Key takeaways
- Choose tentpole moments that connect to your audience and brand rather than building a campaign around every event.
- Plan creator participation, content formats, and campaign budgets early enough to support the moments you select.
- Creators can contribute through reactions, commentary, and themed content without attending an event in person.
- Cultural observances call for relevant community voices and commitments that extend beyond a single campaign.
This guide uses events from the 2024 Q1 calendar to illustrate creator-led tentpole planning. The dates and annual themes are historical; verify the relevant year’s schedule before using them in a campaign plan.
Why tentpole marketing matters
Tentpole events can provide a shared subject for creator-led content. Select moments that connect to your audience, campaign objectives, and brand.
Plan the budget, creator participation, content, and review process in advance. The examples below illustrate different approaches; their relevance depends on the campaign.
How to choose a tentpole for your brand
- Check audience relevance: Identify why the moment matters to the people you want to reach.
- Establish a brand connection: Define what your brand can contribute to the conversation.
- Plan the creator’s role: Choose among commentary, behind-the-scenes coverage, tutorials, or other relevant formats.
- Prepare the campaign: Align the content plan, creator participation, and budget before the event.
- Consider cultural context: Work with relevant community voices and connect observances to sustained commitments.
Viral Nation’s strategy services bring audience and cultural insights into campaign planning.
Important Q1 tentpoles for your 2024 calendar
These examples follow the 2024 calendar in order of their start dates. March Madness began in Q1 and continued into Q2. Dates, formats, and campaign themes should be checked separately for any future year.
Jan. 15, 2024: The 75th Emmy Awards
The 75th Emmy Awards took place on January 15, 2024. This was a rescheduled ceremony, so its inclusion here should not be treated as evidence that the Emmys are normally a Q1 event. Television Academy announcement.
Creator-led interviews and red-carpet commentary offer ways to develop content around awards shows. The existing Ashyizzle example illustrates this format.
Assess social video performance using clearly defined metrics. Video views should not be described as an equivalent number of unique people or directly compared with television audience figures.
Jan. 16–21, 2024: Paris Fashion Week Menswear
The January 16–21 dates covered the Fall/Winter 2024–2025 menswear collections. Haute Couture Week was a separate event, held January 22–25, 2024. FHCM menswear calendar, FHCM haute couture calendar.
Paris Fashion Week is known for being an ultra exclusive event for the rich, famous, and powerful but by working with fashion influencers, brands can give audiences a tantalizing glimpse behind the scenes through content that is seen as being more ‘real’, authentic, and relatable than the highly polished pics and videos from the fashion houses and media outlets.
Influencers are also expert digital storytellers with the ability to hop on trends and put out content at lightning-speed (when compared to traditional campaign activations), and when combined with livestreaming, they can drive real-time engagement and buzz with reactions and commentary in the moment.
Feb. 1 – 29: Black History Month
Creating an influential campaign for Black History Month requires thoughtful planning, cultural sensitivity, and a genuine commitment to promoting diversity and inclusion. Increasingly, brands are channeling their Black History efforts through Black influencers and creators, along with alignment with Black-owned businesses who not only reflect the community but are better equipped to speak to the unique issues it faces.
Remember to approach Black History Month with authenticity, respect, and a commitment to long-term diversity and inclusion efforts. Tailor your campaign to align with your brand values and ensure that it contributes positively to the ongoing conversation about diversity and equality.
For example, we partnered with Intuit Quickbooks for a Black History Month campaign on a campaign that featured interviews with successful Black entrepreneurs with an accompanying blog article.
The campaign’s main goals were to not only break down money taboos but also inspire other business owners by making money more transparent and relatable.
Feb 4: The Grammys
The Grammy Awards is ‘the biggest night in music’. But what makes the Grammys so unique among award shows is that it’s a great example of the transformative power of social media (TikTok in particular) to shake-up and even disrupt established media institutions. Many of the 2024 nominees (from Best New Artist to Record of the Year) made waves on TikTok long before going on to conquer the world – just think of how many songs TikTok has propelled to cultural dominance (for better or worse, depending on your musical taste).
Consider audience polls, predictions, or creator commentary about the nominees and performances. Before including music in branded content, confirm that it is cleared for the intended use. TikTok recommends its Commercial Music Library for content promoting a brand, product, or service. TikTok’s commercial music guidance.
Feb. 9 – 14: New York Fashion Week
New York Fashion Week’s February 2024 schedule ran from February 9–14. Creator content can focus on collections, styling, interviews, or behind-the-scenes access relevant to the campaign. CFDA’s official schedule announcement.
But the fashion space has always been an early adopter of creators and influencers so this is a really developed space for social media marketing, and previous editions have seen multiple influencers not only in the front row but also strutting down the catwalk. Influencer partnerships can help brands stand out at NYFW through shopping haul videos, street style fits, and media interviews.
The embedded NYFW post features Stephen Curry speaking with designer Paul Richards as part of a collaboration involving Rakuten and the Black in Fashion Council. It illustrates an interview format that brings attention to a designer’s work.
Feb. 10: Lunar New Year
Lunar New Year celebrates the start of the lunar calendar and is observed in countries such as China, Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, and Malaysia, as well as the diaspora from those communities. It’s a huge chance for brands to partner with influencers with strong ties to the Asian communities who celebrate it, and it can be a great reflection of a brand’s DEI values and initiatives.
