“Woh aa gaya, dekho… Dekho woh aa gaya!” August is approaching. And it has the best of festivities to offer.

There’s Friendship Day, when school students exchange friendship bands and the popular few flaunt their social credit with bands lined all the way up to their elbow. And Raksha Bandhan, when the family fumbles through the right mantra so tika can be applied and sleek envelopes of money can exchange hands.

Then, of course, there’s Independence Day, when patriots settle down to listen to the Prime Minister, while overworked employees enjoy their holiday. And the rains! Where July unleashes the fury of the monsoon, August nonetheless surprises with sporadic showers.

Amidst all this, you need to stay on your toes and get the right content out. To make your job easier, we have curated a list of significant events that August will bring. So go ahead and generate the desired buzz with these content ideas:

1. World Breastfeeding Week – 01^st to 07^th August

Organised and promoted by: WABA (World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action), WHO (World Health Organization) and UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Fund).

Aim: To encourage mothers to breastfeed babies for up to six months.

Content marketing ideas:

1. Video idea: Why breastfeeding in public shouldn’t be taboo
2. Infographic idea: Tips for breastfeeding
3. Listicle idea: Breastfeeding tips for mothers who work
4. Podcast idea: Nutrition requirements for mothers who are breastfeeding

Campaigns to prove this works:

The Bump, an online parenting and pregnancy guide, launched a video campaign called ‘Join the Boob-olution’. They filmed celebrities and regular mothers who shared their experience of breastfeeding. Their goal was to spread the message that breastfeeding is a normal and healthy activity.

Clothing brand Gap has also contributed to the normalisation of breastfeeding in public. By featuring a mother feeding a baby, Gap brought up its line of comfortable clothing. What’s more, instead of choosing the conventional white model, Gap chose a black mother for the ad.

2. Friendship Day – 05^th August

Content marketing ideas:

1. Video idea: X Types of friends we all know
2. Image idea: Best gifts to give your friends
3. Listicle idea: X Places you can go with friends
4. Podcast idea: Top X friendships in cinemascape

Campaign to prove this works:

PepsiCo India marked Friendship Day with a video that traced the evolution of four friends through school. It showed them stumbling through punishments together, stealthily sharing food during class and more. With a video that tugged at nostalgia, PepsiCo was able to subtly remind consumers of its presence through many such life journeys.

Now let the numbers do the talking-

Friendship as a keyword seems to trend the highest starting from the end of July to the beginning of August.

(Source: Google trends)

Facebook is the leading content destination for sharing branded content on social media.

(Source: Buzzsumo)

Video is the go-to format when it comes to garnering engagement from the audience. But if you choose to create textual content, question titles work the best.

(Source: Buzzsumo)

3. World Cat Day – 08^th August

Organised and promoted by: International Fund for Animal Welfare

Content marketing ideas:

1. Video idea: DIY toys for your cat
2. Infographic idea: How much does it cost to own a pet?
3. Listicle idea: Pet-friendly cafes you must visit with your cat
4. Podcast idea: How to care for cats

Campaigns to prove this works:

In 2015, Uber celebrated Cat Day by letting riders who paid $30 play with kittens for 15 minutes. The goal was to encourage more people to adopt cats. What’s more, the offices that were overwhelmed with kitten deliveries even tweeted about the same. This initiative helped raise more than $17,000 for animal welfare shelters who joined the campaign.

Cat adoption has also been encouraged through image campaigns launched by multiple animal welfare organisations.

4. World Senior Citizens’ Day – 08^th August

Content marketing ideas:

1. Video idea: X Common medical concerns faced by seniors (discuss signs, symptoms and treatments)
2. Infographic idea: Best health supplements for the elderly
3. Listicle idea: Fun gift ideas for your grandparents
4. Podcast idea: Childhood memories with grandparents every kid will have

Campaigns to prove this works:

With its offer of premium razors, Gillette’s USP has always been a smooth shave. The brand has remained focused on providing its consumers with a comfortable experience. In 2017, it extended the same idea to a newly launched product called the Gillette Trio – the world’s first razor for assisted shaving.

