National Holidays can be your brand's best-friend or it’s worst enemy.
Of course, fun and light-hearted holidays such as Pancake Day, Love Your Pet Day and National Pizza Day (yes- that is a thing), are perfectly harmless to use in your marketing strategy. They generate fun and engaging content that can be very useful when connecting with customers and entertaining your audiences.
2020 has seen more brands raise awareness and show support for more impactful holidays. According to Sprout Social’s #BrandsGetReal report, it was revealed that “the majority of consumers (70%) believe it’s important for brands to take a public stand on social and political issues”. The world is demanding change and your brand should not be left behind.
However, the same report found that “More than half of consumers (53%) believe brands only take a stand for public relations or marketing purposes”.
For your brand's credibility and to respect the importance and sensitivity surrounding certain national holidays, your video content should mirror your true feelings whilst aiming to selflessly help the cause.
Below are tips on how and why you should endeavour to incorporate National Holidays into your brand's video content.
1. To Establish Your Personality
National Holidays are a great way to show off your brand's personality. With a range of dates celebrating so many versatile occasions, you are able to establish your brand's essence.
If you are a quirky company, weird and wonderful dates such as Cheese Lovers Day (Jan 20th) or Look-alike Day (April 20th) are a great way to connect with your audience through humour and light hearted content.
If you’re a brand keen to establish yourselves as leaders in your field, dates such as Podcast Day (September 30th) or Authors Days (November 1st) are great opportunities to educate your audience.
Make sure you tailor the holiday to your brand's need:
Why are you generating content around this holiday?
What is the intended outcome?
How can it help you connect or make a change?
No matter the holiday, your marketing video should be planned. If you need help with creating your video marketing strategy, check out our blog, “How To Create a Video Marketing Strategy: 5 Steps To Success”.
2. To Take a Stand
Last year marked the importance of awareness days and the imperative need for change. Taking a stand on subjects you truly believe in is an admirable way to gain loyalty and respect, whilst highlighting your company values.
It is important to dive into your cause whole-heartedly. Do your research, conduct interviews and plan your content. Tip-toeing across a National Holidays which are valued by so many is more dangerous than not covering them at all.
Make sure you truly believe in your cause. Your support should not only help your customers understand your brand's identity and beliefs, but should help out and generate a positive outcome for your chosen cause or political opinion.
Top Tip - Interview content is incredibly useful. By conducting interviews with campaigners and lead personalities for your chosen cause, you can create highly informative content whilst learning more about the issue yourself.
3. To Showcase Your Niche
Perhaps you run a pirate themed crazy golf course… days such as Talk Like A Pirate Day (19th of September) are perfect for showcasing your niche and generating fun content.
Chances are, you don’t run a pirate themed crazy golf course - however the sentiment still remains. With hundreds of strangely specific National Holidays out there, you have the chance to create videos unique to your brand, which really encapsulate your purpose.
Things To Remember:
Post In Advance
Don’t wait until the day of the event to share your video. Make sure to share your thoughts and share clips of your video prior to the day, in order to generate excitement and gain awareness of your chosen national holiday.
Chose Wisely
You can’t cover every national holiday, and you don’t need to. Choose wisely and make sure it is appropriate.
Use Hashtags
When sharing on social media make sure to use relevant and appropriate hashtags to generate shares.
Have a Purpose
As mentioned it is important to have a reason why you're creating a video centred around this holiday. Some will be more serious than others. Perhaps it’s a little light-hearted joke? Or perhaps it is a cause your brand is keen to raise awareness for? Whatever the reason - make sure you can justify it.
A List Of National Holidays
The wonderful team over at HubSpot have put together a Social Media Holiday Calendar which you can download and use for free!
