The Power of Invented Holidays
A record number of people plan to shop over the holiday stretch known as Cyber Five, from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday this year.
The National Retail Federation reports that a record 183.4 million people plan to shop in-store and online from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday.
Above: Even as holiday shopping starts earlier and earlier, Thanksgiving weekend is shaping up to be the busiest shopping weekend in recorded history, with 131.7 million people planning on shopping on Black Friday alone, either in person or online. (National Retail Federation)
Black Friday.
Small Business Saturday.
Cyber Monday.
Giving Tuesday.
That’s a lot of made-up holidays.
Over the past couple of years since I started writing the Wave Report, one of the perennial favorite Wave Reports on the site has been about the phenomenon of invented holidays. There is something about putting a name on a date that rallies people and motivates them to act, whether that’s Amazon Prime Day, Black Friday, or National Talk Like a Pirate Day (Sept 19, if you’re curious).
Today, we are going to look at three lessons we can learn from the power of invented holidays.
Let’s start by looking at one of the most important invented holidays of the past decade for charities – GivingTuesday.
GivingTuesday and the Power of Shared Moments
The first GivingTuesday generated about $10 million in donations in 2012.
Just 11 years later, GivingTuesday 2023 generated an estimated $3.1 billion for charities, with 34 million U.S. adults participating.
Today, there are GivingTuesday movements in nearly 100 nations around the world, and 2024 is shaping up to be one of the biggest giving holidays of all time.
If I had to hypothesize why GivingTuesday has continued to be such a focal point for generosity, I would say that it has to do a lot with human psychology and our need for community. We are social beings. When everyone else is celebrating a thing, we tend to want to participate in it, too. It creates a shared moment for humanity, and shared moments are harder to come by in our distracted, busy, fragmented, and oversaturated culture.
Shared moments like GivingTuesday can unify us.
Shared moments also break through the noise and day-to-day busyness of our lives. Every hour of every day, it feels like something is trying to get our attention. Of course, we should be generous every day of the year… but GivingTuesday provides a peak moment, a rallying point, that rises above the noise and makes it stand out.
GivingTuesday is just one example of leveraging the power of shared moments to create a made-up holiday. Amazon invented its own shopping holiday, Prime Day.
💡 Takeaway: Made-up holidays are one way that charities and brands can create shared moments, cut through the noise, and bring donors and customers together to take action, whether that is for giving or for buying (or both!).
Today, let’s look at three lessons from the emergence of these new shared moments and changing behavior.
Lesson #1: Start Early, Stay Late.
Consistently, with every holiday, I see the nonprofits and businesses that start well before the holiday in question cut through the noise. They can drum up a few donations and sales before the rush, but most importantly, in a crowded space, they stand out.
I’m the first to complain when Starbucks puts their Christmas cups out seemingly earlier and earlier every year. Heck, a 2022 Morning Consult study found that half of consumers said that holiday advertising should begin mid-November:
We all love a good debate on when is too early to decorate for Christmas. (And we all know the correct answer is the day after Thanksgiving, right?? 😉)
Unfortunately, there’s a big problem with what people say in surveys and what they actually do. In other words, what consumers and donors declare often doesn’t match their behavior. They may complain about holiday sales starting earlier and earlier, but then they participate in those very same sales.
Smart brands and smart nonprofits know that one way to cut through the noise of a particularly busy holiday is to start before the big day and extend their campaign after.
They are following consumer behavior. This year, more than half of consumers said they planned to start holiday shopping before Thanksgiving, and fully 16% of consumers said they had already started their holiday shopping by June! (Is that you? No judgment here, by the way).
Above: More than half of holiday shoppers planned to start shopping before Thanksgiving this year, including 16% who said they had already started holiday shopping by June! 🤦♂️ (EMARKETER)
The holiday season has evolved into the holiday quarter, driven by retailers like Amazon and Starbucks.
GivingTuesday Starts Before Tuesday
On GivingTuesday last year, I was surprised at how many nonprofits’ first emails about the holiday were on GivingTuesday itself.
The problem with that is by GivingTuesday, every other nonprofit organization is also sending emails. My inbox was slammed that day:
Above: My email inbox on GivingTuesday. If you send your first GivingTuesday email on the day itself, you risk being lost in the crowd.
Too many nonprofits make the mistake of first communicating about GivingTuesday on the day itself when the space is the most crowded. Consider starting earlier as well as following up in the days after GivingTuesday.
💡 Takeaway: By reaching donors before GivingTuesday in anticipation of the big day, you have a much better chance of maximizing your efforts. This approach also benefits from early donations and extending giving after the big day.
Lesson #2: Invent a Holiday or a Shared Moment.
I opened this week’s report by mocking all the made-up holidays. But there is something about human nature that makes us responsive to events that others are participating in.
As I mentioned, I think it involves being wired for community. But whatever it is, humans are attracted to the idea that “everyone else” is doing a thing on a particular day. Like International Talk Like a Pirate Day (Sept 19). Or National Ice Cream Flavors Day (July 1).
Incidentally, did you know that this week was Mickey’s Birthday? Yes, indeed, November 18 is the day that Disney fans all over the world celebrate the fabled Mouse.
Above: You don’t have to be a Disney fanatic to appreciate how the brand leverages made-up holidays like Mickey’s Birthday (Nov 18) to rally fans!
You don’t need to invent a national holiday to take advantage of this lesson. You just have to consider who your audience is and what on the calendar you might create or take advantage of that might make sense to rally them to your cause.
When I worked with Compassion International, that was Compassion Sunday – one day a year when Compassion donors who sponsored a child would share at their churches about sponsorship.
Compassion Sunday was, and still is, an excellent way for Compassion to rally its audience around a single point in time. What’s a day you can either create or take advantage of?
💡 Takeaway: Consider how you can invent or join a day – a point in time of heightened awareness to call attention to what your audience is passionate about. To give them a shared experience. Leverage the opportunity to create your own natural place in the calendar.
Lesson #3: Go Where Your Audience Is.
GivingTuesday has become a national holiday for donors, so if you have donors, it’s important to be where they are. Likewise, it’s important to understand where they are shifting.
When Walmart’s Customers Moved
A couple of years ago, Walmart saw the rise of online shopping, particularly during Cyber Monday and the entire Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday stretch.
In response, Walmart changed its tactics in the face of changing consumer behavior and went big with Cyber Monday. In “Why Walmart has a case of the (Cyber) Mondays” (Insider Intelligence), author Andrew Lipsman wrote about the shift that Walmart made when it saw its Black Friday sales declining in lieu of online and Cyber Monday sales.
Walmart responded by heavily promoting online deals and shifted its best “Black Friday” deals to Mondays, accompanied by a 1999 Office Space Parody called “Case of the Mondays.”
Just like Walmart responded by going where its customers were as their behavior changed, charities need to consider the same throughout the year. Where are your donors showing up, and what can you do to meet them there?
💡 Takeaway: Understanding where your target audience is gathering and being there is essential. Likewise, it’s important to go where they are as they shift. During this season, that is likely GivingTuesday!
Until next week… Surfs Up! 🌊
- Dave
About the Author | Dave Raley
Consultant, speaker, and writer Dave Raley is the founder of Imago Consulting, a firm that helps non-profits and businesses create profitable growth through sustainable innovation. He’s the author of a weekly trendspotting report called The Wave Report, and the co-founder of the Purpose & Profit Podcast — a show about the ideas at the intersection of nonprofit causes and for-profit brands. Connect with Dave on LinkedIn.
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