A YouTube video commissioned by UKG to promote Father’s Day has been viewed over 43,000 times since Friday (16 June).
The quirky cute video showing children pranking their Dads, creating ‘masterpieces’ of their fathers, was commissioned by UKG to promote the category, rather than the publisher itself. Its aim was to put a smile on people’s faces, drive engagement within the category and hopefully boost sales for retailers. “There are 1.5 billion dads worldwide and we wanted to bring everyone’s attention to how great they are and to encourage people to celebrate Father’s Day,” says Ceri Stirland, director of marketing at UKG. “We know that Father’s Day spend (not just on cards) is dwarfed by Mother’s Day – we spend twice as much on Mother’s Day than we do on Father’s Day. We thought a little fun video would be a really nice way to get the occasion on everyone’s radar and celebrate Dads.”
The video was launched on Friday afternoon across UKG’s social platforms and shared with customer accounts so they could re-share and engage with their audiences. To date the video has received 43,000 views across social media and reached over 184,000 people.
There was quite a buzz around Father’s Day this year, with many retailers and publishers flying the flag for the category and encouraging people to get out and buy Dad a card. Royal Mail also did its bit, promoting the event through a stamp cancellation message which urged the population not to forget the event, featuring on mail in the week running up to Father’s Day (Monday 12 June-Saturday 17 June).
Last week Clintons released two press releases – one about the changing face of Father’s Day cards and the second on the wide range of captions for Father’s Day cards now available, such as step-dad, grandad, my two dads and single parents.
Tim Fairs, director of marketing and ecommerce at Clintons, said: “The vast majority of Father’s Day cards that we offer are traditional and there are currently around 900 Father’s Day options in our range. Recently we’ve been asked by customers whether it’s time to cater for a wider range of family circumstances. Our ‘Happy Father’s Day Mum’ card is just one of many examples of new cards that we brought to our range.”
The demand for non-traditional cards is something that Rachael Barnes, co-owner of Dragonfly Cards and Gifts in Knaresborough noticed this year as well. “Father’s Day was as strong as ever for us. Titles were popular this year – we had one lonely cute ‘Grandad’ card left, and nearly sold out of ‘Husband’ too. ‘Step-Dads’ and ‘Like a Dad’ captions also sold well, showing the changing dynamic of families. Humorous cards top the bill yet again for us, mainly UKG, Quitting Hollywood and Tracks.”
Humour was also a winner for Chris Beards, owner of Mantons Cards, Port Erin, Isle of Man. “The amount of humour cards we sell has increased. It seems people either want to make Dad feel special for the day or insult him. Being a greeting card specialist we have the room for the more niche titles (First Father’s Day, Step Dad etc) and that helps give us an edge on the supermarkets.”
Sainsbury’s was another retailer to tap into the ‘newbie dads’ market. In a fresh approach to promoting Father’s Day it created a special video which celebrated ‘First-time Dads’. Hosted on its Facebook page, the short film has been viewed 2.8 million times. It shows new dads being directed to specially designated parking spaces at the grocer’s car park, allowing them to have a snooze while their shopping is done for them by Sainsbury’s assistants. They are awoken from their slumber by being handed their filled shopping bags with the ‘no charge’ receipt given to them inside a UKG Father’s Day card.
