Here’s our regular look ahead at the coming month, April 2015…
…and the events, holidays and anniversaries that a smart marketer can use as the foundation for an event-driven campaign or marketing promotion.
The two main events of general interest this month are…
…”April Fool’s Day” on the first of the month…
…and Easter (April 3-6).
Other events of note…
April 1 – April Fool’s Day!
April 2 – World Autism Awareness Day
April 2 – International Children’s Book Day
April 2 – Great Lover’s Day (anniversary of the birth of Casanova in 1725)
April 3 – Good Friday
April 4 – Vitamin C Day (discovered in 1932)
April 5 – Lady Luck Day (honouring Fortuna, goddess of good fortune)
April 5 – Easter Sunday
April 6 – Easter Monday
April 7 – World Health Day
April 11 – Theory Of Relativity Day
April 12 – International Day Of Human Space Flight (anniversary of the first space flight by a human, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, in 1961)
April 13 – Thomas Jefferson Day (anniversary of his birth in 1743)
April 16 – World Entrepreneurship Day
April 17 – Global Youth Service Day
April 17 – World Hemophilia Day
April 20 – Chinese Language Day
April 21 – World Creativity And Innovation Day
April 22 – International Mother Earth Day
April 23 – World Book And Copyright Day
April 23 – Shakespeare Day (also known as English Language Day)
April 25 – ANZAC Day (100th anniversary of landings at Gallipoli)
April 25 – World Malaria Day
April 26 – World Intellectual Property Day
April 28 – World Day For Safety And Health At Work
April 29 – International Dance Day
April 30 – International Jazz Day
April 30 – “Pay It Forward” Day
In the USA…
April 2 – Pascua Florida Day (Florida)
April 6 – National Tartan Day
April 13 – Thomas Jefferson’s Birthday
April 15 – Tax Day
April 15 – Father Damien Day (Hawaii)
April 16 – Emancipation Day (District of Columbia)
April 20 – Patriot’s Day (Maine, Massachusetts)
April 21 – San Jacinto Day (Texas)
April 21 – National Library Workers’ Day
April 22 – Oklahoma Day (Oklahoma)
April 22 – Administrative Professionals Day
April 24 – Arbor Day (Nebraska)
April 27 – Confederate Memorial Day (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi)
Canada…
April 6 – National Tartan Day
April 9 – Vimy Ridge Day
April 20 – St. George’s Day (Newfoundland and Labrador)
In the UK…
April 2 – Maundy Thursday
April 5 – End Of Financial Year (UK)
April 23 – St George’s Day (England)
April 23 – Shakespeare Day
April 26 – London Marathon
In Australia…
April 2 – Maundy Thursday
April 5 – Daylight Savings Time Ends
April 7 – Easter Tuesday (Tasmania)
April 25 – ANZAC Day (100th Anniversary)
Among notable anniversaries this month, the American Civil War was coming to an end 150 years ago…
April 9 (1865) – Battle Of Appomattox Court House and the surrender of Robert E. Lee, marking the end of the war in Virginia
April 14 (1865) – U.S. Secret Service was created
April 15 (1865) – Death of Abraham Lincoln
April 10 (1925) – F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel “The Great Gatsby” published
April 30 (1975) – Fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War
Couple of interesting business anniversaries fall in April.
April 15 is “Fast Food Day” as the first McDonald’s franchise restaurant opened on this day in 1955.
On April 1 in 1778, the dollar sign ($) was invented by Oliver Pollack.
April 23 1985, saw one of the great modern-day business fiascos when Coca-Cola abandoned their traditional formula and launched New Coke. It was a complete disaster and the original formula was restored within 3 months.
Remember to keep an eye out for any local events and anniversaries.
That’s it for this month. Feel free to leave a comment with any other suggestions for events that can be used to build a promotion around.
UPDATE (12 March 2015):
Here’s a short video presentation looking at 3 of the major events of the month that can be used for marketing campaigns…
You can also watch it on YouTube at “Marketing Calendar April 2015”.
UPDATE 2 (11 April 2015):
I neglected to include a number of major sporting events taking place in April.
In the USA…
…there’s the Augusta Masters Golf championship from April 9-12.
In the UK…
…Saturday 11 April sees both the Grand National horse race and the Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge Universities. This year will be the first time the Women’s Boat Race is held on the same course and the same day as the men’s.
UPDATE 3 (12 April 2015):
As I was browsing through a magazine recently, I came across an ad promoting “Malbec World Day” on April 17. I confess, I was not familiar with this occasion before and was intrigued to discover that it commemorates the day in 1853 when the then-president of Argentina (Domingo Faustino Sarmiento) officially made it his mission to transform Argentina’s wine industry. On that day, he tasked a French soil expert, Michel Aime Pouget, to introduce new vines into the country. One of the choices was Malbec, which went on to thrive in the new location.
Couple of points to note here about event-driven marketing…
1. Firstly, as noted before, keep an eye out for events and occasions specific to your industry. If you run a bar or restaurant, for example, this is an opportunity for an Argentina-themed promotion.
2. Secondly, there’s no reason why you can’t create your own “occasion”, provided you use a little imagination and creativity. You could do what the Argentine president did and decide to take a stand on something. Or you could select a little known event of relevance to your field or industry and build that up into a more substantial anniversary to use for marketing purposes.
UPDATE 4 (16 April 2015):
In the UK, Saturday April 18 is “Record Store Day”, primarily a celebration of grooved acetate discs