Maintaining Brand Values During the BFCM & Holiday Season

Wanna get noticed and stay noticed? It’s all about having strong brand values. We think Fraser Communications have said it best, “Impactful brand values improve recognition.” 

The leaders in trend forecasting, WGSN, have made some insightful predictions about the future of consumer behavior as we move into 2023. Many being insights that can help inform value-driven strategies for this BFCM holiday season:

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🌎 As global identities are shaped to reflect a wider range of voices, consumers are expecting brands to reflect the same through expressive products that fuse heritage & branding

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👩‍🏭 The pandemic has provided an appreciation to the consumer for essential workers. Companies that are elevating these workers will gain consumer loyalty. 

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🤝 Consumers will gravitate toward a “direct-to-investor” model of shopping that enables them to invest directly into emerging businesses that are giving back money to communities and causes. 

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During the holiday season, there’s so much opportunity to create moments and make statements to reflect the heart of your brand. So, let’s talk about a few brands who have done this well in the past and how you can too!

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The brand that has spearheaded it all: Patagonia.

 In 2016, they pledged to donate 100% of their Black Friday profits to grassroots environmental groups fighting to protect vital natural resources like water, air, and soil. As a brand that is vocal about overconsumption and climate change throughout the rest of the calendar year, this was well received by the public and encouraged customers with like-values to stay loyal to the brand. 

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One of the most important things about creating big statements and campaigns around social and value-based causes is that it should feel natural for your brand. It should be something that is clearly valued year-round and not just a one-off campaign. For example, Patagonia also participates in 1% for the planet (AKA 1% of its annual sales are committed to nonprofit environmental groups). Since 1985, they’ve donated over $74 million in cash donations to the organization. 

Most recently, the company founder, Yvon Chouinard, along with his wife and two adult children have transferred their ownership of Patagonia, valued at about $3 billion, to a specially designed trust and a nonprofit organization.

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💡 Key Takeaway:

Value-driven holiday campaigns should feel natural to your brand – the values expressed during the holiday season should be consistent with how your brand acts throughout the entire calendar year. 

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Creating movements around the holidays: Deciem

Also known as the “abnormal beauty company,” Deciem has decided to use the holiday season as a way to educate consumers about overconsumption and the importance of ingredients. They call this annual event “Knowvember” - basically, every day of November, they post on their site videos about the benefits of their products as well as awareness around the negative impacts of Black Friday.

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That being said, they haven’t fully cut off discounting and still offer their customers 23% off all their products in November. Many would call this a more mindful approach to the BFCM craze!

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💡 Key Takeaway:

Create your own “movements” or “holidays” that better align with your brand values.

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Teaming up with like-minded brands: Vanity Planet

One of our favorite things about Carro is that it enables like-minded brands to be better, together! Last holiday season, Vanity Planet wanted to team up with another brand that valued a more natural approach to skincare. 

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So, through the Carro Network, Vanity Planet was able to discover Glow Recipe, a cruelty-free and science-backed skincare brand with a focus on clean, vegan ingredients! They created a bundle of products that were sold on both sites. Not only were they able to double down on their clean messaging, but both parties were able to sell more, together and drive-home brand loyalty on both sides.

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💡 Key Takeaway:

Using cross-store selling tools like Carro can help you find like-minded brands to partner with.

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Swap Discounts for Donations: Baukjen

Baukjen means business. And by business we mean that they’re not JUST giving away a percentage of sales for Black Friday weekend, they’re giving 100% of the profits! Slow fashion and championing sustainability are core values for the brand, so it only makes sense that they deliver that message on some of the highest traffic days of the year. The commitment to the cause speaks volumes.

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💡 Key Takeaway:

Make statements with money, not just marketing. 

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With the examples and insights above, it’s clear that consumers are more loyal to brands with strong brand values. So, ask yourself: what are my brand values? How can I communicate that through marketing and commerce this holiday season? You might be surprised by the vast ideas you have once your brand begins to see marketing and commerce through the lens of your values. 

Connect with one of our brand partnership and values experts here. 

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