How food and drink brands can counteract the ‘dreary’ start to the year

On the sixth anniversary of launching my brand, Caleño, I found myself reflecting on my decision eight years ago to take the leap and start a business. The timing – early January – wasn’t coincidental. There’s something about the start of a new year that inspires transformative decisions.

This led me to ask: why does the start of a new year hold such significance, and how can businesses capitalise on this period of change?

A quick Google search of “Why is January so important?” offers some clues. The auto-fill suggestions come up with popular searches like “Why is January… so long”, “so depressing”, or “so slow”. This highlights people’s mixed relationship with the month. Some embrace it as a chance to reset goals, while others simply endure it, counting the days until spring.

January and February are often perceived as dreary months – but could it be that social media is exacerbating our collective gloom, reducing resilience in coping with the weather and post-festive lull?

Caleño research at the start of the year revealed that social media fuels 6% of relocation interests. With this insight, I began exploring how brands can transform this “depressing” period into an opportunity for connection and positivity. Consider ‘Blue Monday’, the supposed gloomiest day of the year, when many Brits jump online to book holidays abroad.

At Caleño, we embraced this insight by partnering with travel brand Kilroy to launch a competition for an eight-day trip to Colombia. This tied seamlessly with our research showing that a fifth of Brits were creating “tropical escapism” moments on a monthly basis – reflected in soaring sales of cocktails like Piña Coladas, Mojitos and Daiquiris.

This example highlights an important point: while not all brands see January as relevant for making noise, there’s potential for every business to find significance at this time of year – either by helping them through the dark winter months, or offering them something new.

Whether it’s tapping into customer motivations, addressing seasonal challenges, or simply riding cultural trends, the start of the year offers many possibilities, so don’t let it pass by unnoticed.