Every day, it seems like someone is celebrating something some new, off-beat holiday. Unlike the federal or state holidays, these national holidays are not exactly like they sound. For decades, national holidays have been anything from cause recognition to celebrating popular food items like pizza, donuts, and coffee, a holiday you’ve never heard of, recognition for a special cause, or something entirely odd that turns heads. Accompanied by a hashtag and countless tweets and posts, people are seen celebrating days like National Pizza Day or National Caffeine Day as if it were a universal celebration that’s existed since the beginning of time. These National holidays aren’t just celebrated by individuals anymore – they’re also celebrated by brands and marketing departments everywhere.
The opportunity of recognizing a national day allows brands to promote awareness and encourage engagement from fans and non-fans actively participating in the conversation. With a little creativity and ambition, any brand can jump into the conversation on almost any national day and make it their own.
Where did national days come from?
There was no official inauguration of the national day calendar that exists online today, but national days have been installed by ordinary people, politicians, lawmakers, and even a few presidents. So, where did the other national days come from? If your guess is brands and their marketing departments, you’re actually kind of right. Many of these national days, weeks, and months do come from marketing departments and brands, as well as individuals bringing awareness to brand-relevant items or causes, but some are created by organizations to bring awareness to important causes and others are created by individuals with an over-the-top love for certain foods and things. Have you heard of Talk Like a Pirate Day?
Along with the national days many celebrate, national weeks and months have been looped into the celebration, too. For example, March was National Women’s History Month, National Caffeine Awareness Month (which we basically celebrate on a daily basis) and National Nutrition Month, just to name a few.
Why should brands promote national days?
Celebrating something like National Grilled Cheese Day (April 12th) may seem silly, but it brings people together by creating conversation on social media. By joining the conversation, brands can increase awareness and promote services, products, causes and more. Take a look at how we embraced Client’s Day on March 19th.
There are many national days where marketers or brands simply can’t bridge the gap and create relevance. However, with just a little creativity and ambition, brands can celebrate a great number of the days that fall on the national day calendar. Be aware of the national days in advance by putting them in an editorial calendar and start thinking about ways to engage audiences and connect them to your brand.
Take a look at some of the important National Days happening in April:
April 4 – National Equal Pay Day
April 5 – Child Help National Day of Hope
April 7 – National Beer Day
April 11 – National Pet Day
April 15 – National Titanic Remembrance Day
April 20 – National Get to Know Your Customers Day
Throughout the month of April, celebrate National Internship Awareness Month and Stress Awareness Month.
How can you get a national day on the calendar?
Contrary to what people might think about inking national days on the national day calendar, it’s not as easy as simply claiming your own day. In order to register a national day on the widely-recognized national day calendar, you must go through an approval process by filling out and submitting an application to the committee. Recently, it was implied that in order to register your national day, you must pay a hefty fee and while the committee receives over 10,000 applications every year, they only accept an estimated 25 new ones each year. Recently, the registration process became limited to agencies and companies only, due to backlog.
Although it seems like most national days are silly recognitions taking up space on the calendar, some (especially weeks and months) promote real causes important to brands and individuals celebrating their recognition. Whether it’s National Peach Cobbler Day (April 13th) or National Earth Day (April 22nd), these days create conversation and opportunity for brands to engage with audiences and further build a relationship to keep fans coming back for more.
Recent Public Relations graduate and intern-turned content marketing specialist. When I’m not swimming through waves of web pages for new content, you can find me at hockey games or reading a fantastic book.