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 Where is your marketing plan taking you?

Fighting Goliath - or in this case, santa!

In the spirit of the holidays, I thought that I would spur some fun debate by looking at the age old battle of the little guy against the big guy. If we pretend for one minute that Christmas and Santa Claus weren’t truly magical and then take the perspective that this holiday is a business, we have

In fact, at first glance Easter should have better positioning. Not only is it in the springtime and the weather is warmer, but the main story of Christ rising up from the dead to ascend into Heaven as the savior from all our sins is pretty powerful! There are chickens and lamb and even an egg hunt. Not to mention, who doesn’t love a fluffy, cuddly Easter Bunny? But, the Easter brand pales in comparison to Christmas; its positioning lacks some key differentiators which make all of the difference.

 

Santa Claus and his band of elves dominate the holiday market. Here’s how I see it:

 

Kids. Although this is a religious holiday the true target audience is kids. They become enthralled with the magic of Santa Claus and the expectation of gifts. Every parent has an emotive response to Christmas because of the inner desire to bring a smile and joy to their children’s faces and hearts.

 

Kris Kringle. The jolly man himself is a truly universal symbol of the Christmas brand; there are measures for the top global brands such as Nike and McDonalds but I have never seen a study which includes Santa in the mix – my guess is that he would be number one. This heavy-set man in a red suit tends to scare toddlers but evokes nothing but joy in the hearts of young children.

 

Magic. How does Santa get to every kids’ house in the whole world in one night? What will he bring me and you? The gift of giving and receiving is magic in itself but with the introduction of anticipation, wanting and wrapping paper, Christmas takes it to a whole new level.

 

Presents. The receipt of a durable good sets Christmas apart from all holidays. You could argue that the Easter Basket often includes a toy; however, every holiday pales in comparison on the physical reality of presents. This is compounded by the generosity of everyone around the target audience which even eclipses the celebration of one’s own birth.

 

Channel. The key differentiator for Christmas is its channel partners. Primarily retail stores promote and strengthen the Christmas brand – and it seems to start earlier every year. From a consistent message to the market to local inventory to superior customer service, the channel drives the Christmas experience. But people are also the channel in a similar regard. The Church, family, friends, neighbors and colleagues all recognize this holiday and even their demeanor changes near the event.

an interesting dynamic to explore. For the purposes of this conversation, let’s keep the context and target audience as Christians. Why do you suppose that Christmas is a significantly larger holiday than Easter?

 

Looking at the similarities of the two holidays they should be fairly well matched against each other; again with the same target audience, both focus on:

· Birth / Re-Birth of Jesus Christ

· A symbolic figure

· Family

· Food

So what is a bunny to do?

 

As I see it, the Easter holiday has two options. It can: 1) Reposition its brand and strengthen its key differentiator; or, 2) Revise its strategy to be a profitable number two.

 

Repositioning the Easter holiday is a significant challenge based on its key differentiators. Add chocolate and flowers with what is described above and the holiday is still no better off because it is then competing with Halloween and Valentine’s Day. The Easter Bunny could strengthen the brand if it were better described as to why it was so important to the holiday and what it truly represented for Easter. One

critical differentiator could be elevating the importance of Re-Birth as the meaning of Easter and why that should be more important in the minds’ of the Christians than Birth.

 

Revising the strategy to be a profitable number two is never an easy decision because of our innate desire to win, to always be the best. However, this is a viable option for the Easter Bunny. The opportunity to capitalize on chocolate, flowers, warm weather and kids is ripe for the taking in the holiday market. This will be about streamlining the offering and capitalizing on operating efficiency by developing plans to get families in and out of activities quickly while still providing the fun, loving experience.

 

Regardless of direction, Easter will need to strengthen its channel to market if it wants to compete with the other holidays. Promotions, sales incentives, and clear communication as to what the experience should represent are critical components of this network.

 

In many business to business markets, this scenario plays true – a tale of David against Goliath, or the underdog against the emperor. What is telling in terms of success is to find the ways to differentiate yourself, understand the strategy to market and leverage the team that works with and alongside you.

 

So maybe Santa and the Easter Bunny sit alongside each other at holiday association meetings discussing the influences to their industry or maybe Mr. Claus at the North Pole and Mr. Bunny in his hole strategize against one another. Fortunately, I just enjoy both holidays.

 

Happy Holidays and All the Best in 2010 and Beyond.