Friendship Day isn’t your typical, over-the-top holiday with head-to-head battles of brands around the world. It offers a unique opportunity. While some countries go all out with Friendship Day campaigns, there are many regions where this holiday remains untapped in the world of marketing. 

So, if you’re reading this and think your target audience would appreciate a special deal or two, or if you think Friendship Day brings a change in shopping patterns in your target market, then listen up! This holiday, just around the corner, could be the perfect time to connect with your audience in a meaningful way.

Ready for some easy ideas to explore this year? Then let’s go! But first, let’s rewind a bit. Let’s talk about where it all began! 

A Look at Friendship Day’s History and Significance

The concept of Friendship Day can be traced back to the early 20th century, with some sources crediting Joyce Hall, the founder of Hallmark Cards, for proposing a dedicated day to celebrate friendships. Some sources credit him with proposing a dedicated Friendship Day in 1919, while others point to 1958. Regardless of the exact date, the seed for this heartwarming holiday was sown! 

Fast forward to 2011, the UN General Assembly declared July 30th as the International Day of Friendship, a day to celebrate the friendships between cultures, countries, and individuals.

So, now the big question is when is Friendship Day celebrated? Dates vary around the world. For instance, in Mexico, Venezuela, Finland, the Dominican Republic, and Estonia, Friendship Day is celebrated on February 14th.

Meanwhile, in countries like Brazil, Argentina, and Spain Friendship Day (or Friend’s Day) is observed on July 20th. 

And in countries like the US and India, the first Sunday of August is designated for celebrating these cherished connections. 

Therefore, the key takeaway for brands? Plan your campaigns around the date relevant to your target region. However, the core spirit of Friendship Day remains universal – a day to celebrate these special bonds! For brands, this translates to an opportunity to foster new connections with your audience and add a human touch to your brand image.

Ready to explore some campaign ideas that can help you achieve this? Let’s dive in!

Friendship Day Campaigns: 8 Ideas For Brands 

1. Heartfelt video stories that weave friendship into your brand narrative 

Create a video campaign that captures the beauty of friendship. Remember that friendships come in all shapes and sizes. Accordingly, identify one friendship story to build your campaign around or expand to diverse types of friendships. 

However, the key difference here is to try and weave these friendship stories seamlessly into your brand narrative! This is how you evoke an emotional response from your customers. And emotional storytelling helps create a positive brand association. 

KIMP Tips: 

• Identify the main emotion in your video. Should it be sarcastic and funny or heart-warming? Take cues from your brand voice.
• Stay away from scripted scenes. Instead, choose relatable stories for authentic connections. 

2. Friendship Day challenges to boost engagement 

If you want your Friendship Day campaigns to boost engagement, then online challenges are some of the best ideas! They don’t just strengthen your brand’s digital presence but also help generate plenty of user-generated content to propel your brand in a competitive arena. 

A good example here is the Friendship Day challenge that Globe Philippines, a popular telecommunications company, organized a couple of years ago. 

The challenge invited users to participate by posting content (photos, memes, GIFs, or messages) that celebrates friendship. There was also a dedicated hashtag created for the challenge and chosen entries were featured by the brand. Some were even featured on the Globe Bonifacio High Street billboard. A multi-channel approach like this can help amplify the effects of your Friendship Day campaigns. 

KIMP Tips: 

So, how do you create engaging Friendship Day challenges? 

• Come up with a core theme. 
• Identify a format – it could be photos or videos that users can share to take part in the challenge. 
• Define the platform – should users mail it to your brand or share it on social media? The latter is easily scalable. 
• Come up with a catchy name and visual style for your challenge along with reusable branded templates for your customers to use when sharing their content. 
• Have a strong hashtag strategy to make it easier for users to join the conversation and connect with others.

Need help designing branded templates and other promotional graphics for your Friendship Day campaigns? Get KIMP! 

3. Exclusive Friendship Day discounts 

Offering exclusive limited-time deals is an idea that you can never go wrong with. Hence it is also one of the best options for Friendship Day campaigns. However, to make a difference, identify the product categories that sell the most during Friendship Day. 

An even better idea will be to craft bundled deals for friends or even special perks on friend referrals. Like the deal that the popular fashion brand Ted Baker announced for Friendship Day in the below post. 

Today is your last chance to receive 25% off* for you and someone else in celebration of last month's International Friendship Day. Simply introduce a friend to Ted and reap the rewards.

Refer a friend: https://t.co/981HG2UlHx

*T&Cs apply. pic.twitter.com/OV0xRk7Hsq

— Ted Baker (@ted_baker) August 30, 2019

KIMP Tips: 

• Identify the most popular product categories in gifting during Friendship Day, particularly in your target market. For instance, in Colombia, chocolates and sweets were the most popular gift categories for Friendship Day 2023. Similarly, once you know what sells the most, offer discounts on these categories. 
• Use social media posts and targeted emails addressed to specific audience segments to promote these special Friendship Day deals. 

4. Content that resonates with your brand values 

Another key point to remember is that your Friendship Day campaigns should resonate with your brand values. Authentic content in the form of blogs, images, or even carousels reflecting your brand’s personality fosters a deeper connection with your audience. 

