Make Memorial Day Memorable…Or Any Holiday

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Memorial Day 2020 was like no other in recent memory. We all know why. The real question is, why did many brands and businesses treat it like it was?

You know the drill:
• Profound headline from last year “Honoring…”
• Stock image of waving flag and/or military personnel
• Most importantly – your weekend and holiday hours
• Organic post on social media

This is not only the template for Memorial Day, it will be something similar for the Fourth of July, Labor Day and so on. Business as usual during times that have never been more unusual.

There are a million alternatives to this template trap, but let’s just explore one and why it worked so well.

GCAi Client: Springfield Union Station

Concept: Memorial Day Memories

Overview: Union Station is an icon that is etched in the memories of many who have served their country, as well as their families. For most of them, it was a symbol of leaving home to serve. For some, it was a last memory of a family member or loved one leaving to serve but not return, because they made the ultimate sacrifice. This Memorial Day campaign would gather those memories and share them through social media marketing on Facebook and Instagram. From a statistical perspective, the results were astounding. The unexpected outcome was that the gathered memories promoted the sharing of even more memories. For Memorial Day 2020, Union Station’s social media channels honored actual memories of service and sacrifice not stock images and holiday hours.

Tactical: A two-phase Memorial Day campaign to collect and share memories of loved ones who left from Union Station to serve our country.

  • Part One: An initial social media marketing campaign to gather the memories and development of a website landing page to display them.
  • Part Two: Creation of a video animation to highlight sample memories and drive traffic to the website landing page (of all Memorial Day memories gathered), media advisory disseminated to select local media to increase awareness, and a second social ,media marketing campaign to promote the memories over the Memorial Day weekend.

Social Media Marketing Results

Overview:

  • Reached over 83k individuals and generated 190k impressions
  • Almost 59k people engaged with the ads, 234 of them shared it with their own audience
  • Tone: 3,084 reactions, 98.9% Positive

Data:

  • 190,507 Impressions
  • 83,248+ Reach
  • 58,726 Engagements
  • 655 Link Clicks
  • 234 Post Shares
  • 89 Comments
  • 5 New Followers/Likers

Landing Page: (view here)

  • 427 views between 5/22 to 5/25; average time on page was 1 minute and 19 seconds

Creative: