect time to get a nice little sales bump. Let’s look at a few ideas for promos and offers that might grab attention during the New Year period.
- New Year sales
People are still in the spending spirit, but most likely looking to save a few pennies after splashing out during the holidays. Now’s a good opportunity to clear out old stock and get ready for the new season. - Coupon codes
Who doesn’t love getting a discount code? Spread these little delights through emails or pop them on your social media. It’s like a little personalized gift for your customers to let them know you appreciate their custom. - Loyalty rewards
Give something back to your most loyal customers and make them feel special. Maybe it’s a special discount related to their past purchases or extra points in a loyalty reward scheme. - Flash sales
There’s something about a ticking clock on a 24-hour sale that drives people to make impulse buys. Make sure you’re creating genuine urgency though. If people suspect that the limited price drop isn’t genuine, it’s a major turn-off and damages customer trust. - Resolutions
Aligning promos with New Year’s resolutions is a great way to engage people. Help customers achieve their goals, whether it’s fitness, personal growth, or taking up a new hobby. Some people say that we’re shifting from an “experience economy” to a “transformation economy” these days, so people are more likely to grab the deal if it helps them transform in some way. - Free gifts
Last, but not least, handing out freebies is the ideal way to say thank you to loyal customers, while also clearing out inventory that’s difficult to sell.
Simply giving things away is a powerful strategy, especially in the New Year when money is tight.
In January 2023, a digital agency realized that the New Year is a great time for home renovations and ran a competition to win a £150 gift card for well-known British homeware retailer B&M.
The promotion helped the agency win on two fronts – extra brand visibility as people shared the contest on social media, as well as expanding their email list.
Interactive New Year Ad Campaigns
New Year campaigns are all about ramping up engagement in a fun way, while everyone’s still in the festive spirit. Interactivity, especially on social media, works well.
Contests and giveaways are ideal. You could ask followers to post their most creative New Year’s resolution. Or how about a photo contest showing how people are ringing in the New Year?
New Year challenges are popular too. For example, you could ask people to video themselves using your product in an unusual way, with prizes going to the most original. Just remember to get everything tied back to your brand with a custom hashtag, so you can track engagement.
Finally, polls or quizzes often get a good response, especially if people get something in return, like a discount code or special offer.
If you get creative with your poll, you can really ramp up engagement, as Doritos did with their highly successful social media polling ad campaign.
Influencer Collaborations
It’s no secret that influencer marketing is one of the best ways to reach a wider audience. Why? Because influencers have already won the trust of their followers. When they promote your product, people will sit up and take notice and are more likely to buy.
Don’t try and force an influencer collaboration that doesn’t work though. It’s no good asking a middle-aged bald man to promote hair products (unless it’s Regaine!). To be effective, it needs to feel natural.
Approach an influencer that gels with your brand, then see if there’s a way to fit their New Year’s party plans or resolutions with your product(s).
Gymshark is a poster brand for influencer marketing, growing to a £100m business in just 7 years using the strategy. They take influencer marketing so seriously, that they have a team dedicated to scouting people to feature their products.
Every year since 2019, they have set a New Year challenge called Gymshark66. Promoted through influencers, they ask people to pick a fitness goal and post it on January 1st, with a follow-up post 66 days later. The challenge regularly gets millions of likes and views, mostly thanks to the help of TikTok influencers, making it one of the best New Year campaigns in terms of engagement.
Personalized New Year Campaigns
Let’s face it – everyone likes to feel special. A 2024 study revealed that 61% of consumers are willing to spend more when they get personalized experiences.
Customers are even happier when the personalized experiences help them save money. A recent report from Deloitte revealed that 78% of customers want personalization that helps them save money and 84% say that special discount offers have a big influence on their purchasing behavior.
With this in mind, sending personalized New Years greetings, along with some product recommendations or offers based on past purchases can work well.
Countdown Campaigns
The New Year’s Eve countdown is exciting to watch, especially the last few seconds. Use some of that excitement in your New Year campaign by adding a countdown to a special sale on your website’s main banner, in emails, or across your social channels.
Make sure that your countdown timers aren’t just there for show. Make the timers consistent across all customer touchpoints, as your New Year campaign loses credibility if it differs.
Video Marketing
Video ads are highly effective around the holidays and New Year, as people have more time to sit around watching TV or scrolling social media. The best kind of video ads are those that tell a story and draw people in by playing on emotions.
For example, the famous John Lewis Christmas commercials are highly anticipated in the UK, and indeed around the world. In the US, Macy’s have taken a similar approach with feel-good ads of their own.
You don’t need to have a huge budget like those retailers though to make an effective New Year campaign video. Keep it simple, yet make an impact with behind-the-scenes footage, messages from the team, or engaging customer stories.
User-generated content (UGC), such as video reviews made by happy customers, are also good to highlight for your New Year campaign.
Retargeting New Year Campaigns
Retargeting is all about serving ads to customers based on their previous shopping or browsing. New Year is a good time to add some extra pennies to your retargeting budget, as people are online more during the holidays and looking for bargains.
Take the time to make some creative ads that showcase the items they showed interest in and throw in a New Year special offer such as 10 or 20% off to sweeten the deal. In effect, you’re saying “Hey, you liked this item – for a short time you can get it cheaper!”. Even better if you can align these products with people’s resolutions.
Welcome to Prime Time for Sales
The New Year period is prime time to get creative with your promos and get some extra sales.
Flash sales and discount coupons are tried and true ways to get customers engaged with your New Year marketing campaign. If you want to engage people even more, then contests, giveaways, and interactivity work well. Influencers are a great way to get more credibility for your New Year campaigns.
Don’t forget to personalize your marketing messages and use retargeting tech to give people a nudge and get them to buy more.
If you’d like to find out more about using data and technology for smart native ads that could uplift your New Year campaigns, get in touch with Outbrain today.
