Every May there is a sense of change in the air. Not just for graduates, but for brands. The advertisements change, the store displays change, the email subject lines change. Suddenly everything is covered in school colors and stamped with “Congrats, Grad!” Graduation season is one of the most strategically targeted consumer moments of the entire year, like Christmas and Valentines Day, and most people don’t even notice it’s happening.
‘Con-GRAD-ulations!’
The National Retail Federation has been tracking graduation spending since 2007, the same way it tracks Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and Back to School season [1]. In 2024, total graduation gift spending was expected to reach $6.1 billion, and that number has been climbing for years [1]. Brands aren’t just showing up in May because they care about the diplomas. They are showing up because they know exactly when families and friends are going to open their wallets and spend.
This is the exact point of seasonality marketing which is the idea that predictable moments on the calendar create predictable spikes in consumer demand. Christmas has presents and eggnog while Valentine’s Day has flowers and chocolates. Likewise, Graduation has cash envelopes, class rings, luggage, laptops, and everything in between. The calendar becomes a visible timeline for demand, and brands plan their campaigns months in advance to be exactly where the consumer is emotionally when the moment arrives.
‘You Did It!’
What makes graduation different from other consumer seasons is that it isn’t just about buying a gift, it’s about a major identity shift. The person graduating is moving from student to professional and that transition creates two very different types of demand happening at the same time.
Functional Consumption
The useful gifts often include things such as a new laptop for the job, a suitcase for the move, or a new suit for the interviews. Amazon floods its homepage with graduation gift guides every spring because graduates and their families are actively shopping for these things whether brands remind them to or not [2].
Emotional consumption
The sentimental gifts including a class ring from Jostens isn’t just a ring. It’s a physical object that marks a moment in time, something you wear to say ‘I did this.’ Hallmark cards, custom frames, keepsake jewelry are all examples of identity purchases. Brands that understand the difference between the two are the ones that attract consumers effectively during graduation season, because they know which emotion they’re appealing to [3].
‘Hats Off To You!’
Graduation isn’t an artificial holiday invented by greeting card companies the way some critics claim Valentine’s Day is. It’s a real-life milestone for all graduates. However, the consumer season around it is manufactured and deliberately extended as long as possible. Jostens starts marketing class rings to juniors a full year before graduation. Cap and gown ordering opens months in advance. Amazon’s graduation gift guides appear in April. The party supply push starts before finals are even over. Brands have basically taken a single day (the graduation ceremony) and stretched it into a 3-4 month consumer window. The ceremony is the event, but the spending season is the goal. This is the same strategy as Back to School season, which technically starts in July for an event that happens in September [4].
‘The World Is Your Oyster!’
As a marketing student, the graduation season teaches us a few things. First, that the most effective marketing doesn’t create demand, it shows up at the exact moment demand already exists. Brands aren’t convincing people to celebrate graduation. Instead, they’re positioning themselves inside a celebration that was already going to happen. Second, Someone buying a graduation gift is thinking about what’s practical and what feels meaningful. The brands that win are the ones that manage to be both, or pick one lane and own it completely. Lastly, that seasonality isn’t just about timing. It’s about understanding where your consumer is in their life. Graduation marks the entry into adulthood, which means it’s also the first moment many people form independent loyalties. The laptop someone gets for their first job, the luggage they take on their first solo trip, and the coffee maker in their first apartment are all intentional. The brands that understand that are marketing to a future customer, not just a graduation gift recipient. So, as you watch your friends, family, or even yourself walk across that stage and receive that diploma, just know that graduation marks your milestone into adulthood, but for brands, it marks something they’ve been planning for far longer than you have.
By Isabella Otero
Sources:
[1] https://nrf.com/research-insights/holiday-data-and-trends/graduation
[2] https://www.bain.com/insights/a-field-guide-to-modern-marketing/
[3]https://www.hsgcap.com/article/rise-emotional-consumption-selling-experiences-not-products/
Marketing Management 