The video advertisement introduces the product through a story of a son and his aged father. The son is shown putting the father through his daily grooming routine. The narrative beautifully highlights the experience of providing parental care with memories of childhood care still fresh in mind.

The video earned 255K views!

But videos aren’t the only format that’s grabbing eyeballs. In 2017, MN Plus TV harnessed the power of Instagram to celebrate World Senior Citizen’s Day. Accompanied by a picture of Harrison Ford, Meryl Streep, and Denzel Washington, the copy read ‘This #SeniorCitizenDay we take a look at the Gold Class Senior Citizens from Hollywood who are ageing like wine. Who else do you think is getting better with time?’

5. Daughters’ Day – 11^th August

Content marketing ideas:

1. Video idea: To my daughter, with love (video letter)
2. Infographic idea: Non-traditional gift ideas for your daughter
3. Listicle idea: Daughters of India who have made the nation proud
4. Podcast idea: Government education schemes for the girl child

Campaigns to prove that this works:

Microsoft began an initiative to encourage young girls to pursue their interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) subjects, through a campaign labelled #MakeWhatsNext. This was aimed at destroying the commonly held belief that unlike boys, girls don’t undertake science.

An all-girls Catholic school at Kentucky took the unconventional route by discouraging obsession with external beauty and objectification of women. Instead, it encouraged them to undertake critical thinking and the pursuit of knowledge through an image campaign. It destabilised the stereotype of a dainty dependent ‘princess’ by subverting fairytale tropes.

6. International Youth Day – 12^th August

Introduced by: The United Nations

Aim: To draw attention to cultural and legal issues surrounding the youth.

Content marketing ideas:

1. Video idea: Why should today’s youth pay more attention to their mental health?
2. Image idea: Financial schemes that can empower the youth
3. Listicle idea: Top X skills the youth can learn for free online
4. Podcast idea: How the youth can save the environment

Campaign to prove this works:

Through an image campaign that featured security forces, MAGNE Consulting hit the mark on International Youth Day. By using a picture of celebrating BSF personnel carrying a comrade on their shoulders, the marketing agency highlighted the most energetic section of the Indian youth.

The word jawaani in their slogan ‘yeh jawaani hai deewani’ played upon the word jawaan or youth.

7. Independence Day – 15^th August

Aim: To commemorate India’s independence from Great Britain on 15 August 1947.

Content marketing ideas:

1. Video idea: Story of the freedom struggle retold
2. Infographic idea: Ethnic outfit ideas for this Independence Day
3. Listicle idea: Things you need to do on Independence Day
4. Podcast idea: Patriotic songs that celebrate our freedom struggle

Campaign to prove that this works:

Independence Day sees a flurry of patriotic messages. However, we tend to ignore that sentiment when fighting over land or water resources. MTR, a well-known food package company, used the theme ‘why divide when you can share’ to subvert this divisive tendency.

The short video shows a girl first dividing a readymade pack of poha with her friend. On having second thoughts, she recombines the divided portion back into the pack and offers to share it with her friend from the same container. Great thought!

Now let the numbers do the talking-

(Source: Buzzsumo)

8. World Photography Day – 19^th August

Aim: To inspire photographers around the world to share a single photo with a purpose – ‘to share their world with the world’.

Content marketing ideas:

1. Video idea: Photography tips for amateurs
2. Infographic idea: Tips to take the perfect picture in challenging weather
3. Listicle: X cameras that fit a low budget
4. Podcast idea: Pictures by photo journalists that will leave you awed

Campaign to prove this works:

Mobile phone cameras provide an ‘always at hand’ imaging tool that’s made photography a universal plaything. Facebook celebrated this association with mobile photography by encouraging its subscribers to use two new formats: stories and messenger day.

