Let’s take a look ahead at the month of October 2013 and the events, anniversaries and occasions that a clever marketer can use as the basis and reason for an event-driven promotion.
The stand out occasion, and one beloved of marketers, is of course “Halloween” on October 31.
The origins of Halloween seem to be a mixture of pagan festivals marking the end of summer…
…combined with the idea that at this time of the idea the spirit-world comes close to our world…
…adopted by the Christian religion as the eve of “All Souls Day”.
Whatever, it’s the traditional occasion to acknowledge the after-life and the supernatural.
So, an opportunity to use themes in your promotions like…
“It’s Scary What You Are Missing!”
“Now a spooktacular, very limited time, opportunity”
“Terrifyingly scary profits coming your way…”
…and so on.
Another way to put this is to use the theme of FEAR (of loss, for example)…
…albeit in a light-hearted fashion.
On to other events and October has plenty of different events and occasions…
October 1 – International Day Of Older Persons
October 1 – World Vegetarian Day
October 4 – World Animal Day
October 4 – World Smile Day 
October 5 – World Teacher’s Day
October 8 – Columbus Day
October 8 – Global Learning Day
October 10 – World Mental Health Day
October 10 – Tuxedo Day (this style icon made its first appearance in America in New York City on this day in 1886)
October 14 – World Standards Day
October 16 – World Food Day
October 17 – International Day For The Eradication Of Poverty
October 18 – “Boost Your Brain” Day
October 20 – World Statistics Day
October 24 – United Nations (UN) Day
October 25 – Picasso Day (anniversary of the birth of the great artist in 1881)
October 25 – “Make A Difference” Day
October 28 – Birthday of Bill Gates (founder of Microsoft)
October 29 – International Internet Day (in 1969 2 college campuses linked up to kick off what we now call the internet)
October 30 – Mischief Night
October 31 – Halloween
…and if you still need more ideas for event-driven marketing, take a look at the “On This Day” section over at www.BlueMountain.com.
While I think of it, October has traditionally been a scary month in financial markets…
…with October 24 and October 29 the anniversaries of significant milestones in the 1929 “Wall Street Crash”.
Taking a quick look at Australia…
…Halloween has become a popular event and widely celebrated.
Other local events…
October 6 – NRL Grand Final
October 7 – Labour Day (NSW, ACT, SA, QLD)
Remember to check out local events in your area.
Also…October sees the end (or beginning) of Daylight Savings time in many places. Check the details for your location.
That’s it for this month. Hope your event-driven marketing campaigns are “terrifyingly” successful!