To get your creative campaign juices flowing, we’ve created this handy 12-month 2023 marketing calendar, packed full of key dates to help you generate campaign and content ideas.
There might ‘only’ be 365 days in a year, but when it comes to opportunities to engage with your customers and drive traffic and ultimately revenue for your business – there are quite literally thousands of conversation starters to choose from in 2023.
Some of these will be year-changing, strategically important opportunities that are months in the planning, like the ‘Golden Quarter’.
What is the Golden Quarter? It’s the busiest period in the retail and grocery calendar, and it starts exactly 100 days from Christmas.
When does the Golden Quarter start in 2023? Saturday 16th September.
Think the summer holidays in Travel, Hospitality and Tourism. When do the Summer Holidays start in 2023? Between the 30th June 2023 (those lucky Scots!) and 21st July 2023.
Others will be much more light-touch, often one-day, or weekend long events – that offer the chance to engage with customers and drive sales with some creative thinking and tactical execution.
Some examples are:
Remember, with the right planning and channel delivery capitalising on these ‘shorter-window’ opportunities to communicate with customers don’t just have to be limited to social media or email!
For example…
FA Cup Final – 3rd June 2023
Consider driving store footfall in targeted areas with laser-focussed door drops or partially addressed mail.
Whether it’s a new TV to enjoy the match, a selection of half-time beers (or a quiet weekend away for the non-football lover), you can capitalise on buzz around big sporting events like these, to drive sales.
World Coffee Week? (16th-22nd October 2023)
Why not pour through your customer transactional data and identify your top caffeine connoisseurs? You could target them with tantalising up-sell or cross-sell offer, think a premium coffee machine upgrade, or an indulgent cake to pair with the perfect beans or blend!
When is Easter 2023? Search no more – just bookmark this page and keep on-top of the most important dates in your marketing calendar!
Sunday 1st January 2023 – New Year’s Day (Public Holiday: Monday 2nd Jan)
Tuesday 3rd January 2023 + Monday 2nd January – Substitute Day (Scotland)
Thursday 5th January 2023 – Twelfth Night
Friday 6th January 2023 – National Shortbread Day
Friday 20th January 2023 – National Cheese Lovers Day
Saturday 21st – Friday 27th January 2023 – Special Olympics World Winter Games
Sunday 22nd January 2023 – Chinese New Year (Year of the Rabbit)
Wednesday 25th January 2023 – Burns Night
Thursday 26th January 2023 – Australia Day
Friday 27th January 2023 – Chocolate Cake Day
Friday 27th – Sunday 29th January 2023 – Winter X Games 27 (Extreme Sports Championships)
Saturday 31st December 2022 – Hogmanay / Sunday 31st December 2023
Wednesday 1st February 2023 – Tuesday 28th February 2023 – LGBT History Month UK
Saturday 4th February 2023 – Six Nations begins (Rugby Tournament)
Saturday 4th February 2023 – Ice cream for breakfast day / Sunday 5th February – British Yorkshire pudding day
Thursday 9th February 2023 – Cricket World Cup begins
Tuesday 14th February 2023 – Valentine’s Day
Friday 17th February 2023 – Random Acts of Kindness Day
Monday 20th February 2023 – Love Your Pet Day
Tuesday 21st February 2023 – Pancake Day / St. David’ Day / Shrove Tuesday
Wednesday 22nd February 2023 – Ash Wednesday
Sunday 26th February 2023 – Carabao Cup Final (Football Tournament)
Thursday 2nd March 2023 – World Book Day
Monday 6th March – Sunday 12th March 2023 – British Pie Week
Wednesday 8th March 2023 – International Women’s Day / Holi
Tuesday 14th March 2023 – Dog Theft Awareness Day
Friday 17th March 2023 – St Patrick’s Day (Northern Ireland) / Red Nose Day
Saturday 18th March 2023 – Global Recycling Day
Sunday 19th March 2023 – Mother’s Day
Monday 20th March 2023 – First Day of Spring
Sunday 26th March 2023 – BST starts
Saturday 1st April 2023 – Sunday 30th April 2023 – Stress Awareness Month / National Pet Month Monday 1st May / National Brunch Month
Saturday 1st April 2023 – April Fool’s Day
Friday 7th April 2023 – Good Friday
Sunday 9th April 2023 – Easter Sunday
Monday 10th April 2023 – Easter Monday (ENG, NIR, WAL)