This allowed the creation of a story based on a series of photographs for a 24-hour period. The in-app cameras made this a breeze and the 360° photo effect gave viewers a personalised feel.

Facebook also tagged the best five images to the top of the timeline, to highlight the same from the large collection most users had.

9. World Humanitarian Day – 19^th August

Aim: To pay tribute to humanitarian personnel and those who have lost their lives working for humanitarian causes.

Content marketing ideas:

1. Video idea: Songs that celebrate global prosperity
2. Infographic idea: Ways in which you can make a difference
3. Twitter campaign: Ask for stories to be shared with hashtags like #MakeTheWorldABetterPlace

Campaign to prove this works:

Droga5, Thunderclap, and Beyoncé’s campaign for World Humanitarian Day stands out as one of the most effective celebrity-led initiatives. It raised the profile and awareness of yet another day on the annual calendar to THE day.

Word was spread to the billion-plus followers of celebrities such as Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Michele Obama, and Oprah, along with brands such as Coca-Cola and Puma. The campaign showcased Beyoncé’s song ‘I was there’ to highlight the work and sacrifices of humanitarian workers who lost their lives for a cause.

The organisers encouraged the followers of these celebrities to share their positive humanitarian deeds along with the locations. This simultaneously orchestrated action ensured that a billion deeds were recorded within a 24-hour period. World Humanitarian Day had indeed been thrust to the forefront of world consciousness.

10. National Dog Day – 26^th August

Aim: To encourage the ownership of dogs of all breeds, both mixed and purebred, and embrace the opportunity for all dogs to live a happy, safe, and abuse-free life.

Content marketing ideas:

1. Video idea: Best food recipes for your dog
2. Infographic idea: Why you should adopt and not shop
3. Article idea: What not to feed your dog
4. Podcast idea: Best toys for your dogs to play with

Campaigns to prove this works:

Who can argue that a dog is not man’s best friend? Certainly not Petco, who celebrated the day by posting an image of a dog in a mall’s shopping cart. This was responded to equally sportingly through comments that also shared pictures of dogs.

PETA, in contrast, took marketing to a deeper level with their usual provocative style. They released a tongue-in-cheek image campaign that recommended Donald Trump should adopt a dog since the last US President without one was impeached!

11. Women’s Equality Day – 26^th August

Aim: To mark the success of the suffragette movement.

Content marketing ideas:

1. Video idea: Why is feminism the need of the hour?
2. Infographic idea: X Female icons to look up to this Women’s Equality Day
3. Listicle idea: Are these movies really about women’s empowerment?
4. Podcast idea: Why feminism is the need of the hour

Campaign to prove this works:

Stereotypes tend to get embedded in our minds. And we often go to the extent of attributing behavioural tendencies to gender. This societal pattern was highlighted by Always (a sanitary napkin brand) in a campaign titled #LikeaGirl.

The video campaign highlighted common perceptions held to describe girls engaging in regular activities such as running and fighting. When this was contrasted with the approach of young girls who had not been influenced by societal views, the reality was instructive.

Always highlights that young girls and boys approach activities similarly, until they are influenced by how others see them. Nature made women and men equal. It is society that tends to give it a coloured view, to suit gender stereotypes.

12. Raksha Bandhan – 26^th August

Content marketing ideas:

1. Video idea: Styling ideas to look your best this Raksha Bandhan
2. Image series idea: Road trip ideas for siblings
3. Listicle idea: X Things only siblings can understand
4. Podcast idea: What to gift your sibling this Raksha Bandhan

Campaign to prove this works:

Raksha Bandhan evokes the kind of heart-warming sentiment that few other Indian customs can. It celebrates the undiluted love between brothers and sisters that endures despite all the fights and disagreements.

A promotional advertisement by Amazon India pushes this sentiment to the forefront, with its product range playing second fiddle, despite the wide selection. An old lady is shown preparing sweets for her ageing brother in the presence of her grandson.

