Time to look ahead at the month of October 2014 and the events, anniversaries and occasions that smart marketers can take advantage of and 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 year 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.
You could also use the theme of FEAR (of loss, for example)…
…but don’t get too scary about it!
Apart from Halloween October has plenty of different events and occasions…
October 1 – International Day Of Older Persons
October 1 – World Vegetarian Day
October 1 – World Architecture Day
October 3 – World Smile Day (first Friday in October) 🙂
October 4 – World Animal Day
October 5 – World Teacher’s Day
October 6 – World Habitat Day (first Monday in October)
October 9 – World Post Day
October 9 – World Sight Day (second Thursday in October)
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 11 – International Day Of The Girl Child
October 13 – International Day For Disaster Reduction
October 14 – World Standards Day
October 16 – World Food Day
October 17 – International Day For The Eradication Of Poverty
October 20 – World Statistics Day
October 20 – World Osteoporosis Day
October 22 – International Stuttering Awareness Day
October 24 – United Nations (UN) Day
October 24 – World Development Information Day
October 25 – Picasso Day (anniversary of the birth of the great artist in 1881)
October 25 – “Make A Difference” Day
October 27 – World Day For Audiovisual Heritage
October 28 – Birthday of Bill Gates (founder of Microsoft)
October 28 – International Animation Day
October 29 – World Stroke Day
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 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 look at events in particular countries…
In the USA…
October 13 – Columbus Day
October 16 – Boss’s Day
Canada…
October 13 – Thanksgiving Day
October 16 – Boss’s Day
U.K.
No major national events this month, apart from Halloween which is now enthusiastically observed in the UK.
Daylight Savings Time ends on October 26. Keep an eye out for local events or occasions specific to your industry.
Australia…
Looking at Australia…
October 5 – NRL Grand Final
October 6 – 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.
There are also a number of religious holidays in October across a number of different faiths. So, check the details if it’s appropriate for your audience.
Taking a look at some significant anniversaries…
…there were major events taking place in the American Civil War (150 years ago), World War 1 (100 years ago) and World War 2 (75 years ago). if that’s relevant to your audience, it’s well worth doing a little research.
Some other noteworthy business-related anniversaries…
October 5, 1888 – The earliest “ball pen” with a self-contained ink supply and retractable tip is patented by Alonzo T. Cross
October 6, 1889 – the Moulin Rouge cabaret opened in Paris
October 5 1902 – McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc was born in Chicago
October 22, 1924 – Toastmasters International was founded in California, USA
That’s it for this month. “Happy Halloween” and hope your event-driven marketing campaigns are “frighteningly” successful!
UPDATE (25 October 2014):
OK, this update is embarrassingly late…but if nothing else will serve as a reminder for next year!
This largely relates to the UK. First up, how could I possibly have overlooked…
…which this year in the UK ran from October 13-19, culminating in the “Chocolate Show” at Olympia in London on the 17-19 October.
Next is the Diwali festival which I was aware of but I didn’t realise how prominent this has become in the UK.
Diwali also known as Deepavali and the “festival of lights“, is an ancient Hindu festival celebrated in autumn every year. The festival spiritually signifies the victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, good over evil, and hope over despair.The festival preparations and rituals typically extend over a five day period, but the main festival night of Diwali coincides with the darkest, new moon night of the Hindu Lunisolar month Kartika. In the western calendar Diwali falls between mid-October and mid-November. This year, depending on your location, that date is 22/23 October and the festival starts 2 days prior and ends 2 days after that date.
Diwali now seems to have become a widely acknowledged festival in countries where there is a large Hindu community in the same way that Chinese New Year is celebrated where there is a large Chinese community.
The spiritual meaning of the festival makes a link with personal development programs, for example, appropriate and relevant.