You can also find the list below (again - courtesy of HubSpot)
If you want to know more about how we can help you maximise your engagement through video, please get in touch with us on hello@foxfifth.com
January 2021
1. Friday, New Year's Day #NewYearsDay
2. Saturday, Science Fiction Day #ScienceFictionDay
4. Monday, National Trivia Day #NationalTriviaDay
5. Tuesday, National Bird Day #NationalBirdDay
11. Monday, Human Trafficking Awareness Day #HumanTraffickingDay
11. Monday, Clean Off Your Desk Day #CleanOffYourDeskDay
13. Wednesday, National Sticker Day #NationalStickerDay
15. Friday, National Hat Day #NationalHatDay
18. Monday, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (Third Monday of January) #MLKDay
20. Wednesday, Cheese Lovers Day #CheeseLoversDay
21. Thursday, National Hugging Day #NationalHuggingDay
21. Thursday, Get to Know Your Customers Day (third Thursday of every quarter) #GetToKnowYourCustomersDay
23. Saturday, National Pie Day #PieDay
24. Sunday, National Compliment Day #NationalComplimentDay
25. Monday, Opposite Day #OppositeDay
25. Monday, Community Manager Appreciation Day (Last Monday of January) #CMAD
28. Thursday, Data Privacy Day #PrivacyAware
February 2021
2. Tuesday, Groundhog Day #GroundhogDay
2. Tuesday, World Wetlands Day #WorldWetlandsDay
4. Thursday, World Cancer Day #WorldCancerDay
5. Friday, National Weatherperson’s Day #NationalWeatherpersonsDay
7. Sunday, Super Bowl LV (Varies each year based on the U.S. Football season) #SBLV #SuperBowlSunday #SuperBowl
7. Sunday, National Send a Card to a Friend Day #SendACardToAFriendDay
8. Monday, National Boy Scouts Day #BoyScoutsDay
9. Tuesday, National Pizza Day #NationalPizzaDay
11. Thursday, Safer Internet Day #SID2021
11. Thursday, Inventors Day #InventorsDay
12. Friday, Chinese New Year #ChineseNewYear
13. Saturday, World Radio Day #WorldRadioDay
14. Sunday, Valentine's Day #ValentinesDay
15. Monday, Presidents Day (Third Monday of February) #PresidentsDay
16. Tuesday, Mardi Gras #MardiGras
17. Wednesday, Random Acts of Kindness Day #RandomActsOfKindnessDay
18. Thursday, National Battery Day #NationalBatteryDay
20. Saturday, World Day of Social Justice #SocialJusticeDay
20. Saturday, Love Your Pet Day #LoveYourPetDay
21. Sunday, International Mother Language Day #IMLD
March 2021
2. Tuesday, National Read Across America Day #ReadAcrossAmerica & #DrSeuss
3. Wednesday, World Wildlife Day #WorldWildlifeDay
4. Thursday, National Grammar Day #NationalGrammarDay
5. Friday, National Employee Appreciation Day (First Friday of March) #EmployeeAppreciationDay
5. Friday, National Day of Unplugging (First Friday of March) #NationalDayOfUnplugging
6. Saturday, National Dentist's Day #DentistsDay
7. Sunday, National Be Heard Day #NationalBeHeardDay
7. Sunday, National Cereal Day #NationalCerealDay
8. Monday, International Women's Day #BeBoldForChange
8. Monday, National Proofreading Day #NationalProofreadingDay
9. Tuesday, National Napping Day #NationalNappingDay
10. Wednesday, National Pack Your Lunch Day #NationalPackYourLunchDay
10. Wednesday, National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day #NWGHAAD
11. Thursday, National Worship of Tools Day #WorshipOfToolsDay
12: Friday, National Girl Scout Day #GirlScoutDay
12. Friday, Popcorn Lover's Day #PopcornLoversDay
14. Sunday, Potato Chip Day #NationalPotatoChipDay
14. Sunday, Pi Day #PiDay (To go the extra mile, post this at 1:59, as Pi equals 3.14159...)
15. Monday, World Consumer Rights Day #WorldConsumerRightsDay
16. Tuesday, National Freedom of Information Day #FreedomOfInformationDay
17. Wednesday, St. Patrick's Day #StPatricksDay
18. Thursday, Awkward Moments Day #NationalAwkwardMomentsDay
19. Friday, National Let's Laugh Day #NationalLetsLaughDay
19. Friday, World Sleep Day #WorldSleepDay
