Seattle Christmas Market

Seattleites never had a Christmas Market to call their own. That’s where we came in.

The Client

The Seattle Christmas Market brings old-world holiday tradition to the Pacific Northwest. Inspired by Christmas Markets around Europe, this 6-week event lights up the Seattle Center grounds with food, drinks & photos ops.

The Challenge

Seattleites came in droves for the Market’s inaugural year, and we needed to make it a habit.

Make new friends and keep the old ones! In year one, we earned the benefit of “first.” Everyone likes a shiny new thing — artisans looking to find an audience for their goods, patrons seeking a unique experience, and media wanting to break the next best event. This year, we needed to build a campaign that renewed the excitement of returning guests and generated it in new ones. Through a mix of traditional, OOH, and digital marketing, we ran a spread of successful micro-campaigns that converted. We increased efforts in Greater Seattle and offered multiple ticket options to ensure accessibility — Christmas not for the few, but for all!

Merry & Bright. Day & Night 2024
SIP, SAVOUR, CELEBRATE the SEASON 2023

2024

Kipling Media knows a little something about branding a Christmas market. We set out to make the Seattle Christmas Market a new staple, and after a festive first step onto the scene, it was time to test its resilience as a local tradition.

Through a responsive campaign being continually optimized throughout the season, we introduced confident new creative, refreshed copy, doorbuster ticket deals, and follow-worthy social content. Our out-of-home footprint increased and extended its reach across three counties. We identified targeted and (re)targeted leads via new formats and avenues of digital marketing. Seattle’s very own Christmas market has shown it has staying power, to the “comfort & joy” of Seattleites.

2023

The first-ever Seattle Christmas Market required an intensive marketing effort with attention-grabbing creative, but how do you advertise an event that’s never happened before?

Well…this wasn’t exactly our first rodeo. Having marketed the Vancouver Christmas Market for the past 3 years, we had a proven multi-channel marketing strategy that worked. At least… in Vancouver. Liaising with the team in Seattle, the maiden season outperformed nearly all targets for a blockbusting inaugural year for the Seattle Christmas Market. We’ll start with this: In our first season, we saved nearly $20,000 in media spend while exceeding coverage targets, amassed over 19,000 followers on social media from scratch, and garnered over 7 million impressions through digital advertising.

The Objectives

1

Increase visibility and ticket sales

Attracting return visitors, new local guests and tourists to the region through a multi-channel stratgey.

2

Broadcast the many new Market offerings.

Seattleites spoke and we listened! Communicating fresh festive activities and event days now included in ticket price.

3

Secure and maintain partners and sponsors.

Acquiring and delivering upon partnerships and sponsorships to ensure the success of this season – and of seasons to come.

OUR APPROACH

Creative Branding |

You have pricing fatigue, we have Festive Fives. This digital campaign promised “unlimited carousel rides”, “a brand new holiday tradition”, and “80+ artisan shops” with every $5 weekday ticket over glowing photography from the Market’s launch. On sky-high billboards outside Seattle proper, we were “Washington’s Favourite Holiday Tradition.”

Media Buy |

Between out-of-home advertising (OOH), traditional advertising and digital marketing, you couldn’t miss us. 98 bus ads and 31 billboards via Lamar garnered 18.9M impressions, spots through our radio partners got us over 12M impressions, and an additional 2.2M impressions came from our partnership with the Seattle Times. Plus, we partnered with the biggest names in Seattle, including iHeart Radio, Hubbard, Curiocity, King TV, Cascade, and more!

Social Media |

The holidays came early, with “Christmas in July” campaigns launching in the summer. A consistent effort to capture and re-share attractive UGC throughout the season saw a 38% increase in Reels posted, resulting in 1.5M and 4.4M impressions on Instagram and Facebook respectively.

Lamar Super King Buses in 2023

Partnerships & Sponsorships |

Kipling secured several notable sponsors for the Market while preserving its relationships with existing partners like Credit Union. From international giants like Paramount Pictures and Searchlight Pictures to local institutions like Grand Hyatt Seattle, Pacific Science Center, and the 5th Avenue Theatre, our collaborators brought exciting activations and giveaways to enthused visitors (and tens of thousands in sponsorship value to the event.)

Newsletters |

An audience of over 93,000 Washingtonians received 29 newsletters between July and December. Like a Christmas stocking, these emails were stuffed full of holiday cheer detailing fresh market offerings, gift guides, new vendors, limited-time promotions and more.

The Results

18.9 million

OOH Impressions

10.1 million

DIGITAL AD IMPRESSIONS

161%

growth rate in facebook reach

“So magical! It’s our favorite new family holiday tradition. They have a kids scavenger hunt, Santa photos, fairytale forest, many sweet treats and so much good food!”

~ Google Review

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