He teases her over the predictable gift of ‘jamuns’ that her brother gifts her every year. He then shows her the gifting options that are available on Amazon.

The grandmother explains the reason for the choice of gift, which at times even led to her brother getting thrashed by irate gardeners. The gift remains a symbolic image of their love over the years. Fittingly, it ends with the tagline, ‘We have over 10 crore products, but only you have what your sister really wants’.

Now let the numbers do the talking-

(Source: Buzzsumo)

Listicles and question-based posts are the go-to formats for your Rakhi content.

(Source: Buzzsumo)

13. National Sports Day – 29^th August

Content marketing ideas:

1. Video idea: X Sports personalities who have made an impact
2. Infographic idea: Tips to stay safe while playing on the field
3. Article idea: Why is playing sports important?
4. Podcast idea: What does sport teach you about life and teamwork?

Campaigns to prove this works:

The spirit of sports goes beyond physical fitness alone. It evokes a sense of achievement and a feeling of well-being. And well-being should ideally be a right for everyone, irrespective of gender, age, or physical shape.

Yet almost every advertisement tends to link sports with the imagery of toned and muscular athletes. A video campaign by Sports England tagged #ThisGirlCan broke the stereotypes. It showcased ordinary people who took up sports and enjoyed it as much as lithe athletes.

In another campaign, Reebok took a different approach to encourage sports amongst office-goers who tend to shy away from any form of physical activity. Having assessed that the subway was one place where many them gathered, a competition was conceptualised.

This required a participant to touch randomly emerging pump signs on the two lateral walls of the subway and challenge others to beat the speed with which it was done. The best performer got a pair of Reebok shoes, even as physical activity and sporting culture were encouraged.

14. Festivals

ONAM – 15^th to 27^th August

Onam is the biggest and the most important festival in Kerala. It is a harvest festival and is celebrated with joy and enthusiasm by people of all communities.

Content marketing ideas:

1. X Things you should know about Onam
2. Lip-smacking recipes to try for Onam this year
3. Traditional outfits to wear on Onam

NAG PANCHAMI – 15^th August

This commemorates the tradition of worshipping snakes by Hindus in India, Nepal, etc.

Content marketing ideas:

1. All you should know about Nag Panchami
2. What is the relevance of snakes in Nag Panchami?

PARSI NEW YEAR (Jamshedi Navroz) – 17^th August

Content marketing ideas:

1. What is the Parsi New Year?
2. X Recipes to try on the Parsi New Year
3. What to wear on the Parsi New Year

15. Sports

CRICKET: England vs India Test series – 01^st to 07^th August. An event looked forward to by most Indians since the sport dominates the country.

MULTI- SPORTS EVENTS: European Sports Championship – 07^th to 12^th August

FOOTBALL:

• Premier League transfer window closes – 09^th August
• 2018- 2019 Premier League season – 11^th August to 19^th May 2019

Content marketing ideas:

• About the sport, players, or matches
• The events schedule – past, present, and future
• Interviews with sportspersons
• Match/event analysis
• Fitness regime
• Best plays from the match/event

16. Films and Film Festivals

FILMS:

