May's hot marketing calendar is here!

From the beginning of the month when jokes about Shanghai residents rushing to buy vegetables flooded the screen, to the end of the month when a large number of Liu Genghong girls and boys "crazily" joined the aerobics army, the magical April is coming to an end, and in the blink of an eye we are about to have the May Day holiday.

As the epidemic becomes normalized, it is probably no longer possible to travel far away for fun. However, it is also a good choice to take advantage of the holiday to recharge yourself and prepare for the next month's work. In May, there are many wonderful festivals, including the short holiday, Youth Day, Mother's Day, and 520. Let's look forward to them together.

Major festivals

May 1 International Labor Day

Labor Day is a holiday for workers all over the world. On this day, major brands have paid tribute to every worker who works hard for a living through posters, TVCs and other forms.

Find keywords

Labor, short vacation, tribute, struggle

Brainstorm

1. Praise/pay tribute to every ordinary worker, focusing on themes such as "tribute", "harvest", "fruit", and "diligence", and create related topics in the form of posters, TVCs or limited products to arouse emotional resonance.

2. As one of the rare opportunities in a year to check in the beautiful scenery of various places, May Day focuses on topics such as "holiday", "healing" and "travel" to showcase a wonderful holiday life.

3. Pay attention to working people, carry out reverse marketing with themes such as "anti-involution" and "no overtime", encourage everyone to correctly handle the relationship between life and work, arouse consumer empathy, and narrow the distance between the brand and users.

Inspiration Case

• A beautiful tribute to every kind of labor:

• DingTalk sang "No More Kneeling!" DingTalk emoji holiday song:

• Wufangzhai's refreshing short film pays tribute to all workers in the world:

• Major brands pay tribute to workers with posters:

May 4th Youth Day

Since the popularity of "The Next Wave", "May 4th Youth Day" has gradually become a must-have marketing node for major brands to capture the minds of young people. However, because of this, the May Fourth marketing tactics have become increasingly homogenized. In order to be unconventional, you still need to dig deep into the connotation and significance of the festival and formulate a holiday marketing strategy based on the brand tone.

Find keywords

young people, attitude, hope, youth

Brainstorm

1. Start by paying tribute to youth, focusing on themes such as "struggle" and "hard work", showing the style of young people, expressing young attitudes and passion; you can also commemorate and remember those lost green years from the perspective of "nostalgic youth".

2. Start from a patriotic perspective, inherit the "May Fourth Spirit", show young people's feelings for their country and family, and reflect the social responsibility that the brand should fulfill.

3. Grasp the emotions and pain points of young people and communicate with young consumers of the new era.

(Tips: In the communication process, brands should take a correct attitude. They should not arbitrarily represent/define young people under the guise of "playing with young people", nor should they deliberately stand in a low position to please young people or preach to young people from a high position.)

Inspiration Case

• Gaotu presents "The Passerby" on May 4th Youth Day:

• Zhihu released the micro-film "Reunion" to praise the May Fourth spirit of contemporary youth:

• Brand leverage poster:

May 8 Mother’s Day

The second Sunday in May is Mother's Day. On this warm festival, it is the consensus of major brands to sing praises to mothers and take the warm approach. However, with the rise of the "she economy", many brands have also used Mother's Day to focus on marketing to women. In addition, there are also brands that take a unique approach and stand out with the help of witty creativity.

Find keywords

Mother's love, gratitude, warmth

Brainstorm

1. Leverage the power of family affection, play the warmth card, tell the mother's story with an equal and empathetic attitude, and move consumers with emotional resonance.

2. Pay attention to women's issues, approach from the perspectives of working mothers, single mothers, pregnant mothers, etc., understand the pain points of mothers, and demonstrate the brand's humanistic care.

3. Anti-routine marketing, launching interactive marketing activities around interesting themes such as "Complaining about my mother", "Mom, love me again", and "Identity exchange".

