How Magnetic Is the Holiday Season?
I was a little shocked when the day after Halloween I ordered a latte at Starbucks and a holiday cup arrived–rather unceremoniously I would say.
I know we are still enjoying our sugar high from Halloween candy, but it is time to get festive and roll out the Christmas spirit. Hallmark has already released more than 30 original Christmas movies. In fact, Christmas movies never really left the channel and the ratings have stayed with the channel as well.
The average person will spend more than $800 on gifts on this year. And, nearly 60% of shoppers will splurge on themselves an average of more than $130. The holiday season is a juggernaut of spending and the true bellwether of the American economy’s health. No wonder we are all get in the spirit earlier and earlier.
So tune your XM Radio to Holly (which launched November 1), grab a Starbucks peppermint latte in a holiday cup and curl up with a Hallmark Christmas movie while you enjoy leftover M&Ms, Rainbow Nerds and Snickers bars. The season is here for most of America and our entire economy is depending on it.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle.
After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant.
He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.”
Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.”
One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College.
Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board.
Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.