As brands fight harder than ever for attention, Richard Midgley, Founder & Group Strategy Director at Leeds-based Ponderosa Agency, argues that visibility alone isn’t enough. Instead, it’s the brands that embed themselves into everyday moments and rituals that win real, long-term growth.
Even when someone walks past your ad, or hears your radio spot, nothing guarantees they will notice your brand let alone think about it later. Owning a spot in someone’s brain is brutally hard to build and even harder to keep. You want something stronger. Something that lodges you in people’s routines, rituals, and real lives. That’s where occasion-based marketing comes in.
Occasion-based marketing
Occasion-based marketing is about aligning your brand with meaningful moments in consumers’ lives. This could include seasonal events, daily routines, emotional states, or social occasions. When done well, it gives small brands a competitive edge without requiring huge budgets.
Brands that grow over time do more than simply stay visible. People think of brands when they’re useful in the moment. We buy things because we need something, in a specific situation. If your brand doesn’t naturally pop into someone’s mind at those times, it just fades into the background. Perhaps you’re noticeable, maybe, but not the one they pick.
The principle has been used for decades. Think KitKat, “have a break”. What started as a nod to the 11am tea break became a cue for a moment of pause. KitKat didn’t just sell a chocolate bar, it also sold a break from work and life’s stressors. Or take Pimms at Wimbledon, over time it’s become the automatic association for the event. In each case, the brand attached itself to a recurring occasion, something that happens reliably and frequently. These moments become shortcuts in memory. So, when the occasion arises, the brand comes to mind.
Why it matters even more for small brands
When you’re a smaller brand, it’s tougher to stand out without big budgets. But if you can own or even consistently appear in a specific occasion, you no longer have to compete in every moment, only the moments that matter most. It’s a strategic narrowing of focus that increases your chances of being recalled and chosen.
For small brands, the challenge is to find an occasion where the brand naturally fits. This involves, understanding your audience’s routines, frustrations, and rituals. Mapping the emotional and functional needs attached to those moments. Which means understanding when people realise, they need something, and what triggered that feeling in the first place. Ultimately, it’s about choosing an occasion that aligns authentically with your product and brand values and then showing up consistently enough to reinforce the association.
The Ehrenberg Bass Institute says the same. Growth comes from becoming mentally and physically available, meaning you must be easy to buy and easy to think of in the moment when someone needs you.
The long-term power of owning a moment
No brand owns a moment quite like Coca-Cola and Christmas. The red trucks, Father Christmas and the famous “holidays are coming’, it’s almost as familiar as Christmas at this point. Coca-Cola’s connection with Christmas has been built through almost a century of consistent creative execution, repetition. Even with that heritage, Coca-Cola must still invest heavily each year simply to maintain its position. Owning a moment isn’t a seasonal stunt, it’s a long-term strategy.
A Recent Example
When working on Crabbies, looking at creating an occasion, we sponsored the Grand National, with a campaign to match. Like Pimms x Wimbledon, the challenge was about how we use the partnership to benefit both parties – using the unique elements of the brand (refreshingly adventurous) to work perfectly with the event – enter the running elephant.
This Kahlua ad is a great example of a brand looking to grow by attaching itself to a specific moment – Friday nights at home. By calling out Friday directly (usually reserved for a bottle of wine), they are looking to shake up a well-trodden ritual and ultimately increase the occasions they are bought. The line “It’s bored of wine” playfully positions Kahlua as the more exciting option. The drink you switch to when you want to shake up your usual routine. It’s not just selling a drink, it’s inserting itself into that weekly moment when people are deciding how to start their weekend.
The bottom line
Standing out helps you get noticed, but it’s the moments that make people actually choose you. For smaller brands especially, looking different isn’t enough. When you tie yourself to a specific moment or occasion, you become more relevant, easier to remember, and more likely to be picked. This isn’t just a quick tactic, it’s a more meaningful way to grow in crowded markets. When a brand becomes part of the moments people care about, it builds real connections and long-lasting demand. Smart brands don’t try to be everywhere, they focus on showing up where it really counts.
