Ad Ideas for November: Beyond the Turkey

Yes, it's true—November events are just around the corner. And ad sales for November are often dominated by the Thanksgiving weekend festivities. There's a lot of opportunity with that holiday alone, but we have a few ideas to help you make the most of the holiday and ALL it's possibilities.

The traditional ad ideas include:

• Thanksgiving meal preparations: cooking food, eating out, beverage
• Wednesday 11/23/11 : travel, biggest bar night of the year
• Thursday 11/24/11: meal, football, family time
• Friday 11/25/11: parades, shopping, eating out (or leftovers)
• Saturday 11/26/11: “Small Business Saturday”
• Sunday 11/27/11: First Sunday of Advent (not Thanksgiving per se but relevant)
• Monday 11/28//11: “Cyber Monday”

Other tie-ins to the weekend for advertisers include:

• Giving thanks—Helping readers give/show thanks during the weekend, advertising a Holiday Greeting message of thanks, or even offering some sort of appreciation/”thank you” special offer
• Volunteering—Soup kitchens on Thanksgiving day are popular, but not the only option
• Less typical meals—There are lots of food traditions surrounding the weekend and enterprising businesses can help encourage new traditions based on their offerings or promote their wares for those who need dietary alternatives (gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, vegan, etc.)
• Activities for family togetherness (or separateness depending on the family)
• Harvest—From local farms to the symbolic nature of the harvest, November wraps up the growing season for many parts of the country

And there are other November “events” with loose Thanksgiving tie-ins to consider:

• Family Stories Month
• National American Indian Heritage Month
• Peanut Butter Lovers’ Month
• Gluten-Free Diet Awareness Month
• National Pomegranate Month
• Vegan Month
• National Farm City Week (November 18 to 24, 2011)
• National Game and Puzzle Week (November 20 to 26, 2011)
• National Family Week (November 20 to 26, 2011)
• Deviled Egg Day (11/2/11)
• Men Make Dinner Day (11/3/11)
• Homemade Bread Day (11/17/11)
• Clean Your Refrigerator Day (11/15/11)
• Family Volunteer Day (11/19/11)
• National Flossing Day (11/25/11)