Insights

The glasses are dry, the wallets are bare, and the decorations are a long distant memory. You’ve said ‘Happy New Year’ on Teams every day for the last four weeks, and you’re sure that if you say it one more time, your colleagues will have you committed. Thankfully, the month of January is almost behind us…

The internet tells us it is the most depressing month of the year, with Blue Monday, the post-holiday season and the short days and long evenings. If January were a client, it would be high risk, one that requires a strategic approach and proactive management.

Clearly, January has a reputation problem. But does the reputation match the reality? I have taken the toxicity of brand-January as gospel for years: ‘Hold off any big launches, too much real news around’, ‘‘Don’t organize events, everyone’s doing dry-Jan’. Then, last week I learnt that ‘Blue Monday’ itself was in-fact the machination of the PR machine at the now defunct Sky Travel. My foundations shaken; I sought to find a solution to fix January’s reputational crisis.

Like any good strategist, first, we dived into the data. Combing reams of articles about seasonal blues and piles of data on consumer peaks and trough. Finally, we arrived at our critical insight: January has fewer days of celebration than any other month of the year. Eureka! A strategy to fix this? We needed to find plenty of reasons to celebrate January.

Next came the tactics: what were the good days to shout about (strengths) and the bad days to steer well clear of? There were many more of the latter unfortunately: world hypnotism day (4th) – HR minefield; national squirrel appreciation day (21st) – risk of rabies; national peanut butter day (24th) – serious allergy problems; national croissant day (30th) – likely Brexit issues.

Then, we arrived at the golden nugget: three celebratory days to fix the reputation of January:

1. Lunar New Year (22 Jan)

The Lunar New Year, like January itself, is misunderstood. Its remains clouded in controversy, having undergone its own internal re-brand of late. But once people start to learn about it, they embrace it.

Here at Hawthorn we marked the occasion with drinks and cheese (moon shaped), while many of our clients took the opportunity to mark the occasion on social. It was progress, but not nearly enough….

In 2024, let’s push the boundaries and make Lunar New Year the ‘Christmas? What Christmas’ celebration that it truly deserves to be. After all, it’s the Year of the Dragon next year. What better way to start the year?

2. Burns Night (25 Jan)

A stalwart of the calendar year that goes criminally under-leveraged, as far as January’s profile goes. Burns Night celebrates the life of the poet Robert Burns. Our Scottish colleagues get sick of explaining what this means and why we should care.

This year we had the pleasure of taking to the Tower of London with our client who deals in scotch whisky, for a spectacular celebration, just down the corridor from the crown jewels themselves! Anyone on the fence about the strength of the occasion after that was well and truly converted by the end.

In 2024, our goal is to make Burns Night a staple of social (and client) calendar.

3. Dry January

Dry January rallies and polarizes in equal measure. At no other time of the year does the nation rally behind a coordinated mission to not go to the pub. That sense of camaraderie and minor achievement is rarely seen outside of a major football tournament. And while some may be losing their drinking buddies, others will be gaining a temporary gym buddy. This is to be commended.

At Hawthorn, we’ve stood in solidarity by moving our January social to next month.

In 2024, Dry Jan needs to be celebrated for the achievement that it is. Perhaps a badge for all those doing it? Or a wristband?

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Name Role

January may bring challenges and uncertainty, but we are excited to have had a successful and productive start to 2023. We have gained new clients, planned exciting events, and have been presented with many opportunities for growth. Let’s embrace January as an opportunity to think creatively and set a positive tone for the rest of 2023.

By Gordan Carver, Senior Director