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Friday marks the beginning of the busiest time of the year at Hallmark Channel, as a network that has become synonymous with Christmas and the holidays launches its signature programming franchise, “Countdown to Christmas.”
The campaign is the centerpiece of a year-round marketing and promotion process at the Crown Media-owned channel, where it’s always Christmas, no matter what the calendar or the mercury is saying.
“It’s a little bit what you sign up for when you come to work for at Hallmark,” says Susanne McAvoy, EVP of marketing, creative and communications at Crown Media Family Networks, which includes the flagship channel as well as the newly rebranded Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. “Right when the holiday ends [in December] we go enjoy Christmas finally with our families, and then we’re back in the office asking ‘how did we do? What can we do better?’ and looking at the post-mortem. We never stop.”
This year Hallmark’s pitch to viewers is that Christmas can begin as soon as they come in from trick-or-treating and are sitting down to sort their candy. Countdown to Christmas will kick off at 8 p.m. ET on Halloween night, when the entire channel switches over to an all-Christmas format.
Nearly 1,300 hours of original Christmas programming are planned between Halloween and New Year’s Day, when Hallmark wraps up the holiday season with the broadcast of the 126th Tournament of Roses Parade. Along the way, 12 new original Christmas movies will premiere on Saturdays and Sundays throughout November and December.
Viewers began seeing Christmas teases around Labor Day, and on-air promos all hammer home one message: Hallmark is the Number One Destination for Christmas on television.
Overall, McAvoy and her team have crafted a campaign that is a franchise play with specific tune-in language.
Hallmark’s social media channels have been hosting a sort of countdown to the Countdown, posting holiday-themed photos that indicate the number of days until the franchise goes live on the air, alongside promos and movie art.
That mixture of tune-in specific messaging and holiday themed posting—say, a photo of a really beautiful snowy day—will continue throughout the season.
“We have a highly engaged social audience,” McAvoy says. “It’s about speaking to them in the right voice and giving them content they want to see and share and be passionate about.”
Hallmark has created a digital hub at ShareTheHappiness.tv to promote one of its signature titles for this season, Northpole, where viewers can play games and view exclusive content tied to the film. A second site, Northpole1820.com, provides an online tour of the fictional town at the center of the film.
During Countdown to Christmas, all of the on-air and off-air creative gets a holiday makeover to reinforce the marketing message.
“Our tagline is ‘The Heart of TV,’ but during Countdown to Christmas we change it up to ‘The Heart of Jolly,’ ‘The Heart of Merry,’ and ‘The Heart of Christmas,’” McAvoy says. “We have a lot of fun with it.”
Off-air, the network is planning in-person events and activations at shopping malls and Santa’s Workshops, where brand ambassadors can greet viewers and hand out ski caps and other holiday swag.
“For us it’s all about being where are people are enjoying those iconic holiday moments,” McAvoy said.
They key art avoids imagery that’s too conceptual or abstract. Instead Hallmark tries to lure viewers by sticking to classic holiday imagery that showcases familiar talent front and center.
Hallmark has built Christmas into the cornerstone of their business, and McAvoy confirmed that about 60 percent of her marketing budget every year is devoted to the holiday season.
“What we say to everybody is it’s our Super Bowl,” she says.
The channel has also been experimenting with sprinkling some of that holiday magic around the rest of its calendar.
They’ve adapted the successful Christmas franchise for another popular Hallmark holiday: A Countdown to Valentine’s Day event is in the works for February.
A “Christmas Keepsake Weekend” in July two years ago delivered huge audiences for the channel.
“It was our biggest ratings bonanza ever outside of the holiday season,” McAvoy said.
Hallmark expanded the event this past July into an entire week’s worth of Christmas fare.
“We are Hallmark so we have a license to do Christmas earlier and dabble all year that most entertainment networks would be criticized for,” McAvoy said.
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