19. Friday, Red Nose Day #RedNoseDay
20. Saturday, International Day of Happiness #InternationalDayofHappiness
20. Saturday, World Storytelling Day #WorldStorytellingDay
20. Saturday, First Day of Spring #FirstDayofSpring
21. Sunday, Daylight Savings #DaylightSavings
21. Sunday, International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination #RacialDiscriminationDay
21. Sunday, World Poetry Day #WorldPoetryDay
22: Monday, World Water Day #WorldWaterDay
23. Tuesday, National Puppy Day #NationalPuppyDay
23. Tuesday, American Diabetes Association Alert Day #AmericanDiabetesAssociationAlertDay
25. Thursday, Tolkien Reading Day #TolkienReadingDay
26. Friday, National Spinach Day #NationalSpinachDay
26. Friday, Purple Day #PurpleDay
27. Saturday, Earth Hour Day #EarthHour
30. Tuesday, Doctor's Day #NationalDoctorsDay
30. Tuesday, National Take a Walk in the Park Day #NationalWalkInTheParkDay
31. Wednesday, World Backup Day #WorldBackupDay
31. Wednesday, Transgender Day of Visibility #TDOV
April 2021
1. Thursday, April Fools Day #AprilFools
2. Friday, World Autism Awareness Day #WAAD
3. Saturday, Find a Rainbow Day #FindARainbowDay
4. Sunday, Hug a Newsperson Day #HugANewsperson
7. Wednesday, World Health Day #LetsTalk
7. Wednesday, National Walking Day #NationalWalkingDay
10. Saturday, National Siblings Day #NationalSiblingsDay
10. Saturday, Encourage a Young Writer Day #EncourageAYoungWriterDay
11. Sunday, National Pet Day #NationalPetDay
12. Monday, International Day of Human Space Flight #InternationalDayOfHumanSpaceFlight
13. Tuesday, Equal Pay Day #EqualPayDay
15. Thursday, National Tax Day #TaxDay
15. Thursday, Get to Know Your Customers Day (third Thursday of every quarter) #GetToKnowYourCustomersDay
16. Friday, National High-Five Day #NH5D
16. Friday, National Stress Awareness Day #StressAwarenessDay
16. Friday, National Wear Your Pajamas to Work Day #PJDay
17. Saturday, Haiku Poetry Day #HaikuPoetryDay
18. Sunday, National Columnists' Day #NationalColumnistDay
20. Tuesday, National Look-Alike Day #NationalLookAlikeDay
22. Thursday, Earth Day #EarthDay2021
23. Friday, National Picnic Day #NationalPicnicDay
23. Friday, World Book Day #WorldBookDay
23. Friday, Arbor Day #ArborDay
25. Sunday, National Telephone Day #NationalTelephoneDay
25. Sunday, World Malaria Day #EndMalariaForGood
25. Sunday, National Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day #COUNTONME
28. Wednesday, National Administrative Professionals Day #AdministrativeProfessionalsDay
29. Thursday, International Dance Day #InternationalDanceDay
29. Thursday, Denim Day #DenimDay
30. Friday, National Honesty Day #NationalHonestyDay
30. Friday, National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day #AdoptAShelterPetDay
30. Friday, International Jazz Day #JazzDay
May 2021
1. Saturday, May Day #MayDay
1. Saturday, International Workers Day #IntWorkersDay
3. Monday, World Press Freedom Day #WPFD2021 #PressFreedom
4. Tuesday, Star Wars Day #StarWarsDay & #Maythe4thBeWithYou
4. Tuesday, International Firefighters Day #InternationalFirefightersDay
4. Tuesday, World Asthma Day #WorldAsthmaDay
5. Wednesday, Cinco de Mayo #CincoDeMayo
5. Wednesday, Thank a Teacher Day #ThankATeacher
6. Thursday, National Nurses Day #NursesDay
6. Thursday, World Password Day #WorldPasswordDay
7. Friday, Space Day #SpaceDay
9. Sunday, Europe Day #EuropeDay
10. Monday, Mother's Day #MothersDay
12. Wednesday, National Limerick Day #NationalLimerickDay
12. Wednesday, National Receptionist Day #NationalReceptionistDay
15. Saturday, International Day of Families #FamilyDay
15. Saturday, National Bike to Work Day #BTWD
15. Saturday, Endangered Species Day #EndangeredSpeciesDay
16. Sunday, Love a Tree Day #LoveATreeDay
17. Monday, International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia #IDAHOT2021