• Disney’s Christopher Robin – 03^rd August
  Fantasy, Comedy, Drama. Winnie-the-Pooh and friends reunite with friend Christopher Robin, now an adult. Stars Ewan McGregor and Hayley Atwell in leading roles and features voiceovers by Jim Cummings, Chris O’Dowd, Brad Garrett and many more.
• The Meg – 10^th August
  Based on the novel Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror by Steve Alten and directed by Jon Turteltaub, the plot deals with a massive creature attacking a deep-sea submersible, leaving it disabled and trapping the crew at the bottom of the Pacific. With time running out, rescue diver Jonas Taylor must save the crew and the ocean itself from an unimaginable threat – a 75-foot-long prehistoric shark known as the Megalodon. Stars Jason Statham, Ruby Rose and Li Bingbing in lead roles.
• Alpha – 17^th August
  Historical drama. Directed by Albert Hughes and starring Kodi Smit-McPhee, Leonor Varela, and Jens Hultén, the movie follows a young hunter who befriends an injured wolf during the Ice Age.
• Slenderman – 24^th August
  Supernatural horror. Directed by Sylvain White and based on the book Slender Man by Victor Surge. Terror strikes when four teenage girls in a small town perform a ritual to debunk the lore of a tall, thin, horrifying figure known as the Slender Man. They soon fear that the legend is true when one of them suddenly goes missing. The movie stars Joey King, Julia Goldani Telles, Jaz Sinclair, Annalise Basso, and Talitha Bateman, alongside Javier Botet.
• Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar – 03^rd August
  Indian Romantic thriller. Directed by Dibakar Banerjee and stars Arjun Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra. The film follows the story of a man and woman who represent two completely different Indians. However, they are united by their mistrust, suspicion, and hate for each other.
• Dostana 2 – 04^th August
  Directed by Tarun Mansukhani and starring Abhishek Bachchan, Arjun Rampal, Dino Morea, and John Abraham, among others, the movie is a sequel to the movie Dostana which came out in 2008.
• The Accidental Prime Minister – 11^th August
  Biographical political drama. Directed by Vijay Ratnakar Gutte and based on the memoir of the same name, the movie deals with the life and times of Manmohan Singh, an economist and politician who served as the Prime Minister of India from 2004 to 2014. The movie stars Anupam Kher as Singh.
• Gold – 15^th August
  Historical period sports drama. Directed by Reema Kagti, the movie stars Akshay Kumar, Mouni Roy, Kunal Kapoor, Vineet Kumar Singh, Amit Sadh, and Sunny Kaushal. It is a fictional story set in the backdrop of true incidents about India winning its first gold medal in field hockey as a free nation at the 1948 Summer Olympics.
• Phobia 2 – 02^nd August
  Directed by Pawan Kripalani, the movie stars Radhika Apte and Nawazuddin Siddiqui and is a sequel to the movie Phobia.

Content marketing ideas:  ‘X memorable dialogues’, ‘X memorable scenes’, ‘Get the style/clothes/look of XYZ character’, ‘Behind the scenes bloopers, interviews’

FILM FESTIVALS:

• Venice Film Festival – 29^th August to 08^th September

The oldest film festival in the world; one of the ‘Big Three’ along with Cannes Film Festival and Berlin International Film Festival.

• Seoul International Youth Film Festival – 05^th to 12^th August

The biggest youth film festival in South Korea, it’s provided a venue for the youth to share their culture via films and media education since 1999.

Content marketing ideas: ‘Top/best movies from the festival to watch out for’, ‘Get the look/style/outfit worn by XYZ’, ‘Red Carpet exclusives’

17. Celebrity Birthdays

• Barack Obama – 04^th August
• Kajol – 05^th August
• Sridevi – 13^th August
• Mila Kunis – 14^th August
• Saif Ali Khan – 16^th August
• Madonna – 16^th August
• Robert De Niro – 17^th August
• Mother Teresa – 27^th August
• Michael Jackson – 29^th August18.

18. Product Launches (Expected)

CARS:  Mahindra e20 NXT, Volkswagen Jetta, BMW X2, Maruti Suzuki Ciaz, Toyota Rush

MOBILES: Nokia Edge, Xiaomi Mi7, Samsung Galaxy X, Apple iPhone 9

Content marketing ideas: ‘Top X feature to look out for in a car/mobile phone’, ‘New features in a car/mobile phone to watch out for’, ‘Things to look out for in the new iOS/Android Popsicle OS’

Parting words

Each month offers brands plenty of opportunities to start conversations. It is up to them to plug into those talking points and keep their brand relevant.