Leading brands, like Calvin Klein, Gymshark, Daniel Wellington, and more, run Christmas and New Year influencer campaigns to capitalize on the holiday shopping frenzy and maximize sales.
Research shows nearly 64% of shoppers rely on influencers to come across gifting ideas for their loved ones on Christmas and New Year. So businesses employ talented creators who best represent their brand message to talk about their products throughout the holidays. The brands are aware of the influencers' convincing power and the number of conversions they can drive.
If you, too, want to stand out and make a mark around the holiday season, Christmas and New Year influencer marketing can be a perfect approach for you. Influencers will help you generate a positive buzz for your product and position yourself in the customer's minds so that when they shop, they think of your brand.
So, to help you "sleigh" your Christmas and New Year influencer strategies, we have handpicked 5 inspiring creator campaigns of all time run by leading brands.
Let's get to it!
Calvin Klein, the luxury fashion brand, is an influencer marketing mastermind! The brand knows how to leverage influencers' creativity and their audience.
Calvin Klein is known to have run numerous influencer marketing campaigns that allow YouTubers, celebrities, and content creators to share personal and intimate information about themselves – the best way to engage true fans.
Knowing that fans are always hungry to learn more about their favorite stars, Calvin Klein launched a YouTube series called "In bed with…" as part of their 2019 Christmas and New Year influencer campaign.
The series featured videos of Kendall Jenner and Emma Chamberlain getting ready for the holiday party hosted by Calvin Klein. The celebrities were seen talking about random topics like things they do in bed, preferred travel destinations, and more while wearing their CK favorites.
The idea was to leverage the audience of the celebrity influencers and get them to talk about the product around the holidays. The Christmas influencer campaign was a massive success, bagging more than 3 million views on just one video.
Besides celebrities, the 2019 Calvin Klein Holiday party also invited several lifestyle macro-influencers like Emili Sindlev, Kay, etc., to maximize their visibility. The brand asked the macro content creators to post unboxing videos of the gifted products on their social media handles under #CKHOLIDAY#MYCALVINS. The unboxing videos acted like gift guides for the audiences and encouraged them to give Calvins to their loved ones on Christmas, allowing the brand to boost its shopping sales.
Since the "In bed with…" YouTube series was such a hit, the brand had to stretch it out further as part of its 2020 New Year influencer campaign. The series featured famous internet personalities and social media influencers like Claudia Sulewski, Evan Mock, and Rickey Thompson in Calvin clothing talking about 2019 highlights and how they will spend their New Year.
For the #CKHOLIDAY Christmas and New Year influencer campaign, Calvin Klein used three major strategies to earn big bucks.
a. They collaborated with multiple creators
The brand partnered with influencers ranging from mega to macro, allowing them to build mass awareness for the holiday product collection. They even added a link below the posts to encourage people to shop for the exact products the influencers like, resulting in more conversions.
b. They gave the audience what they want
People love learning about their favorite stars and influencers. The #CKHOLIDAY video series gave the customers exactly what they wanted, which allowed the brand to boost views and engagement.
c. They created more shareable content
Social media users tend to share posts and videos with friends they think are interesting to watch or read. The video series and social media posts accounted for more shareable content across social media channels, which boosted engagement for the brand.
Want to leverage influencer marketing for your holiday campaigns? Check out our detailed guide to learn how!
The Body Shop, a beauty and skincare company, is another example of how brands have used influencers to position themselves in the market. The brand has run numerous influencer campaigns that allow customers to learn more about its products.
For Christmas 2021, the brand wanted to celebrate people who love selflessly. So they encouraged customers to remember selfless people in their lives and gift them The Body Shop products for Christmas. Moreover, they promised to give a small amount of every purchase to women's and children's charities.
The Body Shop ran a Christmas influencer campaign, #GiveWithJoy, where they collaborated with several macro and micro-influencers to spread the message and encourage their followers to buy The Body Shop products as Christmas presents.
In addition, the brand hosted an influencer party and treated creators to free makeup and threading. The chance to connect with other influencers and free products gave the creators a reason to talk about the party on their social media handles, boosting engagement for the brand.
