How Do Brands Deliver Extraordinary Experiences Over The Holidays?

It used to be that Thanksgiving started with big, festive brand experiences such as the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Then, families would rush to the mall where window displays and photos with Santa provided multiple touch points for brands. More recently, touch-screen phones had adults sleeping on the street in the freezing cold in order to be the first person in line when the local Apple Store opened. There were multiple ways for brands to create rich experiences for people. This was mostly because brands knew where the people were going to be. Then that all started to change. People stopped showing up. The big box stores started to close. Even more people stopped hanging out at malls. They did not need to circle the block looking for parking because they could just use their phones to buy presents. Black Friday was usurped by Cyber Monday and then by Cyber Week. You, dear reader, may well be part of this shift. Are you tracking shipping updates for the 40% off 4K TV you saw on Twitter? Did you wake up on Black Friday and ask Amazon's Alexa if she had any deals for you?