Welcome to this month’s “Looking Ahead” feature. Here we’ll review events, occasions, holidays and anniversaries that you can use to build your event-driven marketing calendar August 2017.
There are no major holidays this month. In the northern hemisphere it’s the dog days of summer. In the south it’s the last blast of winter. These “seasonal” themes are available to you if there’s nothing else that’s suitable.
August is also a “Back To School” month for many northern hemisphere countries…
…and remember major sporting events such as the US Open Tennis (starts 28 August) and the start of the football (soccer) season in the UK (Premier League starts the weekend of August 12-13).
It’s also “Elvis Week”, August 11-19. Elvis Presley moved on to the “great gig in the sky” 40 years ago on 16 August, 1977.
Other events…
August 1 – World Wide Web Day
August 4 – International Beer Day (first Friday in August)
August 5 – Sandcastle Day (first Saturday in August)
August 6 – Psychic Day (first Sunday in August)
August 7 – Professional Speakers Day
August 7 – Friendship Day
August 8 – International Cat Day
August 9 – Book Lover’s Day
August 9 – International Day Of The World’s Indigenous People
August 10 – St Lawrence’s Day (patron saint of cooks and the poor)
August 10 – Skyscraper Appreciation Day
August 12 – International Youth Day
August 12 – Vinyl Record Day
August 13 – International Left Handers Day
August 16 – Rollercoaster Day (first patent for a rollercoaster ride issued on this day in 1898)
August 17 – Davy Crockett Day (anniversary of the birth of the American frontier legend in 1786)
August 18 – Mail Order Catalog Day (anniversary of the first Montgomery Ward catalogue in 1872)
August 19 – World Photo Day
August 19 – World Humanitarian Day
August 20 – Lemonade Day (the classic beverage invented in Paris in 1620)
August 21 – Poet’s Day
August 23 – International Day For The Remembrance Of The Slave Trade And its Abolition
August 24 – Vesuvius Day (eruption of the volcano in 79 A.D. that destroyed Pompeii)
August 26 – Dog Day
August 27 – Franchise Appreciation Day (last Saturday in August)
August 28 – Radio Commercials Day (first broadcast on this day in 1922)
August 29 – Individual Rights Day (anniversary of the birth of John Locke in 1632)
August 30 – Frankenstein Day (anniversary of the birth of author Mary Shelley in 1797)
August 30 – International Day of the Disappeared
Taking a look at some country-specific events…
In the USA…
August 1 – Colorado Day (Colorado)
August 4 – US Coast Guard Birthday (originally founded in 1790 as the Revenue Cutter Service)
August 7 – Purple Heart Day
August 14 – Victory Day (Rhode Island),
August 16 – Bennington Battle Day (Vermont)
August 18 – Statehood Day in Hawaii (Hawaii)
August 19 – National Aviation Day
August 21 – National Senior Citizens Day
August 26 – Women’s Equality Day (women in the USA get the vote in 1920)
August 27 – Lyndon Baines Johnson Day (Texas)
In the world of sports, the US Open Tennis Championship starts on August 28.
Canada…
August 2 – The Royal St John’s Regatta Day (Newfoundland and Labrador)
August 7 – local holidays in most provinces (e.g. British Columbia Day, New Brunswick Day, Alberta Heritage Day)
August 18 – Gold Cup Parade (Prince Edward Island)
August 21 – Discovery Day (Yukon)
U.K.
August 1 – Yorkshire Day
August 7 – Summer Bank Holiday (Scotland)
August 28 – Summer Bank Holiday (UK except Scotland)
The soccer season restarts this month with the EPL “kicking off” on the weekend of 12-13 August.
It’s “National Burger Day” on August 24.
Australia…
Down under…it’s a pretty thin month for events.
There’s a Bank Holiday in NSW on August 7 (also Picnic Day in the Northern Territory)…
…and the Royal National Agricultural Show Day Queensland (August 16).
We’re coming to the end of winter in Australia so if you’re planning a spring-related promotion this is a good time to prepare.
To end this month…
…a number of noteworthy anniversaries.
100 years ago, the First World War was in its fourth year.
75 years ago, the Second World War was raging.
16 August (1977) – Death of Elvis Presley
23 August (1977) – The first VHS video recorder (RCA VBT200) released in the USA
28 August (1937) – The Toyota Motor Corporation founded as an independent company (it started life in 1933 as part of the Toyoda Automatic Loom Works)
29 August (1997) – Netflix began operating as an online DVD rental service
31 August (1997) – Death of Diana, Princess of Wales in a car crash in Paris
That’s it for this month. Every success with your promotions and event-driven marketing calendar August 2017!