• by Aaron Baar , December 9, 2010

There are any number of eights to the holiday season: eight nights of Hanukah, eight tiny reindeer, eight maids a-milking.

Eight O'Clock coffee is taking advantage of the preponderance of its namesake number during the season with an eight-day Facebook promotion, "Eight Days of Holiday Giveaways." Beginning Dec. 8, the brand is asking its nearly 60,000 Facebook fans to answer a question a day via wall posts (Sample question: "What gift do you really want for the holidays?"). For those eight days, the company will randomly select one response to win a prize, ranging from a high-end coffeemaker to gift certificates at Restaurants.com and Omaha Steaks.

"They're gifts that are appropriate for our audiences," company representative Denise Blasevick tells Marketing Daily. "These are gifts that are coffee-centric and gifts that reward our consumer's lifestyle."

While Blasevick admits that the first association for "eight" and "holiday" may be Hanukkah, the brand purposefully avoided direct associations with any one holiday, which is why the promotion began on Dec. 8, she says. "We didn't want it to be a specific holiday," she says. "We're a very inclusive brand. There are a lot of eights out there."

The entire purpose of the effort is to keep the brand top of mind as consumers plan their menus for holiday parties and dinners, Blasevick says. "We've been around since 1859," she says. "This is our 151st holiday season, and that's a time when people are scrutinizing what they're serving."

Despite the brand's age, it has been actively involved in new media efforts, particularly those that involve social media. Eight O'Clock Coffee was a primary sponsor of AMC's "Mad Men Yourself" promotion, which also relied on social media to spread its message. "We think what represents our core values are sharing and togetherness," Blasevick says. "The social media gives us a chance to amp up our brand, but coffee is a social product to begin with."