News and Insights
Celebrating Guy Fawkes: the best digital ‘Bonfire Night’ campaigns
November 14, 2018
Who’d have known, over 400 years ago, that we’d still be celebrating the safety of King James I and his parliament today? What started as a Catholic conspiracy against the government, ended up as an annual national celebration. Lighting fireworks, drinking hot chocolate, eating sausages: Bonfire Night is filled with cosy autumn traditions – so for brands, it seems only right to tap into those festivities.
Seasonal events are easy marketing wins: it brings you on the same page as your customers, but most importantly, the festive mood means that people are much more likely to spend (according to this article, Brits spent a dazzling £316 million this year). So how can you benefit from that? Let’s take a look at some of our favourite examples.
Costa Coffee
Costa Coffee announcing a special Bonfire Night coffee was to be expected, but an entire menu? Wow. Including everything from bonfire spiced lattes to hot chocolate and cold brews infused with a rich, smoky bonfire spice, introducing this seasonal range was a winning decision, not least because of its very hashtagable name. What more than a #bonfirespicedlatte could any fanatic Instagrammer possibly want? Not much, clearly, as about a 1000 individuals captured, uploaded, and hashtagged their drinking experience. That’s one way to own the season!
Harvey Nichols
Selling products that are fitting to the season is one thing; spelling it out for your customers is another. Whether it’s obvious or not, people love themes, and making sure your products fit within that is half the job done. Harvey Nichols did this particularly well, as they highlighted their somewhat more exclusive, yet very fire themed products in their monthly newsletter. Who wouldn’t want a bottle of smoked rum to cheers to Guy Fawkes after receiving this mouth-watering email?
VioVet
Another great email campaign is this one by pet supplier VioVet. Providing their customers with some valuable information and support around caring for pets and farm animals during the firework season, they are using their position of authority to get closer to their audience. It can be difficult for pet owners to know how to calm down their dog during Bonfire Night, and this newsletter responds to that perfectly. On the commercial side of things, what this particular letter does so well is being informative and offering support first, while following up by an overview of their product range and a clear call to action. This is absolute best practice, as it makes customers feel that they are first, and the brand is second.
Crew Clothing Company
What to wear when you’re out all night watching fireworks? Coats, jackets, jumpers and scarfs of course, which is why Crew Clothing Company offered 20% off on all of their knitwear in the whole week leading up to the 5th of November. A very timely newsletter was sent out to all of their existing customers, along with a festive Instagram post, in which they emphasized on the importance of knitwear during the cosy season. As the first rule of marketing goes, you don’t know what you want until you see it!
The Guardian
Not a marketing brand, we know, but their strong digital content strategy makes them a worthy member of this list. With an entire section devoted to Bonfire Night and no less than 12 individual pieces of coverage published on their site, the newspaper knows what it means to be on trend. This is smart and strategic for multiple reasons: first, it helps them pop up into Google when anyone researches Bonfire Night (whether it’s now or in following years). Second, the sheer quantity of content will give external parties more resources to share on their social channels. Third, it allows them to actively join the conversation. The result? A clear example of digital content done right.
And those are the marketing ideas we thought were most striking this Bonfire Season. Write them down and let them inspire you for next year’s digital marketing plan! Is there anything else that’s caught your eye? Let us know.