7th largest consumer spending event of the year //
Father’s Day occurs annually on the third Sunday of June and falls on June 16th in 2024. It was first celebrated in the United States in 1910 at the YMCA in Spokane, Washington by Sonora Smart Dodd. Her father, the Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart, was a single parent who raised his six children there. After hearing about Mother’s Day she told her pastor that fathers should have a similar holiday honoring them.
Father’s Day celebrates fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society.
Consumer Insights
Father’s Day comes in at #7 on the National Retail Foundation’s (NRF’s) list of top consumer spending events. The National Retail Federation (NRF) partners with Prosper Insights & Analytics to survey consumers annually about their Father’s Day purchase plans. The data below is from their 2023 survey. They had not yet published their 2024 survey at the time of our April briefing.
As consumers looked forward to treating their dads on Father’s Day they were on the hunt for gifts that are unique or different and / or that creates a special memory.
The top categories of planned spending for Father’s Day tend to hold pretty steady:
1. Greeting Card 2. Clothing 3. Special Outing 4. Gift Cards 5. Personal Care 6. Electronics 7. Tools 8. Automotive Accessories 9. Sporting Goods 10. Other
Timing
Starting about 6 weeks prior, interest in Father’s Day gifts begins to steadily grow to a peak the day of.
Retail Promotions
Mid May and June ads honoring father’s with heartfelt emotion and humor flood the airways. Retailers promote gift cards and delivery along with categories like books, electronics and gardening or housewares as consumers look to gift items dad can easily use while at home.
Marketing Resources
To help you pull together your promotional content and marketing materials quickly we’ve curated some resources to inspire your planning.
Father’s Day Hashtags
Help your content get discovered on social media with relevant hashtags. Popular hashtags include: #happyfathersday #fathersday #imdadsfavorite #bestdadever #dadjoke #dadiloveyou
Father’s Day Themed Pictures
There are a number of wonderful websites that offer free photos for both commercial and noncommercial use, one of our favorites is Unsplash. Below is a small selection of the images we have curated for Father’s Day themed content.
Click below to view and download free photos from our full Unsplash Collection. Find out more about their free to use license and how to give the photographer credit, not required, but appreciated.
Father’s Day Quotes and Sayings
Pay tribute to those who lift up, encourage, and fix with quotes and sayings that honor fathers.
“When you teach your son, you teach your son’s son.” —The Talmud
“We never know the love of a parent till we become parents ourselves.” —Henry Ward Beecher
“Being a great father is like shaving. No matter how good you shaved today, you have to do it again tomorrow.” —Reed Markham
“Great fathers don’t find fault. Great fathers find solutions.” —Reed Markham
“A father is a banker provided by nature.” —French proverb
“You can tell what was the best year of your father’s life, because they seem to freeze that clothing style and ride it out.” —Jerry Seinfeld
“The reward of child rearing is spending the rest of your life proudly knowing this person you helped guide.” —Mike Sager
“My father didn’t tell me how to live. He lived and let me watch him do it.” —Clarence Budington Kelland
“There’s no shame in fear, my father told me, what matters is how we face it.” — George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings
No more fly-by-night spreadsheet operations.
Wish you could see everything that is happening everywhere all at once?
Our integrated marketing planning calendar software brings all channels, content, and tactics together into one single source of truth. Filter by campaign, target audience segment, and more to optimize cross-channel efforts and create more cohesive and compelling omnichannel customer experiences.
