You don't have to come up with anything new for December

We're in the middle of September and I'm getting the same nice phone calls I got two years ago. "Toby, the year's coming to an end, can't we build something interactive again for the holidays?”

That question sounds innocent, and of course I always answer with a wholehearted yes. But there's also a downside to it.

Being interactive was once THE answer to ad fatigue. By now almost every brand has a prize wheel, a little quiz, a little advent calendar with a discount code behind it. What once stood out because it was different no longer stands out now, because it's everywhere.

And I'm not saying it's bad, definitely not. Getting your target audience to interact with your brand always works. But then the question becomes: how do you still stand out as a brand around the holidays, when everyone is flinging even more campaigns out into the world at the same time?

My answer: look at what your customers are already fans of. Do you have a beloved brand character, like Takkie from HEMA? Then use that character around your holidays too.

Takkie and Siepie have been beloved brand characters for years, all year round. We didn't come up with a new character for the holidays, but instead gave Takkie and Siepie a digital Christmas version: an advent calendar in the app, a small gift every day, woven into the rest of what HEMA was already doing.

People didn't come back because the mechanic was original. They came back because they already knew Takkie and Siepie, and now had a reason to open the app every day. More than four hundred and fifty thousand people took part.

So when that phone rings again, of course I say yes. We'll look together at what customers already love, and build from there.