The below post is from Australia’s National Youth Mental Health Foundation, Headspace. Given that the organization is about mental health awareness, their post here for Friendship Day also hovers around this theme. This is exactly how you stay true to your brand values even when hopping on trends. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by headspace (@headspace_aus)

KIMP Tips: 

• Align your Friendship Day campaigns with your brand’s mission. 
• Provide valuable resources or information that demonstrates your brand’s commitment to your customers’ well-being.
• When creating blogs and other informative posts, remember to incorporate visuals like infographics and illustrations to emphasize the message. 

5. Shareable templates to enhance interaction 

Social media has become a popular space for people to share their stories and thoughts. Therefore, one of the most interactive Friendship Day campaigns is to create shareable templates tailored to the theme. 

These can be simple image posts that users can save and share on their Feeds or Stories. Here’s an example from Honda Car India’s Instagram page. It features a simple and fun Bingo template for users to share. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by hondacarindia (@hondacarindia)

KIMP Tips: 

• Choose an interactive activity that’s easy to understand, like the relatable options in the Bingo created by Honda. 
• Include a clear CTA (call-to-action). Do you want users to share the customized templates on their Stories? Are there any rewards involved? Clearly mention the details in the post caption. 

6. Take cues from trending topics 

If you think that most Friendship Day campaigns are repetitive, take cues from current trends. For example, now everyone seems to be talking about AI. Therefore, come up with a campaign that involves a creative use of AI. 

This could be in the form of AI-generated designs or just posts that delve around the AI theme. Or even something that involves AR (augmented reality) filters for friends to use and snap pictures to share on social media. 

For instance, the below Friendship Day campaign from Coca-Cola was launched at a time when NFTs were a rage. They also announced that proceeds from their NFTs were going to their “friend” Special Olympics – brand collaboration and the power of trends in one campaign! 

Introducing the first-ever Coca-Cola NFTs! To celebrate International Friendship Day, we’ll be donating all proceeds to our longtime friend and partner @SpecialOlympics. Check them out on @opensea. #NFTCommunity #OpenSeaNFThttps://t.co/SIJ0HnNfdu pic.twitter.com/Rusj2UJuE6

— Coca-Cola (@CocaCola) July 28, 2021

KIMP Tips: 

• Use keyword research tools, Google Trends, and other tools to identify the trending topics and trending hashtags on social media. 
• Shortlist those that are relevant to your brand and suitable for the occasion too! 
• Ensure full transparency when choosing to incorporate trends like AI-generated content. 

7. Intuitive product promotion 

Holidays are not the time to get too promotional or focus on your products. However, if you can seamlessly promote your product as something relevant to the theme, then why not? 

So, if you are looking for Friendship Day campaigns that also fulfill the promotional component in your marketing, then come up with creative ideas to recommend your product as the best fit for the occasion. Perhaps by suggesting why that particular product is a great gift for Friendship Day or why it makes a good option to share with friends. 

For example, Subway chose to promote their halfsies as a go-to meal to share with besties on Friendship Day in the below post. It is a simple idea that lets the brand hop on the trend while also retaining their product in the spotlight. 

No better day than today to go halfsies with your bestie. #FriendshipDay pic.twitter.com/E2idj24AXX

— Subway® (@SUBWAY) August 3, 2014

Or better yet, craft specific product personalities and compare them to the different kinds of friends. This can be a creative approach to stand out in the crowd. The below post from KFC Maldives exemplifies this idea. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by KFC Maldives (@kfc.maldives)

KIMP Tips: 

• Narrow down one or two core products or services from your offerings that can be portrayed as a natural part of shared experiences relevant to Friendship Day. 
• Instead of staged product photos, incorporate lifestyle photos of real people enjoying the shortlisted products or services to communicate the message clearly. 
• To enhance engagement, use animated typography and transitions similar to the post from KFC Maldives. 

8. Conversational “tag a friend” posts 

Looking to boost your social media reach with Friendship Day campaigns? Then “tag a friend” posts are your best bet! This is one way to build online conversations with your brand stealing the spotlight in these. 

Moreover, posts with a “tag a friend” element feel more personal and interactive. These are great ways to boost organic reach and strengthen brand awareness as well. 

The below post from Lay’s is one such idea. Similar to the product personality matching theme we discussed earlier, this one also identifies unique traits in the various Lay’s flavors and invites users to tag their friends who share the respective traits. These are fun posts that make it easy for your customers to interact with your brand. They also tend to get shared more given the relatable elements in them. Therefore, this format works really well when you are looking to experiment with something new this Friendship Day. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Lay's India (@lays_india)

KIMP Tips: 

• Do not ignore your brand elements in these interactive post formats. Since they are likely to get shared often, you do not want to miss out on an opportunity for your brand identity to reach more users. 
• Include on-theme illustrations like the people figures seamlessly incorporated into the design in the above post from Lay’s. These help add an element of intrigue to your posts. 

Need help designing custom illustrations to use in your Friendship Day campaigns? Get a KIMP Graphics subscription! 

Design the Perfect Visuals for Your Friendship Day Campaign With KIMP 

Now that you have gathered several exciting ideas for Friendship Day campaigns, it’s time to come up with an action plan. How do you tackle your visuals because they are the heart of your campaigns no matter what channel you choose? That’s where KIMP comes in. 

With one subscription you get unlimited designs at a flat monthly fee. So, your regular marketing graphics and these seasonal ones can all be effortlessly taken care of. 

Ready to make the most of this Friendship Day with stunning visuals? Register now for a free trial to experience the KIMP difference!