Father’s Day: International Holiday Messaging Wins Out

Every year, as holidays like Father’s Day or Mother’s Day roll around, many brand feeds start to all blend together with similar messaging, visuals, and content. 

Brands know that nowadays, they need to stand out with their own type of content and style in their everyday posts, but when it comes to holidays, many fall back to a standard we’ve seen year after year.

We’ve all seen these types of posts, typically more polished imagery or videos with copy like: 

• Surprise Dad with a gift he’ll actually use!
• Make Mom’s day unforgettable.
• The perfect gift for the world’s greatest dad.
• Etc, etc, etc. 

They are all generally well-intentioned messages that have a heart behind them. However, in the push to appeal to everyone and simply say something for the holiday, most brands end up saying the exact same thing.

It’s safe. And it checks the box on the content calendar every year. 

However, generic messaging rarely helps introduce or reinforce what sets the brands apart for the holiday moment. 

For some, Father’s Day is a celebration. For others, it can remind them of an absence, recent loss, or a different family dynamic. There are people with fathers who are no longer with them and are dealing with a sense of grief. Some choose to celebrate their single mothers who helped close the gap. Or those honoring other types of father figures in their lives (uncles, grandparents, mentors, siblings, etc.). 

The reality is that these holidays don’t land the same way for every person they reach.

While brands are aware of these nuances, many have continued with the same safe type of content year in and year out. Granted, there is nothing inherently wrong with that approach, but it rarely moves the audience or builds a connection compared to the brands that find an insight that makes them stand out versus blending in with the sheer noise and volume of content and campaigns around the holiday. 

When brands can connect with their audiences and show how they see their audience in all their nuance, they can add value to the moment and build something that lasts longer than a mass-appeal post or campaign. 

So, how should brands do this? By leaning into intention messaging led by their own strengths as a brand, not a calendar date. 

Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, and all the holidays are not the actual message but an opportunity to say something worth remembering about what your brand can stand for and for who. 

Brands need to ask themselves, “What does this moment look like for our brand?” rather than simply “What are we posting for Father’s Day?” 

When brands lead with intention versus expectation, the results can be memorable. 

Below are a couple of recent examples that left an impression: 

Kraft’s 14-Karat Macaroni Necklace for Mom: Kraft started with the idea that every Mother’s Day, kids show their appreciation with arts and crafts projects with the dry noodles to makeshift a ‘macaroni necklace’ for their moms.

“To commemorate the mutual love kids and mom share over macaroni, we are creating the only ‘blue box’ she needs this Mother’s Day,” said Todd Kaplan, Chief Marketing Officer, North America at The Kraft Heinz Company

Knowing that insight and trend from years past, they worked to create a limited drop of a solid gold Kraft Mac & Cheese Forever Macaroni Necklace with jewelry brand Ring Concierge. 

Kraft only posted about the launch twice on their own pages, with a low price of just $25, and they sold out instantly. 

DoorDash’s Redefining Father’s Day Gifting: Last year’s campaign for the delivery app was led by nine DoorDash partners to show how the creators celebrate the dads in their lives. 

The goal was to help customers ‘rethink the approach to gifting, putting the focus on cherishing time with family,’ and show how DoorDash could deliver 1) personalized and quality gifts available on the app for the creator’s dads and 2) allow for more time with the family by bringing their gifts to their front doors.

While DoorDash never posted the campaign to its channels, the campaign and content worked by driving conversations and awareness with nearly 17 million organic and paid impressions and positive sentiment in the creator’s comments for the brand, which left a lasting impact.

The examples above showcase some of the larger campaigns seen on social media, but that doesn’t mean that brands without those resources can’t create memorable or impactful content or messaging with their own audiences.

Ready to start creating content that drives results for your brand? Contact us!