4 Ways to Leverage Digital Marketing for Father’s Day

Father’s Day recognizes fathers, fatherhood, and father figures. For millions of caregivers around the world, it’s time for family gatherings, gifts, special outings, and crayon scribbled I-Love-Yous.

As we approach Father’s Day, it’s time to explore consumer behaviour around this occasion. Read on to learn important stats about consumers who are shopping for this annual celebration, tactics for leveraging digital marketing for Father’s Day, and how a programmatic strategy can support your efforts.

Who is Shopping for Father’s Day

Approximately 75% of US adults celebrated the occasion in 2023, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). With so much of the population celebrating these caregivers, there’s significant consumer spending around this day.  

The average expected spend on a Father’s Day gift per consumer was a record $196.23 USD, up from $171.79 last year.

Consumer spending over will reach a record $22.9 billion USD, up from last year’s $20 billion USD, according to NRF’s annual consumer survey.

Consumer Habits for Father’s Day 

According to NRF’s report, most Father’s Day consumers purchase gifts for their fathers, stepfathers, and husbands. Some consumers do buy gifts for their sons, brothers, friends, godfathers, and other relatives. 

The top gifts to give in 2023 were greeting cards, clothes, and special outings. In fact, nearly one-third are planning to give a gift of experience, such as tickets to a sporting event or a concert. That is up 25% from last year, according to NRF’s report.

Digital Marketing Tips for Father’s Day Campaigns

Let’s dive into 4 tips for leveraging digital marketing for Father’s Day. 

1. Reach Father’s Day Shoppers Where They Are

In recent years, there’s been a major adoption of e-commerce. Revenue from retail e-commerce in the US was estimated at roughly $905 billion USD in 2022. The Statista Digital Market Outlook forecasts that by 2027, online shopping revenue in the US will exceed $1.7 trillion dollars.

In-store shopping still has its place, but the adoption of e-commerce is here to stay. Consumers understand the benefits of online shopping, and enjoy the conveniences it brings, like quick delivery times, easy returns, and flexible payment options. In recent years, those benefits have increased as brands adapted their offerings to make online purchasing as frictionless as possible. 

The rise of e-commerce has also shifted how shoppers discover new services and products. Many consumers turn to the internet to look for new brands, services, and products. To reach these consumers, it’s more important than ever to leverage programmatic advertising. With digital marketing channels, you’re able to reach those shoppers exactly where they are: which is online. 

2. Leverage Multiple Programmatic Channels 

Multi-channel campaigns make it possible to reach users across different platforms and channels. You can run digital marketing for Father’s Day across two channels, like video and programmatic audio, or across more channels including in-game advertising and connected TV (CTV). Leveraging multiple channels helps you to gain a larger reach by capturing consumers who might only be on some channels.

A mix of complementary channels for a Father’s Day campaign increases the percentage of the total target audience that you can reach. It helps you to craft a cohesive message across all of the included channels.

With a multi-channel campaign you can also leverage a retargeting strategy to deliver online ads to people based on their previous, intent-based actions on the web. This is an important tactic for re-engaging consumers who previously showed interest in your brand or products. By re-engaging them, you can move them down the funnel toward a conversion. 

3. Experiment With New Channels for Father’s Day

Programmatic channels like in-game advertising and digital out-of-home (DOOH) are gaining increasing relevance. There’s no better time than now to start experimenting with these channels to reach your ideal Father’s Day consumers.

In-Game Advertising

It’s expected that there will be 3.10 billion video game users by 2027. This upward trend points to the fact that gamers are now nearly synonymous with everyday consumers.

In-game advertising enables ads to appear in mobile, computer, and video games. Ads are seamlessly integrated, so they don’t interrupt gameplay. You can leverage this channel for your Father’s Day marketing to drive brand awareness and connect with gamers, who are a highly-influential audience that’s fully immersed in gameplay.

Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) 

Digital out-of-home (DOOH) includes any digital ad that is found outside the home. They appear in public environments, like in transit stations, gas stations, stores, airports, and on billboards. 

Programmatic automates the buying and delivery of DOOH ads, so you can buy and manage your DOOH campaigns through your programmatic platform. DOOH is not subject to privacy regulations because it doesn’t use or collect cookies, and it’s an exciting format that can engage audiences in new ways.

For Father’s Day campaigns, you can leverage point-of-purchase (POP) ads to reach opportune or last minute consumers. POP signage is a type of DOOH ad that is usually found in shopping destinations like malls, grocery stores, and retail stores. With this DOOH format you can influence the purchasing decisions of consumers while they’re in-store. It’s the perfect ad format for reaching Father’s Day shoppers who need help coming up with gift ideas, or are last-minute shoppers. 

4. Tap Into Consumer Emotions to Inspire Shoppers

For Father’s Day campaigns, it’s important to remember that your target audience are people, and occasions like Father’s Day are very meaningful to them. Father’s Day is a chance for them to show their appreciation for a special person in their life. This is why tapping into the emotional aspect of this occasion can help inspire consumers. 

Don’t underestimate the power of storytelling for these campaigns. Storytelling spurs emotion, and there’s science to back this up! One way you can spark emotion with your Father’s Day ads is to leverage video. Video is the perfect medium to spark emotion because it combines audio and visual elements.

Whether your digital marketing for Father’s Day tells a story that your audience finds relatable, or one that just makes them chuckle, the fact that it spurred emotion creates a starting point for the shopper to have an emotional connection with your brand. Evoking emotion will make your ad memorable, and give you the opportunity to inspire your target audience to give your product or service to that special father figure in their life.  

Use Digital Marketing to Reach Father’s Day Shoppers

These strategies will help you leverage digital marketing for Father’s Day. Through a well-informed digital strategy, you can reach shoppers who are ready to celebrate not just their fathers, but partners, grandfathers, and other fatherly figures!

Want to run exceptional Father’s Day programmatic campaigns? Request a demo to learn more about StackAdapt.