What is moment marketing and how can you use it?

Summary/Overview

Moment marketing may sound like an unfamiliar term. But chances are, you’re already very familiar with its outputs. Moment marketing is a popular form of marketing that can help businesses boost their brand awareness by tapping into current events and trends.

For small businesses, moment marketing can be a great way to promote yourself by harnessing public sentiment around existing occasions. Get to know more about moment marketing examples in the UK and how you can use it as part of your own marketing strategy.

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What is moment marketing?

Moment marketing is simply using current events to promote your brand or business. Think of marketing content that refers to sports events, pop culture, or the news.

While the term may be having a moment of its own, the practice isn’t new. Advertisers and marketers have used current events and public figures, such as royals, politicians and celebrities, to promote their products for a long time.

The methods of moment marketing haven’t changed too much in the centuries it’s existed. But naturally, the events, public figures, and places we advertise shift with the times.

One big difference between today’s moment marketing and the past is that it's easier to advertise to niche groups now. So, you can create marketing material that taps into a select event and know that you’re speaking to a specific audience. It’s also easier to find your audience by advertising on channels such as TikTok, YouTube or Instagram.

As a form of advertising, moment marketing is fast-paced and reactive, which makes it just as accessible to small businesses as it does larger corporations.

Why use moment marketing?

Moment marketing can be a great way to make the most of current events and reach a previously untapped audience. Here are some reasons why you might want to use moment marketing in the UK.

• Greater reach – When you fuse your product or service with a popular event, your marketing campaign can appeal to a wider audience. While you can’t guarantee the reception, if executed properly, you can potentially hook people on the concept and build brand awareness.
• Improve customer loyalty – Creating content that’s specific and relevant to your audience shows you’re aware of their interests and gives your brand some personality.
• Cost-effective – When done well, moment marketing is effective at drawing in new customers and, at its very peak, provides an opportunity to go viral. It’s been noted that several brands have sold their entire stock on the back of going viral on apps like TikTok.
• Improved engagement – Producing marketing content that’s both timely and relevant to a large group of people means you can expect greater engagement than your typical marketing material. Social media algorithms promote engagement and can have a snowball effect once you get established.
• Creative and flexible – If you want your moment marketing to be relevant, it’ll need to be unique, exciting and current. Taking on these values and applying them to your work can help foster a creative atmosphere in your business.

Editable ‘in the moment’ ideas for UK businesses.

5 tips on how to use moment marketing in your UK small business.

If you plan to incorporate moment marketing into your campaigns and business, it can be tough to know where to start. We’ve put together five top tips to help you create effective and efficient content for your moment marketing.

Keep up with UK trends and events.

Whether it’s viral TikTok trends, a popular TV series or an upcoming national celebration, it’s important to keep your finger on the pulse and find out what your target market is watching or talking about. These trends and events could provide the perfect opportunity for your brand to engage with its customers – or even grow its audience.

It can also be useful to keep an eye on industry-specific marketing trends and what your competitors are up to. These can help inform how you make the most of the moment, through certain platforms, formats and strategies.

Be prepared for anything.

Unless you’ve got access to a crystal ball, you probably won’t be able to predict what’s going to be popular in six months, let alone six years. Ultimately, if you want to create content that’s relevant to current trends, you’re going to have to be ready for anything. After all, who knows what we’ll be talking about next week?

Keep your product or service at the heart of the campaign.

While capturing the magic of a sports event or reaching a wider audience through a trending sound can be an important part of moment marketing, you’ll want it to have a positive impact on your revenue. To do this, you need to ensure that your product or service is at the core of the campaign you produce, instead of letting the moment overshadow it.

Stay true to your brand’s personality.

When you create a marketing campaign, it’s important you don’t alienate your existing audience or make something so out of character that no one can find you afterwards. Instead, ensure that your work is on-brand and recognisable.

Learn more about developing a brand identity as a small business.

Make the most of British humour in your content.

If you’re appealing to a UK audience, including some British humour is a surefire way to win people round. So many passing trends are international, and introduced via social media, the internet and streaming channels. But introducing some British humour in your marketing campaign can be a great way to provide a fresh – and localised - take.

Try your hand at moment marketing with these editable materials.

Moment marketing examples to inspire your campaigns.

Now you know the why and how of moment marketing, it’s good to take a look at some examples of what others have done. We’ve got three examples of effective campaigns to hopefully inspire you to create your own!

Waitrose cat lasagna.

Following the release of 2024’s The Garfield Movie, upscale UK supermarket chain Waitrose released an image on Instagram of its version of a cat-friendly lasagna. While the product wasn’t real, and it doesn’t recommend feeding pasta to your pet, the post was highly successful. It effectively tapped into the cultural appeal of Garfield, a well-known cartoon cat with a passion for ragu and bechamel sauce.

The initial post was relatively understated and didn’t include a widespread campaign. But all the same, it was picked up by a handful of sites and created plenty of online chatter.

Burger King on X.

Many fast-food restaurants have developed a form of social media marketing that feels less like a marketing campaign and more like a personal account. Burger King’s X account is a prime example of this.

Tweets are rarely focused on promoting new or existing products, and instead are often nonsensical, retweets of other non-related accounts, or memes. While this seemingly ultra-laidback, highly personal approach may be different to what you’re used to, it can be incredibly useful for moment marketing.

While not everything lands, the scattergun effect means that accounts like Burger King frequently hit the mark, see some success, and spread their brand wider than they would with basic adverts for burgers.

KitKat’s stunt recreation.

One common form of moment marketing is to recreate a recent trend or event, with your product or service front and centre. KitKat did just that back in 2012, when they hopped on one of the biggest stunts of the 2010s.

Record-breaking daredevil Felix Baumgartner was set to attempt a record-breaking freefall jump from the Earth’s stratosphere. After several delays, KitKat put out a tongue-in-cheek Facebook post using their infamous tagline – “It could be a long wait Felix…have a break, have a KitKat.”

The post went viral, so KitKat capitalised on the moment by recreating the attempt themselves. They sent their iconic four-finger product into space, filmed the occasion and uploaded it to YouTube with the hashtag #BreakFromGravity. Viewers instantly recognised the reference and enjoyed the novelty of this marketing moment.

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Useful things to know.

Why is moment marketing so effective despite its short lifetime?

An important part of moment marketing is building a reputation for your brand, developing your personality and getting it out there. So, while the content you create may only be relevant for a short period, it can introduce your business to a new audience and develop your position as a brand to watch.

What’s the difference between moment marketing and meme marketing?

Meme marketing relies on the use of existing memes, whereas moment marketing relies on the use of existing moments. While both are reactive and there is some crossover in terms of approach and intent, the key difference is the content type. However, it’s possible for some campaigns to straddle both moment marketing and meme marketing.

What are moment ads?

Moment ads or adverts are a part of moment marketing. Functioning much like regular adverts, they work towards a wider campaign that’s commenting on or playing with current events or activities.

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