It's National What Day?

17 Feb, 2017

National Day's take up such a large part of the calendar these days, but do we really need them?

Did you know today is National Cabbage Day? And, omg, tomorrow is National Drink Wine Day? Must put that one in the diary! I might avoid National Dog Biscuit Day next Thursday though.

So, are there too many of these made-up awareness days? Yes, according to American writer and cartoonist JJ McCullough, who asks the question ‘Do we need more fake holidays’?

According to nationaldaycalendar.com they are not just a little off-the-wall in theme, they exist in abundance with at least one listed per day. This is a US based site with some days which are clearly aimed solely at their own citizens – Cookie Day, National Clam Chowder Day, National Frozen Yoghurt Day etc. Should brands and PR’s be riding on the coattails of them if they aren’t relevant to consumers in the UK? Food for thought.

Of course, it is not only restricted to single days in the year. Recently ‘Dryaunary’ and ‘Veganuary’ trended over the month of January on social media and got the involvement of many who took part or showed engagement with the idea. And then there are useful sites such as awarenessdays.co.uk which bring to light charity and health campaigns, thereby a very useful way to communicate serious messages and garner much-needed support and funds.

If a National Day is unlinked to a specific campaign, it can be a really useful tool for brands to have these many opportunities to align to. Conversely, some food and drink brands even have their own days which can appeal to their fan base and enable specific content and messaging to be pushed.

However, the golden rule in our opinion is not to try too hard to find a relevance. There can be a tendency for some brands to be far too tenuous which can be confusing for consumers and belittle the brand.

Happy days!