As the holidays approach, more companies and brands are hoping customers will use their advent calendars to count down the days until Christmas.
Advent is a religious season that's traditionally observed beginning on the fourth Sunday before Christmas until Christmas Eve. Advent calendars have been a way for people to count down the days leading up to the holiday, with small trinkets stashed in each successive day.
Today, brands and companies have created their own advent calendars to market their products.
"You've seen it kind of start to emerge the last few years, where brands are tapping into this kind of traditional moment to have a brand moment," marketing expert Camille Moore said. "Brands will construct basically 24 or 25 days of gifting, where the brand can have a different brand moment every day up until the day of Christmas."
Brands ranging from beauty companies to grocery stores and pet food manufacturers to wine retailers have jumped on the trend.
Sam Blum is the marketing director of Total Wine & More, which sells an advent calendar featuring 24 mini bottles of wine for $80.
"It hits our stores once per year, and when we're sold out, we're sold out," Blum said. "So, people really look forward to us announcing that the wine advent calendar is back and available for the holidays."
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Companies hope their calendars can also produce a viral moment that can increase sales.
On TikTok, over 1.1 million videos have been posted with the tag #adventcalendar, and the U.S. beauty advent calendar market is worth $20 million, according to reports based on market research firm Circana.
But Moore warns that brands need to do their homework before hopping on the trend, and she says they should focus on making a calendar with products that customers will actually enjoy.
"The brands that use these moments to do something different and lean into surprise and delight are who's going to stand out," she said.