Thursday 13th – Saturday 15th April 2023 – Aintree Festival including The Grand National (Horse Racing)
Saturday 15th April 2023 – World Snooker Championship begins
Friday 21st April 2023 – Late Queen Elizabeth’s Birthday
Friday 21st April 2023 – National Tea Day
Saturday 22nd April 2023 – Earth Day
Sunday 23rd April 2023 – St. George’s Day
Monday 1st May 2023 – May Day Early May Bank Holiday
Thursday 4th May 2023 – Star Wars Day
Sunday 14th May 2023 – Garden Day
Thursday 11th May 2023 – Eat What You Want Day
Saturday 13th May 2023 – World Cocktail Day
Tuesday 16th May 2023 – International Day of Light
Wednesday 17th May 2023 – World Baking Day
Saturday 20th May 2023 – World Bee Day
Monday 22nd – Saturday 27th May 2023 – Chelsea Flower Show
Monday 29th May 2023 – Spring Bank Holiday
Monday 29th May 2023 – National Biscuit Day
Saturday 3rd June 2023 – The Big Lunch
Saturday 3rd June 2023 – F.A Cup Final
Saturday 10th June 2023 – UEFA Champions League Final (Football Tournament)
Saturday 10th June 2023 – World Gin Day
Thursday 15th June 2023 – Clean Air Day / England v Australia – Ashes Series begins (16 – 20th)
Sunday18th June 2023 – International Picnic Day / Father’s Day
Tuesday 20th – Saturday 24th June 2023 – Royal Ascot (Horse Racing)
Wednesday 21st June 2023 – First Day of Summer
Saturday 24th June 2023 – Armed Forces Day
Saturday 1st July – Sunday 23rd July – Tour de France (Cycling Competition)
Monday 3rd July 2023 – Sunday 16th July 2023 – Wimbledon (Tennis Tournament)
Sunday 2nd July 2023 – Thank You Day
Friday 7th July 2023 – World Chocolate Day
Friday 7th – Sunday 9th July 2023 – British Grand Prix
Wednesday 12th July 2023 – Battle of the Boyne (Northern Ireland)
Sunday 16th -Sunday 23rd July 2023 – British Open (Golf Tournament)
Friday 16th – Sunday 25th July 2023 – Special Olympics World Summer Games
Thursday 20th July 2023 – Women’s World Football Cup begins (Ends Sunday 20th August)
Tuesday 25th July 2023 – Cheese and Wine Day
30th July 2023 – Football League 2023/24 season begins
Monday 7th August 2023 – Summer Bank Holiday (Scotland)
Saturday 6th August 2023 – Premier League Football 2023/24 season begins
Tuesday 8th August 2023 – International Cat Day
Sunday 13th August 2023 – Prosecco Day
Thursday 17th August 2023 – National Cupcake Day
Thursday 31st August 2023 – National Burger Day
Saturday 26th August – National Women’s Equality Day
Monday 28th August 2023 – Summer Bank Holiday (ENG, NIR, WAL)
Tuesday 5th September 2023 – International Charity Day
Friday 8th September 2023 – Men’s Rugby World Cup begins (Ends Thursday 28th October)
Saturday 9th September 2023 – Emergency Services Day
Sunday 10th September 2023 – World Suicide Prevention Day
Wednesday 27th September 2023 – World Tourism Day
Wednesday 21st September 2023 – National Fitness Day
Friday 29th September 2023 – Ryder Cup Golf Tournament (Ends Sunday 1st October)
Friday 29th September 2023 – Worlds biggest Coffee Morning
Sunday 1st – Tuesday 31st October 2023 – Black History Month / Breast Cancer Awareness Month / Stoptober
Sunday 1st October 2023 – World Vegetarian Day
Tuesday 3rd October 2023 – Buy British Day
Thursday 5th October 2023 – World Teachers Day
Friday 6th October 2023 – World Smile Day
Tuesday 10th October 2023 – World Mental Health Awareness Day
Monday 16th October 2023 – Coffee Week (Ends Sunday 22nd October)
Thursday 26th October 2023 – Pumpkin Day
Sunday 29th October 2023 – RSPB Feed the Birds Day
Tuesday 31st October 2023 – Halloween
Wednesday 1st – Thursday 30th November 2023 – Movember
Wednesday 1st November 2023 – World Vegan Day
Saturday 4th November 2023 – Roast Dinner Day
Sunday 5th November 2023 – Bonfire Night
Saturday 11th November 2023 – Remembrance Day
Monday 13th November 2023 – Remembrance Sunday / World Kindness Day
Tuesday 14th November 2023 – King Charles III Birthday
Friday 24th November 2023 – Black Friday
Monday 27th November 2023 – Cyber Monday
Thursday 30th November 2023 – St Andrew’s Day (Scotland)
Saturday 2nd December 2023 – Small Business Saturday
Friday 8th December 2023 – Christmas Jumper Day
Tuesday 31st January 2023 – Hot Chocolate Day
Monday 25th December 2023 – Christmas Day
Tuesday 26th December 2023 – Boxing Day
Wednesday 27th December 2023 – Bank Holiday
Sunday 31st December 2023 – New Year’s Eve
Want to see how we could improve your marketing performance? Let’s start a dialogue.