Feb. 11: Super Bowl
The Super Bowl offers several possible subjects for creator content, including football, food, entertainment, and watch-party preparation.
Choose an angle that fits the creator and audience. Plan content before, during, or after the event, and measure the campaign against its objectives rather than treating social media activity as proof of effectiveness.
Plan for the conversation around your campaign with community management services covering audience responses, sentiment monitoring, and escalation.
Feb. 14: Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day is a day of love and romance and it’s a great opportunity for brands to offer themed packages, discounts, or gift guides around this special occasion. It’s also a golden opportunity for brands to make highly emotional content that tugs at the heartstrings and makes people think of their loved ones.
Conversely, other brands have capitalized on Valentine’s Day with ‘anti-Valentine’s Day’ messaging for those who don’t celebrate it, whether because they’re single, think it’s become too commercial, or other personal reasons.
Influencers spanning a diverse range of verticals are also a perfect match for Valentine’s Day marketing campaigns as they can create relatable content that resonates with audiences as they talk about their loves and dating disappointments, as well as suggest gifts for loved ones or prepare a special V-Day meal.
For example, influencer Loryn Powell partnered with Beatbox Beverages to create a number of special Valentine’s Day cocktails to share with their favorite person.
Feb. 16–18, 2024: NBA All-Star Weekend
Indianapolis hosted NBA All-Star Weekend on February 16–18, 2024; the All-Star Game took place on February 18. NBA event schedule.
For brands considering sports events, creator content can cover relevant activities and experiences. Assess access, production costs, audience fit, and campaign objectives before selecting an approach.
Mar. 8: International Women’s Day
International Women’s Day, as the name implies, celebrates women around the world while working towards fighting gender-based exclusion and stereotypes.
Brands can recognize women’s contributions through interviews, employee stories, and creator partnerships connected to their ongoing commitments. InternationalWomensDay.com’s 2024 campaign theme was “Inspire Inclusion.” 2024 campaign archive.
In 2023, we posted this interview between Viral Nation co-founder Joe Gagliese and his mother Suzanne, where they talked about the challenges she faced throughout her 35-year career as a woman in tech.
Mar. 10: Academy Awards (aka the Oscars)
The Academy Awards (also known as ‘the Oscars’) is the most prestigious awards ceremony in Hollywood. It’s a night where all the stars come out to honor the best in film and it is considered a huge accomplishment to be nominated, let alone win.
Similar to other award shows, the Oscars are realizing the importance of bringing influencers and creators into the fold in order to capture eyeballs in younger social-first demographics.
The red carpet, winners, and acceptance speeches always make the news and brands can capitalize on these big moments by working with influencers to develop incredibly engaging content – even if the influencers weren’t at the events themselves – by finding creators in relevant niches, such as film criticism, fashion, and entertainment/gossip to effectively trend jack any viral Oscar moments.
Mar. 17: St. Patrick’s Day
St. Patrick’s Day originated as a religious holiday in Ireland over a thousand years ago but these days, it’s turned into a popular celebration of Irish heritage and culture, particularly in North America. People wear green, drink green beer and/or Guinness, and attend St. Patrick’s Day parades in places all over the world, from New York to Tokyo.
Brands often get in on the action with all-green everything but St. Patrick’s Day marketing can go far beyond that to include countdowns, giveaways, and traditional Irish recipes for those trying to avoid the pubs and parties.
Mar. 19–Apr. 8, 2024: NCAA Men’s March Madness
The 2024 NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament began on March 19 and concluded on April 8. It started in Q1 and continued into Q2. NCAA’s 2024 tournament bracket.
For a campaign spanning the tournament, plan content and resources across both quarters. Creator commentary, bracket discussions, and reactions are possible formats to assess against audience interests and campaign objectives.
This post from sports influencer and basketball pro Anthony Hamilton Jr perfectly captured the excitement of an earlier March Madness tournament:
Mar. 23, 2024: Earth Hour
Earth Hour 2024 took place on March 23, with the lights-off hour beginning at 8:30 p.m. local time. WWF encouraged participants to give an hour to activities supporting the planet. WWF’s 2024 Earth Hour guide.
Brands considering participation should connect their content to specific, supportable environmental actions or commitments.
Mar. 31: Easter
Many brands will celebrate Easter with social media posts that feature the Easter bunny, while others will offer sales, themed packaging, Easter gift guides, or even Easter countdowns. Popular Easter messaging for brands includes the idea of renewal, family, and hope, along with imagery of spring. Some brands even have special products that only come around every Easter (most famously, Cadbury’s Creme Egg).
Frequently asked questions
How should a brand choose a tentpole event?
Choose moments that matter to your audience and have a clear connection to your brand. Then define the creator’s role and plan the campaign around that connection.
Do creators need to attend an event to make relevant content?
No. Creators can contribute through reactions, commentary, predictions, or themed content, depending on their specialty and the event.
How should brands approach cultural observances?
Work with creators who have relevant community connections and consider the cultural context. Connect the campaign to a sustained commitment rather than treating the observance as a standalone promotion.
Are the dates in this article current?
The calendar covers 2024. Verify dates, event formats, and annual themes for your campaign year before using it as a planning schedule.