21. Friday, National Memo Day #NationalMemoDay
24. Monday, National Scavenger Hunt Day #NationalScavengerHuntDay
24. Monday, Memorial Day (Fourth Monday of May) #MemorialDay #MDW
28. Friday, Hamburger Day #NationalHamburgerDay
28. Friday, Heat Awareness Day (Last Friday of May) #NoFryDay
29. Saturday, Paperclip Day #PaperclipDay
31. Monday, World No-Tobacco Day #NoTobacco
June 2021
1. Tuesday, Global Day of Parents #GlobalDayOfParents
2. Wednesday, Leave The Office Early Day #LeaveTheOfficeEarlyDay
4. Friday, National Donut Day #NationalDonutDay
5. Saturday, World Environment Day #WorldEnvironmentDay
6. Sunday, National Cancer Survivor’s Day #NCSD2021
6. Sunday, Higher Education Day #HigherEducationDay
8. Tuesday, World Oceans Day #WorldOceansDay
8. Tuesday, Best Friends Day #BestFriendsDay
13. Sunday, International Children’s Day #ChildrensDay
14. Monday, World Blood Donor Day #GiveBlood
14. Monday, National Flag Day #FlagDay
20. Sunday, World Refugee Day #WithRefugees
20. Sunday, First Day of Summer
20. Sunday, Father’s Day #FathersDay
21. Monday, National Selfie Day #NationalSelfieDay
21. Monday, World Music Day #WorldMusicDay
21. Monday, International Yoga Day #InternationalYogaDay
24. Thursday, National Handshake Day #HandshakeDay
25. Friday, Take Your Dog to Work Day #TakeYourDogToWorkDay
27. Sunday, National Sunglasses Day #NationalSunglassesDay
30. Wednesday, Social Media Day #SMDay
July 2021
1. Thursday, National Postal Worker Day #NationalPostalWorkerDay
2. Friday, World UFO Day #WorldUFODay
4. Sunday, Independence Day (United States)
7. Wednesday, World Chocolate Day #WorldChocolateDay
11. Sunday, Cheer Up the Lonely Day #CheerUpTheLonelyDay
12. Monday, Malala Day #MalalaDay
15. Thursday, Give Something Away Day #GiveSomethingAwayDay
15. Thursday, Get to Know Your Customers Day #GetToKnowYourCustomersDay
17. Saturday, World Emoji Day #WorldEmojiDay
18. Sunday, Nelson Mandela International Day #MandelaDay
30. Friday, Talk in an Elevator Day #TalkInAnElevatorDay
30. Friday, International Day of Friendship #DayOfFriendship
August 2021
1. Sunday, Respect for Parents Day #RespectForParentsDay
2. Monday, National Coloring Book Day #NationalColoringBookDay
8. Sunday, International Cat Day #InternationalCatDay
9. Monday, National Book Lovers Day #NationalBookLoversDay
10. Wednesday, National Lazy Day #LazyDay
10. Wednesday, National Sons and Daughters Day #SonsAndDaughtersDay
12. Thursday, International Youth Day #YouthDay
12. Thursday, World Elephant Day #WorldElephantDay
13. Friday, International Lefthanders Day #LefthandersDay
15. Sunday, National Relaxation Day #NationalRelaxationDay
16. Monday, National Tell a Joke Day #NationalTellAJokeDay
19. Thursday, World Photo Day #WorldPhotoDay
19. Thursday, World Humanitarian Day #WorldHumanitarianDay
20. Friday, National Lemonade Day #NationalLemonadeDay
26. Thursday, National Dog Day #NationalDogDay
26. Thursday, National Women’s Equality Day #WomensEqualityDay
September 2021
Date Varies, Stand Up To Cancer Day #KissCancerGoodbye
4. Saturday, National Wildlife Day #NationalWildlifeDay
5. Sunday, International Day of Charity #CharityDay
5. Sunday, National Grandparents Day #NationalGrandparentsDay
6. Monday, Labor Day #LaborDay
6. Monday, Read a Book Day #ReadABookDay
8. Wednesday, International Literacy Day #LiteracyDay
11. Saturday, National Day of Service and Remembrance #911Day
12. Sunday, National Day of Encouragement #DayOfEncouragement
12. Sunday, National Video Games Day #NationalVideoGamesDay
19. Sunday, Talk Like a Pirate Day #TalkLikeAPirateDay
21. Tuesday, International Day of Peace #PeaceDay
21. Tuesday, Miniature Golf Day #MiniGolfDay
21. Tuesday, Civic Day of Hacking #HackForChange
22. Wednesday, Car-Free Day #CarFreeDay
22. Wednesday, Hobbit Day #HobbitDay
22. Wednesday, First Day of Fall
