Every year, just as spring begins to give way to summer, families across the country celebrate Father’s Day. Just like Mother’s Day, this holiday is often a busy occasion for shoppers. That’s because Americans are willing to spend lots of money to show dads how much they appreciate them. In 2019, the National Retail Federation estimated that Americans would spend $16 billion on Father’s Day gifts. The estimate represented a 70% increase in spending since 2009.
Are you hoping to draw attention to your brand’s products and services this Father’s Day? You’ll need to make a creative, persuasive and authentic appeal to consumers. An influencer marketing campaign could be the key. Get inspired by these tips on how you can use influencers to power a Father’s Day marketing campaign.
Who Is This Campaign For?
The first step is to decide whom exactly you’re trying to reach with your influencer marketing campaign. Are you trying to offer gift-givers some options? Or are you trying to give fathers a convincing reason to treat themselves to something nice? The answer to this question will inform the type of content and strategies you and the influencer use during the campaign.
When focusing on gift-givers, you might also want to consider factors such as the target audience’s age range, location or gender. A teenage daughter living in Florida might choose a very different type of Father’s Day gift than a middle-aged son living in the Midwest.
What Products or Services Should You Emphasize?
You can’t measure the campaign’s success unless you have a goal in mind. For certain types of businesses, the goal of the campaign might be to raise overall brand awareness. Other brands might want to amplify specific products or services.
For example, if a brand specializes in men’s clothing, the majority of its products are likely suitable gifts for the holiday. On the other hand, a brand that offers books might want to use its Father’s Day campaign to amplify certain titles that are relevant to fatherhood. Consider your brand’s mission and your primary product or service when setting goals.
According to the National Retail Federation, in 2019, some of the most popular Father’s Day gifts included:
Greeting cards
Special outings
Clothing
Gift cards
Books and CDs
Personal care products
Electronics
Tools
Home and garden supplies
Sporting goods
Vehicle accessories
About 60% of people are expected to buy greeting cards for this holiday. However, gift-givers are expected to spend the most money on special outings, clothing and gift cards.
A brand that doesn’t offer any of the products or services listed above might need to get creative with its marketing campaign. Fortunately, the list is fairly broad, and most businesses can adapt to pitch their products as ideal for the holiday. A nail salon that usually serves a customer base of predominantly women can offer pedicure and manicure services aimed at dads. A toy or gaming brand with a typically young audience can pitch its products as great for family bonding.
Which Influencers Should You Use?
As usual, the influencers you partner with on a campaign should have an interest in your brand or the specific products you’re marketing. Because this is a Father’s Day event, you might want to consider collaborating with influencers who embrace their roles as fathers.
Some examples of famous dad influencers include:
Which Influencers Should You Use?
- Michael Worthington Jr.
- Sergei Urban
- Beau Coffron
- Simon Hooper
Worthington became famous on social media while learning to style his daughter’s hair. Followers of his Instagram account, @icemikeloveasia, appreciate his genuine, positive, and inspiring content about being a devoted dad.
Urban is a stay-at-home dad who shares kid-friendly DIY content on his Instagram account and YouTube channel, TheDadLab. He also published an educational book that details 50 science projects to enjoy with children.
This food artist shares colorful recipes on the Lunchbox Dad blog. His edible creations take the form of cartoon characters, video game icons and other pop culture references.
Hooper uses his Instagram account, @father_of_daughters, to share the comedic misadventures of a man living with his four daughters. He’s the author of the 2018 book “Dadlife: Family Tales from Instagram’s Father of Daughters.”
Of course, influencers who aren’t fathers themselves can also strengthen your campaign. In the end, it’s important to choose someone who cares about what your brand is offering and can help carry your Father’s Day message. As long as your influencer is passionate and their message comes across as authentic, they’ll maintain credibility with their (and your) audiences. That’s one of the most vital aspects of an influencer campaign.
Themes to Incorporate
A theme will give your campaign a sense of direction and help your influencer generate some unique ideas. Here are some suggestions to start with.
Memories
Nostalgia is a powerful feeling, and there are many ways to incorporate it into your Father’s Day campaign. An influencer could make a video that brings their favorite father-son memories to life. A blog post or podcast detailing family-bonding stories could provide a similar approach.
You can also use this theme to inspire user-generated content. On Twitter or Facebook, challenge followers to share their most memorable moments with their dads. Take a similar approach on Instagram, asking followers to post old photos or videos of their dads. This needs to somehow tie into your brand. For example, a food brand might specify that the memories should somehow relate to dinner- or breakfast-table moments.
Dad Humor
Dads are famous for their cringeworthy puns and shameless jokes. Find ways to incorporate that into your campaign. Have an influencer share their favorite dad memes leading up to Father’s Day. Or, let them quote famous fathers from television shows or movies.
Again, you can encourage user-generated content by asking your audience to post their own jokes or humorous stories. A home improvement brand could encourage followers to share stories of dads’ repair mishaps. A fashion brand could suggest that children pick out dads’ outfits and then share short videos or some photos. Submissions can come with funny titles.
Men’s Health and Self-Care
Lifestyle and wellness brands can use Father’s Day as an occasion to really emphasize the importance of men’s health. An influencer could create a blog series that offers daily wellness tips. Focus these tips on mental or physical health, depending on which ties in best with your brand’s offerings. Enlisting the aid of an influencer who’s also a fitness coach or mental health expert can lend credibility to the campaign’s content.
Final Tips
With the help of an influencer, come up with a brand-specific Father’s Day hashtag to tie to your campaign. This makes it easier to compile user-generated content. Just be sure to ask participants to use the hashtag.
You’ll also want to come up with a timeline for the campaign. Will it run a week before Father’s Day, or maybe two weeks? The longer the campaign runs, the more time you have to spread the word and encourage audience participation. But you don’t want the campaign to last so long that it seems unusual or untimely. Strike the right balance to attract consumers and maximize your reach at exactly the right time.
