The leaves haven't fully turned, yet we're already flooded with holiday content on our feeds and inboxes. These days it seems we can't even make it past Halloween before seeing a few wreaths and Christmas trees popping up. In this flood of holiday centric marketing, it becomes increasingly difficult to stand out. Here at inHouse, we love chasing that seasonal feeling, and we know our friends and family do too.
You may be wondering: how does this so-called "seasonal feeling" tie into influencer marketing? We have the answer.
Here's a major key to influencer marketing: keep your content relevant. The best way to check off that box? Ensure your content is in tune to the climate of its release, meaning that whatever is on your target audience's mind should be at the forefront of your campaign. Fall is often thought of as a comforting time since the cold weather brings on rich traditions and people coming together, so your content can, and should, capitalize on that! There is an overwhelming saturation in the market surrounding the traditional moments of Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Christmas. A great way to stand out against these holiday-centric campaigns is to capture the feeling of a season, not just it's highlights.
With an overwhelming saturation in the market surrounding Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Christmas, a great way to stand out is through seasonal-inspired content, not just the traditional marketing moments.
So you see, the key component to creating campaigns that stand out against the holiday noise is leveraging influencer content. Think about what your favorite influencer is up to in October: pumpkin picking, wine tasting, updating their fall wardrobe, and the list goes on. In November they might be hosting their Friendsgiving before going off to their families' Thanksgiving. In December, ugly sweater parties, Vlogmas, gift hauls, and decor tips. Thinking outside of the seasonal box the way influencers do creates content your viewership actually wants to engage with.
Girlfriend Getaway: Fall Edition
A real-life application of this is inHouse's partnership with Clique Media and Pandora Jewelry. The campaign was set to launch in the fall, so we built out a "fall escape" including a trip to upstate New York to an apple orchard, a common yet often overlooked fall activity that's suitable for all ages. We spent the day exploring, riding bikes, and enjoying a picnic, all in true fall fashion with strong leading ladies. Kayla Seah who specializes in curated lifestyle content, Asiyami Gold who is a visual storyteller and creative director, Charlotte Bridgeman who's a fashion extraordinaire, and Emily Luciano who's a New York fashion and lifestyle mogul. The end result? An Instagram-ready, fashion forward campaign perfectly aligned with those colder weather months.
"Do spend time with the people you care about most. Do see the little things in life. See the wonderful this fall."
Fun Fact: we actually shot this campaign during the summer! Shoutout to these lovely ladies for playing pretend with us... and bundling up despite the heat.
Fall = Football
We know every campaign is different, and yours may not align in activating talent in a fall activity like apple picking. If that's the case, different types of activities can work into this fall strategy as an alternative route. At the end of the day, the key ingredient to these seasonal activations is the concept of people coming together, and there's no other community closer than those who bleed their team's colors. Fall is home to many tradition-rich activities, and football is among the most coveted - just think of your Uncle Jim's "lucky hat" that he hasn't washed since the Giant's won Superbowl XLVI. With football comes tailgating, watch parties, and football enthusiasts; that's a market we can not only tap, we can absolutely get behind.
Working within the football atmosphere is made simple by utilizing talent of all ages - inHouse has worked with league legends like Eli Manning as well as newcomers like Saquon Barkley and Sam Darnold. By working with noteworthy players on each end of the age spectrum, marketers are able to target fans of varying demographics while reaching fans of football and their team as a whole.
In our activation with Eli Manning and Toyota, inHouse combines the spirit of major league football and all-star players who have standout personalities of their own. inHouse capitalizes on their individualism as well as their friendship by pairing players and creating a heartwarming reunion feel to the content.
Contrary to the legends, when one thinks about NFL newcomers like Sam Darnold, the first thing that pops into your head is "who is he? What are his stats? Where did this guy come from?" That exact reaction is how we built out the activation. An auto-complete search question interview allowed for the content to be relevant to how users interact with him already in a playful yet informative tone. In the same manner, Saquon being a rookie is the underlying theme of his activation with Toyota as well. Senior members of the team giving him a hard time by tasking him with ridiculous requests like picking up donuts provides entertainment value and takes advantage of his known "nice guy" persona.
Fun Fact: Saquon appeared in another activation with Dunkin that went viral just before Toyota's release. We incorporated donuts in the shoot not only to play homage to the hype, but also resonate with viewers who may have seen the Dunkin spots.
Friendsgiving
Thanksgiving and the holidays are plastered everywhere immediately after Halloween - that's just how the cookie crumbles each year. As a marketing professional, the holiday season is always a challenge; everyone is talking about the same exact thing. However busy or intense the holiday season gets, it's important to remember the reason behind it all - friends and family. Breaking through the content cluttered around this "massive sale here" or that "crazy deal there" is what successful marketing is about. Tapping into another avenue of "always on" content revolves around that concept of rallying the troops for some quality time together. The best way to marry seasonality and relevancy (without breaking the bank and guaranteeing leftovers) is creating a Friendsgiving! Although it isn't an official holiday, with a little decor and a few of dips for guests, you might as well call it one. There's no better excuse to try your hand at hosting than this!
IKEA is the world leader in the home furnishings industry, but in this activation, they wanted to add "grocery destination" to their title while providing a curated dining experience for their consumers.
The challenge was to communicate their year-round relevance by meeting seasonal needs.
IKEA and Katie Quinn exemplify exactly what's required for a seasonal Friendsgiving, from placemats to the full charcuterie board. IKEA's team partnered with UBER to deliver on-demand dinner kits all over New York in order to raise awareness for their additional expertise in dining. The ease of delivery and convenience lessened the stress of hosting and maintained the reason for the season. Speaking directly to the audience's needs in terms of their fall-inspired event is one of the many ways to not only reach your audience, but to resonate with them.
Looking to create a creative strategy that implements influencer content? Ready to break free of the noise within influencer marketing? Reach out to info@inhouse.team or find us on social to connect on next steps.
For more information on inHouse, please contact info@inhouse.team