2025 FESTIVAL MARKETING STRATEGY:
KOL MARKETING FRAMEWORK AND BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY ANALYSIS
FOR QUARTER 1 – QUARTER 4
As we approach the second quarter of 2025, have you, the marketers, planned your marketing strategy for the new year? Each festive season—whether it’s New Year, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, or specific holidays like Double 11—represents a peak time for consumer shopping demand. Beyond driving sales through attractive discounts, effectively integrating influencer marketing can help you engage more directly with your target audience, capture the attention of potential consumers, and enhance brand visibility.
AsiaKOL has created a comprehensive resource to help brands develop their annual festival marketing strategies for 2025. This resource includes important holiday dates and relevant keywords, allowing marketers to effectively plan their campaigns. With this complete calendar and annual influencer marketing strategy, it’s easy to take advantage of market opportunities, strengthen the brand's voice, and boost sales performance. This tool will enable brands to capitalize on the excitement surrounding each festival and identify business opportunities throughout the year.
1. A Complete Guide to Festival Marketing in 2025: Must-Know Marketing Points for All Industries
(1) Quarter 1 Festival Marketing Calendar and Strategies
Marketing Focus in The First Quarter: Seize The Business Opportunities During The Spring Festival and Valentine's Day
For the first quarter marketing plan, the team suggested focusing on three major festivals: New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and Queen’s Day. During the Lunar New Year, brands can launch themed promotions that include discounts on health and alcohol products, as well as the introduction of souvenirs and New Year gift boxes. Additionally, they can run activities such as offering "free gifts with a minimum spend," for example, giving away customized red envelopes or special gifts for purchases above a certain amount. On Valentine’s Day, beauty products can embrace romantic themes and feature customized items such as engraved accessories and couple clothing. Brands can also target different demographics with the theme of "pamper yourself," encouraging consumers to select thoughtful gifts for themselves. For Queen’s Day, promotional activities can focus on single women, offering "exclusive discounts for self-love." Common strategies include providing limited-edition beauty and skincare bundles.
(2) Quarter 2 Festival Marketing Calendar and Strategies
The long holiday in April presents a significant opportunity for major brands to boost their sales. The key holidays during this period include Children's Day and the travel consumption boom associated with the extended break. In May, the main events are Mother's Day and the Dragon Boat Festival. As June approaches, brands can strategically plan for the graduation season, focusing on products suited for teachers and students. For example, in promoting Children's Day, relevant brands can collaborate with parent-child influencers to advertise “Parent-Child Product Sets” or organize a “Toy Discount Day” to attract family customers. For Mother's Day, brands could offer a "Thank You Mom" gift box, which could include an optional handwritten card service to add a personal touch. During the graduation season, brands may provide products that cater to new employees, such as suits and notebooks, addressing their practical needs.
(3) Quarter 3 Festival Marketing Calendar and Strategies
In the third quarter, marketers can plan various activities for Father's Day, Chinese Valentine’s Day, and Teacher’s Day. During Chinese Valentine’s Day, brands should focus on creating a romantic atmosphere by launching couples rings and customized products. They can also use social media posts and short videos to attract traffic. For Teacher’s Day, brands can enhance the festive spirit by offering exclusive gifts, such as elegant pen sets or personalized thank-you cards. On Father's Day, brands can collaborate with influencers to showcase their products in heartwarming or entertaining parent-child scenarios. Additionally, they can offer influencer discount codes to encourage customers to make purchases, such as two-piece discounts or Father's Day gift packages, to attract a larger audience.
Read more: The Parenting KOLs of 2023: The Trend of Family-Friendly Hotels after The Recovery of Tourism
(4) Quarter 4 Festival Marketing Calendar and Strategies
As we enter the fourth quarter, the focus can start on Mid-Autumn Festival products in early October, such as mooncake gift boxes and barbecue supplies. Offering group-buying discounts during this period can be beneficial. Next, take advantage of Halloween, a time celebrated with "ghosts and monsters," to promote related items like clothing, decorations, co-branded products, masks, cosplay costumes, party supplies, and even Halloween-themed food. Following Halloween, we have three major shopping events at the end of the year: Double 11, Double 12, and Christmas. Brands should plan their most attractive offers during Double 11 to maximize sales and then work on retaining new customers through Double 12. Finally, capitalize on the gift-giving atmosphere and year-end dinners during Christmas to boost sales further.
2. 2025 Trends: The Growing Impact of Influencer Marketing
(1) The Impact of The Internet Celebrity and Creator Economy Continues To Grow
According to the social media analytics firm HypeAuditor, there are over 40 million economically influential creators worldwide. These creators are defined as individuals with more than 1,000 followers who actively publish content. Each creator can influence the spending of about 1% of their followers by $10 annually. This means that collectively, all creators have the potential to influence $130 billion in purchasing decisions each year. For companies, this highlights the importance of planning for influencer marketing early in order to enhance brand awareness.
(2) Short Video Content Remains Popular
In today's era of booming social media, the overwhelming amount of information has contributed to the limited attention spans of modern individuals. As a result, TikTok, a platform dedicated to short videos, has gained popularity by aligning with the desire for efficient information consumption. This successful model has inspired other social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram to introduce features focused on short videos, even providing benefits for short video content. AsiaKOL has extensive marketing experience in this area and can assist clients in increasing the visibility of their short videos.
