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  • Event Promotion Tips

Black Friday – What This Means for Event Promoters

  • By Ben Sebborn

  • 09 Nov 2016
  • 3 min read

Photo: Black Friday Credit Flickr.com

The term Black Friday started off as a bit of a joke in the UK, an American tradition that was never going to catch on. Now it’s guaranteed annual mainstream news story, as video footage of brawls in supermarkets for flastscreen TVs sweeps the nation as a viral trend. Beyond this crude coverage the fact is online purchases sky rocket, with Black Friday 2015 being Amazon UK’s record day of sales with a whopping 7.4 million items purchased. That’s a staggering 86 per second.

And, whether you believe it or not, Black Friday fever bleeds into event promotion too. The simple fact is Black Friday is the last proper payday before Christmas, and as such it’s become a hotbed for everyone in all industries to scamper madly for people’s pounds. Last year we saw a Hannah Wants tour, a solo DJ EZ show and festival line up announcements for Groove Cairngorm, We Are FSTVL and Liverpool Sound City all among the rapid fire announcements that came in the lead up to, or on, Black Friday, making the clamour for attention even bigger than ever before.

We’re anticipating a similar trend in 2016, with festival tickets being perfect Christmas presents and New Year’s Eve looming. It’s also the perfect on sale point for big shows in early 2017, allowing promoters to get ahead of a traditionally quieter marketing period in January. There’s a very strong logic in timing announcements alongside Black Friday, buyers after all are in the buying mood, but it’s really very important that you plan accordingly for it.

If you are looking at this date it’s vital that you give the media enough warning. Let us know, but also local press who will be inundated with stories in and around the same time. A day or two beforehand is simply not a large enough time-frame to ensure proper coverage, remember it’s perfectly acceptable to add an embargo, and incomplete or ‘to be confirmed’ information is better than none – even if it changes.

If you’re wanting to utilise an eflyer or similar service from our Promotion Centre, it’s again imperative you get in touch quickly – these are booked even further in advance than usual. And remember there will be a lot of noise over this period – your customers will be potentially be buying cut-price TVs, Christmas presents, cheap clothes and even booking their holiday earlier than usual. You will be fighting for their attention like never before, so ensure you deliver your message as well planned and clearly as possible.

Any questions please get in touch with your respective account manager, or our editorial team, who’ll be able to help you out.

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