The Holiday Content Dilemma: Standing Out in Q4 Without the Clichés
Pretty soon we will all be inundated with red and green charts and graphics, over-the-top “12 Days of Deals” counters, and every holiday jingle on repeat. It’s easy to follow suit and join the rotation of the same holiday clichés every year, but is that actually getting you the results you want? The fourth quarter is the most important time for sales, and it can be financially risky if marketing campaigns don't succeed. The balance between memorable and on-brand versus “been there, seen that” is a tricky one. The most important way to stand out this holiday season is to maintain authenticity, strive for inclusion, and embrace creativity.
Why Traditional Holiday Marketing Falls Flat
Think about your personal experience as a consumer during the holidays. The over-saturation, the same look and feel, the same messaging, the same offers - it makes it nearly impossible to be seen differently than your competition. Herein lies the problem - using the same strategy every year gets tired and causes burnout within your audience. A recent study at Epsilon showed that 88% of consumers are less likely to pay attention when they are inundated with repetitive ads. In addition to the loss of attention, when brands exclusively use the deals that everyone else is using, there is a potential for them to lose huge purchase opportunities. If your brand solely focuses on flash sales and fast one-time transactions, it might be time to take a look at your overall marketing strategy and work towards creating campaigns that create brand loyalty rather than just a single sale - especially during the holiday season.
Keys to Fresh Holiday Content
The key to making your 2025 holiday content a little less bland is to start by getting out of your own head. Create campaigns that are rooted in values and stories, not just discounts. This means that rather than just throwing a random percentage off sale onto your feed, build a story around what people can do with it. Create a storyboard detailing how your products or services benefit the customer, and why they should take advantage of your awesome sale. With that in mind, check out a couple tips & tricks for how you can make the most out of your holiday messaging:
Be inclusive with your message and content. The holidays are more than “Christmas.” Culture, race, ethnicity, and religion are huge elements of the holidays for many people, and this is a great chance for brands to be more thoughtful with messaging and holiday designs. Instead of just looking at Christmas, branch out to Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Lunar New Year. If your brand is going to feature the holidays at all, make sure your imagery, language, and design are inclusive so everyone feels like part of your community instead of an outsider.
Make your community your creative director. Your customers, fans, and followers may actively use your product/brand more than you do. So why not use a holiday campaign as a vehicle for user-generated content? Starbucks’ Red Cup Contest has been going on for years now, and it’s just asking people to send in pictures of their cups decorated with cool art. A holiday cup is basically a blank slate for creativity, and many customers make theirs their own anyway. You could also look at UGC by reaching out to micro-influencers or simply super-fans of your brand who can authentically share their own experiences with your product or services during the holiday season in real time.
Don’t forget the Surprise & Delight factor. When it comes to making content for the holidays, just because it’s December doesn’t mean you need to go with an overused festive trend. Add an element of surprise with something totally unexpected. Try an AR filter that connects with your brand in a fun and shareable way, or find some throwback archive photos from your brand’s history to share on social media. Or, let people see a little bit behind the curtain and show them how your team celebrates the holidays. Get interactive with content by hosting challenges, quizzes, or polls to engage your audience and make them feel like a part of the fun.
Do’s & Don’ts for Holiday Marketing
Do focus on emotional resonance
Create content that taps into universal feelings of joy, connection, and nostalgia
Don’t force “holiday vibes” into every asset
If a holiday theme doesn’t genuinely align with your brand, it will feel inauthentic and cluttered
Do balance promos with brand storytelling
Adopt a content ratio that prioritizes value and connection - for every sales-focused post, create a few pieces of content that are purely for engagement
Don’t alienate audiences by being overly Christmas-centric
Acknowledge that your audience is diverse and celebrates a variety of holidays, including Hanukkah and Kwanzaa
Use inclusive language and visuals that reflect a broader range of traditions and cultural backgrounds
Case Studies
Here’s some examples of some of our favorite nontraditional holiday brands that follow these principles.
REI - The company was able to go against traditional Black Friday messaging and encourage people to spend time outside instead. The company put a sign on the door that read #OptOutside, and this one small decision had much more impact than any sale would have for REI. The sentiment behind the decision struck a chord with both media and customers, showing that they would rather be a brand with principles rather than one focused only on the money.
Airbnb - Rather than telling people to book a vacation, Airbnb shows its customers what it feels like to feel a sense of belonging and family in their marketing campaigns. They aim to make people feel, and more importantly, understand that the brand is what makes their holidays special and why they should continue booking with the brand.
Heinz - The brand is known to be quirky and creative in some of its marketing campaigns. One of the best ones being a sweater made out of ketchup packets, in which the brand got a ton of free press and word of mouth without pushing a single sales message.
The holiday season isn’t a time for only pushing sales; it’s an opportunity. Everyone knows this time of year will help them drive conversions, but we think the smartest way to go into this holiday season is to opt for connection with your audience, rather than only viewing them as a one-time sales opportunity. Holiday content is an opportunity to double down on your brand identity. This is the time of year you show up, not with just another festively colored holiday ad, but with authenticity, intention, and a message that is genuine and rooted in telling your story. The key is to shift the conversation from expected holiday noise to something special and unexpected. This means focusing on storytelling, celebrating inclusivity, and introducing fresh creativity that truly stands out.
Always in your corner,
The Content Queens
