Earned Media: Why Christmas Starts in Summer

It might be 30°C outside, but if you work in marketing, communications or at a PR agency, Christmas should already be on your mind. While the rest of the country is reaching for ice lollies and sun cream, savvy brands are reaching for festive campaign plans, because when it comes to Christmas marketing, the early bird really does catch the… turkey.

And if you think it’s too soon, UK shoppers would disagree.

Despite the ongoing heatwave, this week’s The Grocer revealed that Waitrose is seeing a surprising surge in demand for winter comfort food. The supermarket says cottage pie sales are up 110% over the past month, and searches for comfort food have soared. Its verdict? Shoppers are experiencing a little “feta fatigue” after weeks of summer salads.

It’s a timely reminder that consumer behaviour doesn’t always follow the weather forecast.

After weeks of blazing sunshine, many Brits are already dreaming about cosy jumpers, comfort food, crackling fires and Christmas movie marathons. More importantly for brands, they’re beginning to browse, plan and seek inspiration for the festive season much earlier than they used to.

That’s where the opportunity lies. Christmas campaigns aren’t just about creating festive excitement – they’re about securing brand discoverability before competition reaches its peak. Planning early gives brands more opportunities to secure earned media, appear in Christmas gift guides, collaborate with creators and build awareness before consumers start making purchasing decisions.

For brands looking to build brand awareness, improve brand discoverability and earn demand, now is the perfect time to start thinking about Christmas. By the time October rolls around, gift guides are already live, influencers have mapped out festive content calendars, and consumers are already being bombarded with seasonal messaging. Nobody wants to be the brand turning up after Santa has left.

The brands that cut through aren’t always the ones with the biggest advertising budgets. They’re the ones with the strongest brand storytelling. Whether it’s a creative campaign, a clever product launch, fresh consumer research or an unexpected collaboration, memorable ideas help generate earned media that keeps conversations going long after the Christmas adverts have aired.

Take our work with Bertinet Bakery. Rather than relying on traditional festive messaging, we created a life-sized Toast House, a sourdough-inspired take on the classic gingerbread house installed in the window of a vintage shop in West London. It wasn’t just a festive photo opportunity; it became a talking point, generating more than one million media impressions, over 100,000 social views and coverage across earned media, social channels and influencer content. The results weren’t down to luck. They came from planning early enough to develop a genuinely newsworthy idea, giving us time to secure media interest, build creator partnerships and generate earned conversations well before the festive rush.

This is especially true in food and drink marketing, where festive traditions meet changing consumer habits every year. The brands that tap into emerging trends early, whether that’s nostalgic comfort food, new entertaining rituals or gifting moments are far more likely to secure valuable media coverage before the festive frenzy begins.

So while everyone else is soaking up the sunshine, the smartest marketing teams are already thinking about Christmas. The question isn’t whether it’s too early to start planning – it’s whether your competitors already have.

By the time festive campaigns begin appearing in consumers’ feeds, the brands that planned early have already secured the media coverage, creator partnerships and brand discoverability that help drive awareness, consideration and, ultimately, sales.

Want to know more? Get in touch.

« AI, Earned Media and Brand Discoverability: What Marketers Need to Know AI Search Is Changing: Why Earned Media Matters More Than Ever »