As planned, the influencers shared their experience by posting a picture or writing an article under #GiveWithJoy to tell followers about the generous contributions the brand will make for Christmas 2021.
The Body Shop coupled the influencer content with a video ad they posted on multiple channels to increase awareness about the campaign.
The Body Shop brand is known for its activism marketing and cruelty-free products. They have often collaborated with content creators and influencers in different niches, like beauty, pet, and even sustainability, to convey the brand message.
So what was it about the 2021 #GiveWithJoy Christmas influencer campaign that made it successful?
a. They started collaborating early
Knowing that most customers do their Christmas shopping around Thanksgiving and Black Friday, they started their campaign in mid-November. The strategy allowed the brand to connect with people before the shopping season, so they already know which product to buy when the season arrives.
Related: Amplify Your Black Friday and Cyber Monday Influencer Campaigns [5 Effective Tips]
b. They used emotional targeting
Since the campaign asked audiences to gift products to people who show selfless love, the audience became emotionally invested. Through the products, they wanted to show their loved ones that they cared too. And what better occasion to do that than the Christmas season! So as a thank you for the overflowing self-love, customers bought The Body Shop care packages as joyful treats for their loved ones.
c. They presented a strong initiative
The brand's initiative of buying products that give back to a good cause encouraged people to choose The Body Shop products over similar companies, giving it a competitive edge and generating big conversions.
Lego, too, has had a history of launching inspirational and click-worthy Christmas and New Year influencer campaigns. In 2017, the brand launched a collaborative campaign with Insta moms and dads, family influencers, and lifestyle creators to reach parents and ask them to gift something productive to their kids.
The influencers posted a picture of their kids playing with the lego sets dressed in cozy Christmas overalls, discussing how the Lego bricks can boost brain activity and stimulate the kids' imagination. The #ShakeUpImagintaion featured posts from several influencers sparking joy in their kids with Lego bricks.
The Lego Christmas influencer campaign turned out to be a massive hit among moms and dads. The influencers Naomi Davis and Christine Andrew generated more than 23K collective engagement on their Instagram posts with positive customer reactions.
Lego complemented the holiday influencer marketing campaign with a video ad that truly brought out the essence of the campaign and tugged at people's emotions. The ad featured kids talking about what they would like to make with Lego bricks. The video caused a positive response in people that they couldn't ignore.
The campaign was successful in generating high engagement and sales for the brand because:
a. They leveraged emotional targeting
The Lego Christmas influencer campaign tugged at the emotions of parents who love their kids and desire to give them an engaging, productive game. To do so, the brand adopted a storytelling content strategy that touched upon the parents' need to buy something good for their kids while making positive connections.
b. They used effective brand positioning
The influencer campaign effectively spread Lego's brand message, "to make a positive difference in the lives of children" by revving their imagination. It caused the customers to see Lego as a game that is good for their kids' brain activity and makes for the perfect Christmas eve present.
Fabletics, an American activewear brand co-founded by Kate Hudson, invests vigorously in influencer partnerships, especially around the holidays. When it comes to creator marketing, the brand knows its audience well and uses the insights to its advantage.
For instance, the brand understands its audience becomes particular about health around the New Year, so it launches a New Year influencer campaign every year to boost its holiday shopping sales.
"Since January is our biggest month of the year, we really went after a lot of influencers," says Jennine Matthias, Director of influencer marketing at Fabletics. "We had them focus on 'It's a New Year, New You.'
They position their products as soft, comfortable, and best self-care partners through influencer collaborations. For example, in 2019, to encourage customers to prioritize self-love, self-care, and fitness, they partnered with over 200 paid and 350 non-paid (product gifting) micro-influencers on YouTube and Instagram. They wanted to establish the brand's activewear as trendy, affordable, and comfortable.
To do so, Hayley Pham and Boho Beautiful Yoga (owned by Juliana and Mark Spicoluk) posted videos of them relaxing and practicing self-care routines and doing yoga while wearing Fabletis clothing. The campaign drove close to 13000 new customers through direct links.
Fabletics' New Year New You campaign was successful in bringing in thousands of new customers because:
a. They collaborated with micro-influencers
Collaborating with hundreds of micro creators allowed the brand to drive more engagement because of their close connections with the audiences. Micro-influencers interact with their followers daily to establish relationships with them and earn their trust. The audience's trust gives creators a convincing power which helps generate higher conversions.