(3) The Importance of Trust in Influencer Marketing
The influence of influencer marketing continues to grow, but consumers are demanding increasing levels of authenticity. Audiences are becoming more skilled at discerning whether influencers' recommendations are genuine. The professionalism and appeal of influencers directly affect the credibility of their posts, which in turn increases followers' willingness to search for, purchase, and recommend products. When influencers build trust and rapport with their followers, they offer more than just product recommendations—they provide credibility that is hard to achieve with traditional advertising. This authentic connection encourages consumers to accept brand messages more readily and even actively share them, further amplifying the marketing impact.
3. 2025 Festival Marketing Implementation: Comprehensive Influencer Strategy
With a complete festival calendar for 2025 and defined marketing priorities, AsiaKOL can assist brands in implementation and offer a wide range of application services during major festivals. AsiaKOL specializes in various influencer marketing strategies. Below, we will introduce how our team uses seven key service projects to help brands plan and execute their annual festival marketing. We encourage customers to reach out to us for consultations! For additional needs, please refer to our popular service plans.
(1) AIE Influencer Evaluation Database: AsiaKOL utilizes an exclusive AIE influencer evaluation database to identify the most suitable influencers based on specific needs. In addition to accurately selecting KOLs, it can monitor the effectiveness of social media networks and audience feedback regarding KOLs throughout the project. AIE combines the expertise of AsiaKOL’s professional team with its system resources to provide real-time analysis, develop marketing strategies for various festivals, and offer relevant implementation suggestions.
(2) AKBOX Gift Box Unboxing Strategy: The AKBOX unboxing campaign effectively combines gift boxes with various themes for major festivals, enhancing the festive atmosphere of the product packaging. By using different types of KOLs, the campaign achieves targeted marketing through unboxing experiences. The AIE system helps select the most suitable KOLs to showcase innovative products, provide objective reviews, and share discount information with their followers. This approach enhances authenticity and builds trust among the audience. Additionally, relevant store details and discount information are included to create engaging online discussions around the themed gift box unboxing.
(3) AKTour Influencer Travel Experience: The travel experiences shared by influencers can inspire their followers to replicate their itineraries, which include dining, shopping, accommodations, and activities, thereby directly boosting consumption. AKTour's Influencer Travel Experience service invites both domestic and international KOLs to explore various unique attractions in Taiwan. They will enjoy local cuisine, engage in curated itineraries, shop for souvenirs, and share their travel experiences on popular social media platforms across different countries. Additionally, during festival-related events, whether they involve dining, hotels, souvenirs, attractions, or physical activities, influencers can enhance brand awareness and visibility through their reach and impact.
(4) Micro-influencer Task Dispatch Campaign: Micro-influencer marketing offers several advantages, including in-depth communication, high authenticity, and a long-tail effect. Our team excels at leveraging micro-influencers to maximize benefits for brands. AsiaKOL's Micro-Influencer Task Dispatch service specializes in gourmet restaurants, tourist attractions, and hotel accommodations. During festivals, this service enhances the festive atmosphere and helps clients reach a wider audience, expanding their influence from small communities to larger groups.
(5) Brand Ambassador Campaign: Unlike one-off collaborations, our team excels in planning long-term brand ambassador promotions for clients. This approach enables KOLs to serve as brand spokespersons, engaging with their followers at various points during each festival. This strategy ensures continuous brand exposure. We allow KOL ambassadors to creatively connect the brand's message with different festivals from various perspectives, helping to capture a greater emotional connection with the audience.
(6) KOL Live Streaming Sales: The AsiaKOL team gathers data using a comprehensive big data system, analyzes public opinion scientifically, and uncovers consumer insights. We can develop live streaming themes tailored to various festivals, sell related products, and select experienced KOL livestreamers known for their ability to engage with followers. This ensures that each livestream campaign achieves optimal interaction and conversion rates.
(7) Project Consulting Services: AsiaKOL's expert marketing team can create comprehensive influencer marketing solutions to enhance your brand's visibility, whether you're seeking festival marketing inspiration or a diverse marketing strategy.
AsiaKOL assisted the Japanese brand Don Don Donki by implementing the AKBOX Gift Box Unboxing Campaign alongside a Brand Ambassador Campaign. Through engaging KOL brand ambassadors, the campaign effectively communicated product features and discount information via short videos released monthly. During the Christmas season, various products from Don Don Donki were packaged into festive gift boxes, which KOLs unboxed to pique followers' curiosity. This approach not only conveyed a holiday spirit and showcased the attractive gift box packaging, but also introduced the products, shared brand and discount information, and included shopping guide links. The unboxing was executed seamlessly, resulting in a positive response for the Don Don Donki project and significantly increasing brand discussions.
For Effective Festival Marketing Planning, Seek Out AsiaKOL Experts Who Can Assist You in Resolving All Your Marketing Challenges!
Festival marketing is essential for brands. It is advisable to begin planning a comprehensive strategy at least one to three months in advance. This allows ample time to extend the promotional cycle. Moreover, major brands should consider hiring professional marketing companies for one-stop marketing services, which can help make their events stand out during the holiday season. If you are a brand marketer looking to enhance the effectiveness of influencer marketing and attract more participants, please don't hesitate to reach out to our team. AsiaKOL utilizes data to accurately understand real-time market trends and identify the most suitable KOLs and marketing plans for your brand.
