What We Can Learn from Pumpkin-Everything Season

It’s mid-October and you know what that means: pumpkin everything! As a loyal and dedicated lover of the pumpkin spice latte, PSL for the hardcore tribe, there are a few lessons we can take from this perennial seasonal promotion. So light your pumpkin-scented candle, grab your pumpkin muffin and PSL and let’s review.  

Don’t be Scared to do What Works 

After the high of completing a successful campaign, brands can feel pressured to “top” their last promotion. Here’s a bit of good news: if a campaign works, you can run it again. There’s something to be said for the “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it” methodology to annual marketing campaigns. An annual promotion helps to build brand loyalty. Your customers look forward to this specific promotion, and that excitement leads to the strongest and most authentic engagement available. Instead of focusing on new, set your sights on improving what amounts to a successful campaign year-over-year. 

We often see clients discard or discredit a successful campaign because they are fatigued by the product, topic or creative. There is a lot to be said for investing and continuing to grow a successful marketing initiative. As many of us know, not every campaign lands the way it was intended. When a brand strikes the right chord, we remind them to get out of their own way.  

Nabisco recently brought back Pumpkin Spice Oreos after a 5-year hiatus. What did this lead to? Mayhem at grocery stores across the country. Not quite the mayhem of Black Friday doorbusters, but you get the idea. The limited-edition cookie has become hard to find and is often sold out at many locations. What happens when a customer can’t get a coveted item? It helps create more demand. Let’s not wait another 5 years, Nabisco. 

Activate Your Audience

The best people to evangelize your brand? Your most loyal customers. 

When we started to dig into how pumpkin season became more than pie and coffee, we saw that it was a response to feed the authentic, voluntary support brands like Starbucks were receiving. Our agency is constantly advising clients and influencers alike that paid campaigns still have to feel organic and authentic. We look for unique ways to accomplish this with paid creators and influencers, but it’s not always as easy as you would think.

The pumpkin-spice latte became the #PSL when loyal annual consumers started flooding social media with user-generated content. Starbuck’s receives millions, if not billions, of impressions around the excitement their customers have for the return of these beloved pumpkin treats every year. It’s (free) advertising most brands can’t afford to replicate. 

This has led to the creation of an overwhelming amount of seasonal offshoots - pumpkin donuts, pumpkin beer, pumpkin ravioli, pumpkin spice goldfish, pumpkin twinkies, pumpkin liquor, pumpkin yogurt, pumpkin baked goods, pumpkin cereal… you name it. If you’re hoping on the pumpkin train, create a marketing strategy that includes a budget to activate your audience. That could be in the form of giveaways, ‘surprise and delights’, testimonials and many other methods of promotion. 

Listen & Refine

Pumpkin spice Goldfish may not be for everybody. When introducing a new product as part of a seasonal promotion, do the legwork to set up a robust social listening campaign. Be prepared to listen to what your audience has to say about a new product. From flavor to price and availability, your customers will use social media to give you feedback. Be smart enough to monitor this engagement and use it to inform next year’s promotion. 

Social listening also gives brands the opportunity to speak with customers directly. Outside of surveys, very few companies take advantage of the chance to talk to their audience. A highly engaged promotion draws in the non-influencers - those that aren’t promoting dozens of products a month and aren’t used to chatting with big brands. The excitement that a customer gets from hearing from a beloved brand is often rewarding enough to stay an engaged, loyal follower.

Maximize ROI

What else can you do when you know all eyes will be on your seasonal promotion? Maximize your results by adding additional campaign components. 

We’ll use Starbucks again as an example. What started as pumpkin-spice lattes has morphed into pumpkin bread & muffins, as well as apple-themed items to broaden the seasonal autumn menu. Starbucks used to only offer the PSL during a small window of time, fueling the customer craze to buy that latte every day while it’s available - aka scarcity. Now, we see Starbucks roll out this menu as early as late August, fanning the flames as the summer winds down.

Adding more options or choices won’t be the right move for every brand. There is a balance between building a loyal customer base that truly desires a given product, and watering down the buzz with more products and too much runway. 

The good news is that if you follow the steps above - stick to what works, listen to your audience and activate loyal customers - you’ll have a pretty good idea of whether or not there is a desire for introducing additional products.  We’ve mentioned authenticity a few times. Don’t jump on the bandwagon just to try to ride a wave. Listen. Watch. Learn. 

And enjoy the pumpkin spice latte.