"We're trying to work with as many people as we can who are of the right audience for us and that match our brand. We saw amazing results from that [for Fabletics]," says Matthias.
Worried about managing campaigns with multiple influencers? Try affable.ai to scale your campaigns from a single dashboard.
b. They allowed creative freedom to creators
Fabletics understands that the influencers know their audience best, so they trusted the creators and gave them total creative freedom to create authentic content. They asked the creators to churn out content aligning with the brand's message and the customer pain point, which is New Year fitness. Accordingly, the influencers created content that resonated with their followers, resulting in increased conversions.
Ferrero Rocher is an Italian company that produces melt-in-mouth Hazelnut flavored chocolate confectioneries.
For many years, Ferrero chocolate boxes have been a popular gifting choice on occasions and holidays worldwide. Be it thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, or Valentine's day; you can expect a Ferrero Rocher box from your loved ones.
Despite its popularity, Ferrero Rocher ran a Christmas influencer campaign in 2020, #SayItWithGold to bring in more sales. That's the power of the creator economy; everyone wants to reap its benefits.
To celebrate the loved ones who make Christmas better, Ferrero Rocher partnered with creators who have only a few thousand followers but a convincing voice. They positioned their product as the 'golden gift' people should give their loved ones.
Creators like Melbourne Foodie, Ethel Diessa, Nikole Smith, and more published their pics on Instagram with the Ferrero Rocher box highlighting how they said it with Gold on Christmas. While some creators posted images with their kids, others posted images of yummy Christmas cake recipes using Ferrero, enticing the customers to buy Ferrero Rocher on the most celebrated holiday.
Since then, the #SayItWithGold has become a branded hashtag for Ferrero Rocher, used by social media creators for more occasions than just Christmas.
Apart from using micro-influencers to create high engagement rates,
a. They started early
Ferrero Rocher started their campaigns in early December to position themselves in customers' shopping lists before Christmas. The creators had plenty of time to churn out authentic content that resonated with the customers and share it across social media.
Note: Considering the brand's perishable product, 1st week of December is the best time for Ferrero to start its Christmas influencer campaign as people buy chocolates on the same day they want to gift. You, however, can start your campaign earlier, depending on your product.
b. They targeted the audience's emotions
The #SayItWithGold Christmas influencer campaign allowed people to remember and express gratitude to their loved ones. The campaign's content compelled the viewers to recall all the beautiful things their loved ones do for them and how they can make Christmas merrier for them, especially in 2020 – the year of Covid.
The campaign encouraged customers to send gratitude to the people who helped them through the pandemic, similar to what the creator Nicole Smith did.
You can take inspiration from the above campaigns and enhance your Christmas and New Year influencer marketing strategies!
Keep in mind the following points before diving into holiday influencer marketing:
1. Start early - Reap the maximum results by starting your campaigns months before the season.
2. Focus on what's important to your audience - Leverage the pain points of your audiences to drive sales.
3. Tug at emotions - Figure out how to target your audience's emotions and position your product, so they become invested.
4. Partner with multiple influencers - Instead of partnering with a few big-buck influencers, look for micro creators with fewer followers and then collaborate with hundreds of them.
5. Convey your brand message clearly - Note the unique message your brand might want to communicate to customers and use it to fuel your content strategies.
6. Give creative freedom to influencers while communicating your brand message - Grant your creators enough freedom to create authentic content that the audience will like instead of being too controlling of the content.
affable.ai has solutions for you!
In addition to the above factors, a successful holiday influencer marketing campaign needs suitable influencers – who understand your brand, create fresh content, and drive maximum engagement.
To find such influencers and scale your holiday campaigns, you can use the affable.ai influencer management platform. The platform's features allow you to discover relevant influencers, manage hundreds of them from a single dashboard, and measure the ROI of the campaign.
To learn more about the platform, book a free trial to talk to our influencer marketing experts.
Or check out affable.ai case studies to understand how we helped 100+ brands and agencies in scaling influencer marketing campaigns!
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