Photo by Boxed Water Is Better on Unsplash

In the US the path is clear, with the milestones laid out - Labor Day in September, Halloween in October, Thanksgiving at the end of November, and then here comes the Reindeer. The dates merge into one another, with retail displays more or less ignoring hard stops and starts. But they’re useful as guidelines, and while we don’t have such obvious demarcations on this side of the Pond, a rule of thumb for Christmas marketing is that when your US colleagues hit Labor Day on September 6th, it’s time to get Christmas product packaging orders in.

The presses are already rolling to produce the 227,000 miles of wrapping paper that British households use every year. Held together with 40 million rolls of sticky tape! All of the Christmas numbers are staggering - in the UK, 25 million Christmas puddings and 10 million turkeys will be consumed. And, also in the UK, 38% of buyers start doing their holiday shopping in October.

Christmas is, of course, a peak selling season, when wallets are prised open. To be prepared as a marketer for this season is to have your antenna up for every twist and turn in the marketplace and to be agile in your responses. Some you can leverage, jiu-jitsu like, to your advantage. Others - that container ship stuck in a faraway canal comes to mind - you’ve just got to work around.

There are elements you can and must put in place. Among them is packaging. The opportunity to step into the light and rebrand your offering at a peak selling period is one that few companies can ignore.

Many companies build whole packaging campaigns to refresh their brands at this time. Coke is of course the touchstone for Christmas marketing, a position it has gained after decades of investment in the season, to the extent that far too many people believe that Coke invented Santa Claus.

Whether it’s a picture of a rosy-cheeked Santa Claus, or swirling font, the persistent feel and image of Coca-Cola means that every new marketing message taps into more than 130 years of warm, fuzzy feelings. - Stewart Hodgson

Starbucks also heavily themes Christmas on its packaging, and not just for its pumpkin spice latte, which on its own generates $100 million annually.

When it comes to your seasonal marketing, a shift in packaging is a relatively inexpensive way to signal change. One of the big fears about ordering seasonal packaging is over-ordering. Digital printing from companies such as CoLab avoids that problem by facilitating high-quality short runs, unlike traditional offset printing.

We can also work with you to create personalised packaging that makes your product stand out in the gift aisle, whether that’s online or on the high street. Impulse purchasing goes into overdrive at this time of year, whether it’s for presents or as a home treat. By making your packaging stand out, you become an easy solution at a fraught time. While the internet is awash with packaging ideas, here are a couple:

Christmas-themed packaging can be convenient for your customer. A holiday-themed mailer box or mailing bag can remove the need to wrap a gift entirely.
Great packaging also makes for positive social media content, either from your own company or through influencers and customers.
Christmas could be a good time to burnish your brand by joining with a charity. Such a promotion brings income to the charity, gives you a focused message for your packaging and might just cause a buyer to reach for your product at that zero moment of truth in the aisle.

Some shipping deadlines to remember for ordering custom packaging:

Halloween: order by October 5

Black Friday: order by October 31

Cyber Monday: order by November 1

Panic Saturday! For those last-minute gifts: order by November 1

🎁 Ready to do something special for Christmas packaging this year? We’d love to help bring it to life!