Inspiration Case

• Midea's heartwarming Mother's Day film "Ma Xiaodong's Ice and Snow Summer":

• Babycare builds "2 square meters of love" for breastfeeding mothers "Mom is also a first-time mother":

• Momo "Tear off the label for single mothers":

• Mother's Day Poster Collection

May 20th 520

“520” is homophonic to “I love you”, so naturally it cannot escape topics related to love, confession, etc. In recent years, many brands have explored more themes related to "love" and expressed "love" in different ways.

Find keywords

Confession, break up, show affection, love

Brainstorm

1. Confess to consumers: Seize the characteristics of the festival and directly express love through joint ventures, cross-border products, blind boxes, co-creations and other ways that young people like, so as to narrow the distance with consumers.

2. Reverse thinking: From the perspectives of different segments of the population, such as singles, long-distance couples, and those who have been heartbroken, explore the multiple meanings of "love" and interpret "520" in a different way, which is refreshing.

3. Create a brand-exclusive confession season: launch 520 themed promotional activities, such as focusing on the theme of "gift of love", focusing on female marketing/male marketing, and highlighting girlfriend power and boyfriend power.

Inspiration Case

• Chando short film "I am not your gift":

• Okamoto created the "Before We Became Us" themed campaign:

• Xianyu created the "Headphone Dating Festival":

• 520 Poster Collection

Solar terms and festivals

May 5th: Beginning of Summer

Summer is synonymous with beauty. For brands, the Beginning of Summer is a festival not to be missed.

Find keywords

Summer, cool, ice cream, lotus, travel

Brainstorm

1. Say goodbye to spring and embrace summer. The Beginning of Summer is the first festival of summer. Brands can create “surprises” on this day to build a sense of brand ritual. They can refer to the “first xx of summer” template for further development.

2. "Heat" is the main theme of summer. Create a sense of coolness around the keywords "cool" and "relieve heat", which will make consumers associate and stimulate their desire to consume.

3. Explore the connotation of the Beginning of Summer Festival and write about it from conventional perspectives such as its related traditional customs, historical culture, etc.

Inspiration Case

May 21 Grain Full

As the most philosophical of the 24 solar terms, Xiaoman has always had a relatively low presence. However, this year Xiaoman falls on "521", so major brands can explore more creative angles.

Find keywords

grain, sowing hope, perfection, hope

Brainstorm

1. This year, Xiaoman falls on 521, which highlights the meaning of "perfection". It can express the brand's good wishes and also express its love to consumers;

2. Split, combine and deform the words "Xiaoman", and launch related posters with elements of the solar term such as wheat ears, fields, and sowing.

Inspiration Case

Small festivals

In addition, there are some niche festivals in May that are also worth exploring in depth:

May 17th is International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia

With the destigmatization of homosexuality in China and the fact that this group is gradually accepted by society, the "International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia" has also been noticed by some brands in recent years. For example, on May 17 last year, Coca-Cola launched rainbow glasses, hoping that people would treat each color equally like a rainbow. This conveyed aesthetic values ​​that were different from the past and received a good response.

May 18th is International Museum Day

With the popularity of national trend culture, the huge IP of museums has gradually become a "gold mine" that major brands want to tap into. At the same time, with the continuous upgrading trend of technologies such as digitalization, VR, 5G, and the metaverse, new trendy "museums" such as "virtual museums" and NFT online virtual digital art museums are also increasingly popular among young people. On the occasion of International Museum Day, brands can choose to cooperate with museum/cultural relic IP to enhance brand added value and make the brand more meaningful. Last year, when the International Museum Day was approaching, Tmall New Cultural and Creative launched the #PerfectNotNecessarilyFlawless# marketing campaign to popularize the knowledge of repairing damaged cultural relics to the public, which immediately increased the public's favorability towards the brand and is worth learning from.

Finally, although it is good to take advantage of the trend, don’t be greedy and just seize the key festivals!

The above are the marketing hotspots in May, remember to like and collect them!