A Wren Says

Today, as I am writing this, is Christmas Eve. Based on the various marketing messages I have received so far, there are many different ways to approach the holiday tomorrow. There are some brands that have unashamedly transformed their stores and websites into veritable winter wonderlands, complete with huge decorated trees, presents, and bows. Others have messaging around when to get your orders in to ensure on-time delivery for December 24 and language about gifting, but no mention of Christmas. Others have taken a chill, “We got some stuff on sale approach,” without mentioning any holidays.

If you are not new here, I will say up front that this is not one of my “It’s just marketing” posts that will be focused on Christmas. Instead, this is me reflecting on how brands can take part in Christmas. On the one hand, it is a peak sales period in the U.S and much of the west. To not take part or acknowledge the holiday would be a miss. On the other hand, to scream about Christmas could be taken as alienating those who don’t celebrate the holiday. My question, then is, How do you balance maximizing sales for the Christmas gifting period but maintain an inclusive approach?

Personally, it seems disingenuous for a brand to push sales hard and have “holiday return” policies and not acknowledge Christmas at all. Truthfully, it seems exploitative to take all of their money, and intentionally plan to do it at a higher rate, but never acknowledge the reason why. On the flip side, explicitly saying Christmas for some may seem like promoting one religion over another. Messaging around Christmas might come across as ignoring segments of your market who don’t celebrate the holiday or worse annoy them and cause them to avoid your messaging and you.

I am not employed by any corporation on their marketing teams, but I have thoughts. Namely, inclusion is not a one-time event.

If your idea of inclusion is simply to avoid causing people to feel excluded at Christmas time, ask yourself: What have you been doing for them all year round? How have you intentionally structured your approach so that people from various walks of life feel included January through December? What are you doing so that you have built trust with them that when you do make mention of any holiday that you are not excluding them?

I don’t think the answer lies in erasing Christmas but in writing in more faith and cultural traditions into your marketing and relationship management plans all year round. In the west, that often gets relegated to mentioning Hannukah and Kwanzaa, but really pay attention to who is in your market. If you have a large population of Greek or Ethiopian or Eritrean residents, you might need to reconsider the dates on your holiday returns policy, because they may celebrate Christmas on a later date. If you are based in Michigan and never mention a single Eid, what are you doing? If you wish to target customers of various Asian heritages, you should be mindful of the traditions surrounding Lunar New Year and Diwali gifts, especially around appropriate gifting colors. If you are in Texas and say nothing about the Longhorns, then you don’t have a pulse on your surrounding culture at all. (Everyone knows that football is religion in Texas.)

This list is non-exhaustive, but a start. Get to know who your customers are and find ways to honor their heritages and traditions. I don’t think you can be inclusive by excluding. Think through your strategy and reconsider how your messaging can be inclusive 365 days each year, 366 when necessary.