The Point: The past two years have forced people to reinvent how they celebrate the festive season. And while people’s parties might have shrunk over the last few years, they’re actually celebrating more often than before. As people reframed how they experience the festive season, they created new ‘mini moments’ to celebrate. These new traditions are sticking around, making the 2022 festive season unlike any other.
This year, festive shoppers plan to celebrate as much as they can. They’re finally ready to throw the parties that they've been dreaming of for the past few years. Big Halloween bashes. Formal winter fests. Huge festive dinners with everyone they’ve been waiting to see.
But big is only half the story. During the pandemic, people adapted. They swapped the big parties for intimate gatherings with immediate family and close friends—organising events such as gift-wrapping parties or festive film nights. And now these smaller mini moments are here to stay too.
Our research shows that this is a festive season unlike any other. One that blends big and small, monumental and mini, tradition and innovation. And for festive shoppers, it’s all starting right now. Which means that your festive season needs to start now, too.
This year’s festive shoppers are planning for more celebrations and seasonal moments than ever before. 80% of festive shoppers in our survey said that they plan to have more mini moments throughout this festive season, punctuating their bigger festivities with every chance that they get to celebrate, connect and create new traditions.1 This can mean fun new traditions such as harvest festivals, leftovers parties and group trips to see the festive lights.
It’s great news for a brand like yours. The more people want to celebrate, the more they’ll browse for all kinds of festive categories, from décor to gifts to food. You can tap into this emerging behaviour by being ready to go for all kinds of moments across the season, big and small.
In 2021, Pinterest advertisers who activated against multiple seasonal moments saw a 4x higher increase in conversion rates than those who only activated for Christmas.2
More moments mean more ways to win
Adding more seasonal moments to your festive season ad mix pays off. In 2021, Pinterest advertisers who activated against multiple seasonal moments saw a 4x higher increase in conversion rates than those who only activated for Christmas.2
In other words: Don’t save all your spend for December. Those big festive moments do still matter, but you’re better off allocating your festive season campaigns and budget throughout a longer, more varied season. Take advantage of the smaller micro-moments throughout the season AND the bigger, more traditional moments for maximum payoff.
Early adds up
On Pinterest, the festive season kicks off with Halloween and goes well into January of the following year. But here's the thing: the planning starts way before the celebrating. To maximise your festive season opportunity, you need to start promoting your festive ideas and products months before the actual moments hit.
For example: take Halloween. As we all know, it’s celebrated on the 31st October. But our data shows that the peak ad opportunity for Halloween actually runs all the way from July to October.4 Brands that wait until that last month, miss out. But those that start running their Halloween content during the summer reach more shoppers, and reach them earlier in the planning process.
Consistent, timely marketing throughout the season leads to better results. Brands on Pinterest see 5x more conversions when people are exposed to their ads earlier in the season, compared to brands who wait to advertise until later on.3
Michaels saw this work for them last year with their multi-objective festive season marketing. They simultaneously ran different campaign objectives geared towards reaching shoppers at every step of the marketing funnel throughout the season. Michaels only saw a 6% overlap in audiences for each objective, showing that Pinterest was effective at reaching shoppers in every phase.5
Think about this opportunity spread over so many festive marketing moments throughout the season—there’s always someone in each phase getting ready to plan, shop or buy.
Big festive moment4
Halloween
Black Friday/Cyber Week
Hanukkah
Christmas
New Year’s Eve
Peak ad opportunity
July–October
October–November
August–December
July–December
November–December
Make every moment count
As festive shoppers prepare for a celebration-packed season, they're actively searching for all sorts of ideas for the festive season. And Pinterest is where they come to find them. Take advantage of this moment in time and influence their big and small festive celebrations while they’re still in planning mode—not documenting them after the fact.
Act on insights
Activate more moments
Start planning your campaign schedule now, and think about including a mix of those classic bigger moments and smaller mini moments that your brand can speak to. Think about natural ties between what you offer—and how people celebrate. Maybe your products are especially relevant for a topic such as gifting or a certain time of the season. Really lean into the ways your specific company can help to amplify and support people’s celebrations.
Help people to plan multiple moments at once
Festive shoppers have overlapping needs throughout the season. They might be shopping for Friendsmas, planning a festive dinner and picking décor for New Year’s, all at once. Think about different objective types and how they can complement each other. Make sure that your festive season campaigns include a mix of objective types, so you can ensure that you meet shoppers every step of the way.
Make gifting a breeze
People come to Pinterest open-minded and undecided about what to buy. But they do have targeted recipients in mind—so they search for gifts using keywords such as relationship (mother, brother, etc.) or the recipient’s interests. Infuse this specificity into your creative assets to meet your audience where they are.
Still craving more tips?
Watch our festive season webinar to get unique insights about festive shopping on Pinterest and recommendations on how to build your media plans for the season.