• by Harvey Chipkin , Columnist, March 18, 2013

Come major celebrations like Valentine’s Day and New Year’s Eve, media are inundated with promotional tie-ins: packages, contests – a great deal of it amazingly similar.. When everybody does something, nobody gets noticed.

However, timing a promotion around a lesser–recognized event or anniversary might stand out from the crowd. For instance, Super 8, the economy hotel brand, recently launched an enhanced SuperStart breakfast that features the new Super 8 Simply Super Cinnamon Roll. 

Economy hotel brands have long engaged in breakfast wars – with one-upmanship over who has fresh waffles or “cooked to order” eggs. But Super 8 wisely coincided the launch with Daylight Savings Time when consumers lose an hour of sleep. To help with that sleep lag, the brand handed out 15,000 complimentary cinnamon rolls. Plus, guests can enter a photo of themselves enjoying the pastry in a sweepstakes where they can win a week vacation, including airfare.

“Monday mornings are tough and with Daylight Savings Time commanding us to ‘spring forward,’ we wanted to create something that everyone can look forward to waking up to,” said Heny Gabay, vice president of marketing for Super 8. “Not only is the Simply Super Cinnamon Roll the perfect way for guests to start their day, it’s an indulgent and delicious treat that can take their minds off the hour of sleep they lost.”

Around the same time, a villa company called Doorways Villa Vacation put out a press release noting that faithful Catholics and other observers will be closely watching the Papal Conclave. They predicted increased demand for Rome rentals into the Easter season and positioned the villas as a quiet place to escape to amidst all the excitement of the choosing and anointing of a new Pope.

Of course, the Rome publicity play is a little different in that is it a “jump-on” move – as opposed to a promotion revolving around an annual event. 

What these have in common is timing with consumers – driven to distraction in every direction – will be placing extra attention on these developments. What they also have in common is that the marketing is tied in in a way that is relevant – and, ideally, continuing. 

In fact, continuing the affect of one-time events has become an ongoing challenge. London and the UK established an elaborate plan in advance of the 2012 Olympics to train the world’s spotlight on that destination’s attractions. The Games themselves were simply a point of departure for the tourism authorities to maximize.

And with a Super Bowl in New Jersey next year, tourism forces in that state and in New York are working hard to make the most of what will be a hyper focus on the area. While there are many jokes about what happens if it snows around game time, tourism forces are working intensely to make the most of the biggest television audience of the year.

Timing can be crucial in marketing -- whether it be exploiting an unexpected event, leveraging a long-anticipated event, or looking toward a routine event in a more creative way.

While changing the clocks is usually positioned as a good time to change the batteries in your smoke detectors, it’s also a good time to take stock of what’s coming up – and to be prepared for anything that might come up to see if there’s any way to leverage it in the interests of creating or sustaining interest.

Now’s the time.