Well, not much if you’re watching funny clips on YouTube of people getting chased by swans. But in the all-important advertising world, seasonal changes mean big changes in the size of their ad campaigns and video trends. This past summer, for instance, was the World Cup, the most-watched sporting event in the world, which puts it in the running for the most-watched event in the world— period.

The World Cup is a true showcase for any company with deep enough pockets to put its best marketing foot forward. And believe me, that foot costs a whole bunch of money. This is why now, with the World Cup months behind us and the holiday shopping season still a couple of months away, many companies are cutting back on their marketing dollars. But it seems Nike didn’t get the memo and wasn’t ready to let the buzz of the World Cup go just yet. In the middle of August, a month after the last World Cup ball was kicked; it released a video ad called “Mirrors” that featured Brazilian soccer superstar Neymar Jr. wearing Nike’s latest and greatest soccer cleats. It’s a nice ad, but it came a little late:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0RT1lc5HHQ 

What a flop, right? An ad for soccer cleats a month after the World Cup was put to rest? What a terrible idea from Nike’s marketing department, right? Wrong. So far, the ad has had over 12 million views on YouTube. Most corporate ads that end up on YouTube are lucky to get a couple hundred thousand views after a year or two. This one had over 12 million views in just three months and it continues to grow. This kind of web traffic has had to drum up some serious revenue for Nike. And that’s just the views on YouTube. What about the millions of people who saw it on TV? Or embedded in other websites? Nike has shown it can spot when a trend remains hot, create a compelling marketing campaign, launch it across multiple platforms, and walk away the clear winner. But with fall quickly descending into the cheery holiday season, even Nike is scaling back its onslaught of advertising. You could say the months of September and October are the quietest in marketing circles. I won’t say they’re quiet because they certainly are noisy enough, but it marks a definite change in advertising business tactics. There’s usually the rush of summer commercials and then the lull between summer and the holiday season.

But it won’t stay that way for long, at least not in social media. Websites like Facebook are ramping up their holiday advertising earlier this year than in years past. Do you know how every year people complain that the holiday decorations are put up in stores earlier and earlier? Well, now we have verified data that this is, in fact, true. And it doesn’t matter if we’re talking about a goliath like Facebook or a farmer’s market in your hometown. Many shops rely on seasonal shopping for a large chunk of their net income. Accurate and well-aligned marketing campaigns make that happen. This is why everyone, from Nike to Country Joe’s Tomatoes is getting hip to the idea that online promotions might just be evergreen. What about you?—Are you thinking of the possible video trends that could heighten your business focus? Now is the time to act! Use Video Chef to promote your business online.