22. Wednesday, National Women’s Health and Fitness Day #FitnessDay
26. Sunday, National Pancake Day #NationalPancakeDay
26. Sunday, European Day of Languages #EDL2021
27. Monday, World Tourism Day #WTD2021
28. Wednesday, World Rabies Day #WorldRabiesDay
28. Wednesday, National Good Neighbor Day #GoodNeighborDay
30. Thursday, International Podcast Day #InternationalPodcastDay
October 2021
1. Friday, International Day of Older Persons #UNDOP
1. Friday, International Coffee Day #InternationalCoffeeDay
1. Friday, World Vegetarian Day #WorldVegetarianDay
2. Saturday, International Day of Nonviolence #InternationalDayOfNonviolence
2. Saturday, World Smile Day #WorldSmileDay
3. Sunday, National Techies Day #TechiesDay
4. Monday, World Animal Day #WorldAnimalDay
4. Monday, National Taco Day #NationalTacoDay
4. Monday, World Teachers Day #WorldTeachersDay
4. Monday, World Habitat Day #WorldHabitatDay
10. Sunday, World Mental Health Day #WorldMentalHeathDay
10. Sunday, World Sight Day #WorldSightDay
11. Monday, International Day of the Girl #DayOfTheGirl
14. Thursday, National Dessert Day #DessertDay
15. Friday, Global Handwashing Day #GlobalHandwashingDay
16. Saturday, World Food Day #FoodDay
16. Saturday, Bosses Day #BossesDay
17. Sunday, International Day for the Eradication of Poverty #EndPoverty
20. Wednesday, World Statistics Day #StatisticsDay
21. Thursday, Reptile Awareness Day #ReptileAwarenessDay
24. Sunday, United Nations Day #UNDay
25. Monday, Greasy Foods Day #GreasyFoodsDay
30. Saturday, National Publicist Day #NationalPublicistDay
30. Saturday, Checklist Day #ChecklistDay
31. Sunday, Halloween #Halloween
November 2021
1. Monday, World Vegan Day #WorldVeganDay
1. Monday, National Authors Day #NationalAuthorsDay
1. Monday, National Cook For Your Pets Day #CookForYourPetsDay
3. Wednesday, National Sandwich Day #NationalSandwichDay
4. Thursday, National Candy Day #NationalCandyDay
7. Sunday, Daylight Saving Time Ends #DaylightSavings
8. Monday, National Cappuccino Day #CappuccinoDay
8. Monday, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Medicine (STEM) Day #STEMDay
11. Thursday, Veterans Day #VeteransDay
13. Saturday, World Kindness Day #WKD
14. Sunday, World Diabetes Day #WDD
15. Monday, Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day #CleanOutYourRefrigeratorDay
15. Monday, America Recycles Day #BeRecycled
16. Tuesday, International Day for Tolerance #ToleranceDay
16. Tuesday, National Entrepreneurs Day #EntrepreneursDay
17. Wednesday, International Students Day #InternationalStudentsDay
19. Friday, International Men’s Day #InternationalMensDay
20. Saturday, Universal Children’s Day #UNChildrensDay
21. Sunday, World Hello Day #WorldHelloDay
25. Thursday, Thanksgiving Day #Thanksgiving
26. Friday, National Cake Day #NationalCakeDay
27. Saturday, Small Business Saturday (The last Saturday of November) #ShopSmall
29. Monday, National Day of Listening #DayOfListening
29. Monday, Electronic Greeting Card Day #ElectronicGreetingCardDay
30. Tuesday, Computer Security Day #ComputerSecurityDay
December 2021
1. Wednesday, World AIDS Day #WAD2021
3. Friday, International Day of Persons with Disabilities #IDPWD
4. Saturday, National Cookie Day #NationalCookieDay
5. Sunday, World Soil Day #WorldSoilDay
6. Monday, Microwave Oven Day #MicrowaveOvenDay
8. Wednesday, Pretend to Be a Time Traveler Day #PretendToBeATimeTravelerDay
10. Friday, Human Rights Day #HumanRightsDay
10. Friday, Nobel Prize Day #NobelPrize
10. Friday, National Salesperson Day #SalespersonDay
11. Saturday, International Mountain Day #InternationalMountainDay
21. Tuesday, Crossword Puzzle Day #CrosswordPuzzleDay
21. Tuesday, First Day of Winter #WinterSolstice
30. Thursday, No Interruptions Day – Last Work Day of the Year #NoInterruptionsDay
31. Friday, New Year’s Eve #NYE