Big events! There will be some significant occurrences in the upcoming year including the Olympics and the Presidential Election. Make sure you have them marked on your promotional calendar now. Having well thought out promotions built around these special events can help you stand out from the crowd.

First up: Leap Year.  February 29 appears on the calendar once every 4 years. Therefore, Leap Year Babies are often thought of as being neglected. If you have enough customers born on 2/29 to justify a special birthday message, it would be nice to treat them to 4x the typical birthday deal. The majority of your database will likely be born on other days of the year, so celebrate them too by offering a special deal on their birthday if they enter or confirm their information on the 29th. Perhaps 29% off?  This will fill in gaps in your data and give customers something to look forward to. 

“Leap” also implies skipping over or avoiding something – like shipping fees! This holiday season we saw an incredible number of Free Shipping deals starting on Black Friday. Many companies extended the deal to the last minute, offering free upgrades to 2-day shipping and free express delivery. Some companies, like L.L. Bean, offer Free Shipping all the time.  If you are still charging shipping fees, Leap Year Day might be a nice day to temporarily suspend them – or charge a nominal flat rate like $2.29.

Another event occurring every four years is the Summer Olympics.  Starting in July, the Olympics will be the focus of much attention. Many athletes have interesting backstories and the news media will be doing a lot of biographies. Take a cue from this this channel and feature in-depth information on designers or employees that are inspirational or have shown great teamwork. J.Crew published a web video last spring on how a particular pair of shoes was made.  It provided a look into the personalities of the team who designed the shoe, picked the materials, and ultimately produced the product. The video made me much more attracted to both the product and the company. According to e-Dialog research, nearly 20% of consumers subscribe to email because they identify with a brand or the lifestyle it promotes. Let them in on more of that lifestyle by putting faces to your brand. 

An obvious tie-in to the Olympics is to feature a game in your email. Games promote interactivity and engagement. The current email from the Choice Hotels loyalty program advertises a simple matching game where you flip over cards and match each of the brand logos. The game times how fast you make the matches and lets you share it on Facebook.  Not only did it engage me, but it also familiarized me with hotels I didn’t know already. This could be replicated using brands or even products from a new line.

http://choicehotelscreative.com/ecrm/11-767/index.html

 

Election 2012.  An event we can expect to hear about for the majority of the year is the Presidential election. The population will be urged again and again to get out and vote.  Therefore, including a poll or survey in your email will be right in line with what customers are seeing and hearing in their day-to-day lives. This is an especially great way to refresh and/or build out the information in your preference center and to gain actionable data from your subscribers. Multiple choice polls can be built directly into your emails with e-Dialog and results are tied to email addresses.

See the example CVS poll below. Based on the answer chosen, you could direct customers to different landing pages. If they are done wrapping, show them gifts for themselves – they earned it! If they haven’t started, bring on the tape, scissors and gift bags.

 

The 12 Days of Christmas.  If you thought you saw a lot of companies doing a daily-deal and counting down the 12 days of Christmas, you were right. And if you think they won’t do it again – especially when the calendar turns 12/12/12 - you would probably be mistaken. Review your favorite daily-deal emails now to see what competitors did and start brainstorming creative takes on this concept. I like the approach L’Occitane took this summer by displaying outlines of the products they would be discounting but still keeping some mystery around them. 

 

I also liked the video Best Buy did right before Christmas where they summarized their deals-of-the-week in a 2 minute video. The video was a nice change from having to click and scroll through all of the deals. Furthermore, it was engaging and entertaining with a little humor sprinkled in.

 

Others.  While Leap Year, the Summer Olympics, the Presidential Election and 12.12.12 are events special to the new year, there will indubitably be others that pop up along the way.  (I’m not even going to address the end-of-the-world stuff predicted for next December). Be flexible and ready for these “events” too with branded templates. At a minimum, create a postcard-like shell with your branding that can be pulled off the shelf to promote something last minute or to match a competitor’s offer.

Wishing you a happy and health 2012!  (And, Happy Birthday leap year babies!  Go Team USA…)

Are there any events I missed?  Please send them my way!