How Holiday Food Becomes Cultural Moments
As Halloween ends and all the pop culture buzz comes to an end, then comes in the holiday festivities. THE FOOOODDDD!! This is where we shift from costume craze to food focused content. Dishes that are best for the holidays and much more!
From pumpkin spice flavored items and lattes, peppermint flavor items and lattes, to gingerbread flavored everything. With these items, the seasonal signal that the holidays are fast approaching. This is not just a monthly thing, rather it is a season long thing. Holiday flavors have evolved from simplicity to creating buzz, storytelling, and a way of branding with a bit of PR magic.
Viral campaigns that capture the holiday spirit
Trader Joe’s seasonal drops: creates anticipation with the many different products that make a yearly return.
Coca-cola’s holidays are coming: ads that reinforce the emotional connection between the product and the joys of the holidays
Starbucks holiday season drops: the most anticipated menu drop of the year brings in fall drinks and winter drinks as well.
These brands understand the marketing benefits that come with the holidays.
This is called “temporary nostalgia” which is a state in which smells and tastes that create a nostalgic feeling. Smart marketers know that this is a form of creating anticipation for certain items and menus that come out during the holiday season.
Creating your own brand
Takeaways are simple, create anticipation and joy to the season:
Build anticipation: with new menu items
Create rituals: limited- edition items that create a buzz all year round
Tap into emotions: they are not just trends, what feelings does your product induce? Warmth, joy, and comfort
We have covered emotional storytelling, timing, and anticipation.
But when it comes to hype, the most powerful tool that comes behind PR is the audience itself. When something is made to be shared, an audience is the most powerful aspect. Community is huge and brings anticipation along with it. The use of social media will always circle back around, each post is a promotion, turning customers into brand advocators.
Consistency builds tradition
Over time consistency can turn into tradition, if a company stays consistent in putting out the same products each year, for example Trader Joe’s, or if they bring back the same items with a twist like Starbucks, this turns into tradition.
In short
The PR and marketing aspect behind the holiday season brings not only joy but anticipation and audience engagement. Through timing and exposure, PR professionals turn limited time products into long lasting incentives that stay imprinted in a person’s mind.
