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Why exactly should marketers invest their time and energy into coming up with Dry January and Veganuary campaign ideas? Are they really living up to the hype?
In January 2024, one in six adults in the UK took a break from alcohol and more than 1.8 million people participated in Veganuary. So, to meet consumer demand for products that support a healthier lifestyle, brands are putting their all into innovative Dry January and Veganuary product launches, supported by some seriously good marketing campaigns.
We’ve seen some really impressive Dry January and Veganuary campaigns over the last few years, but here are just a few that are truly worth pointing out.
One of my favorites is Turtle Bay’s Veganuary campaign. The brand’s focus on helping its customers go plant-based is a standout campaign because it extends well beyond January. The Caribbean restaurant chain is capitalizing on the growing appetite for vegan options by putting plant-based food at the heart of its menus—and its marketing strategy.
The brand’s Veganuary campaigns make such a big impact because they don’t seem like a flash in the pan—
the restaurant has integrated tasty vegan options into its menu for good. Turtle Bay’s Veganuary page showcases the vegan dishes and cocktails available with mouthwatering photo evidence, encouraging viewers overthink their culinary preferences.
The restaurant chain is also strategically targeting visitors interested in Veganuary by sharing helpful blog posts, providing tips for vegan options and regularly posting about its many vegan dishes on social media.
Driving traffic to its website from social media and search, the brand showcases its plant-based offerings and encourages visitors to download the Turtle Bay app, which features a hard-to-resist £20 incentive for new users throughout January 2025. The app sign-up allows the restaurant chain to gather valuable first-party data, which, in turn, allows for more personalized marketing campaigns tailored to customers’ individual preferences. Everybody wins!
In response to consumer demand, Aldi has released their biggest vegan range yet. The supermarket’s website features dedicated Veganuary pages with recipe ideas and helpful tips for those giving it a go. Aldi is also creating buzz on social media to draw more attention to their range by regularly posting videos and photos of their vegan products.
While the current marketing campaign is focused on Veganuary, it’s far from a one-hit wonder. It’s all about getting people excited about plant-based food and inspiring them to keep enjoying these options all year round and increase sales of their plant-based products in the process.
Beyond Meat teamed up with singer and flexitarian Peter Andre for its Veganuary PR and social campaign in 2023 to encourage people to take the first step towards a more plant-based diet. The campaign generated a lot of interest–partly because it included a cooking contest asking viewers to replace cupboard essentials with a Beyond Meat product. The campaign ran online and on social media. Alongside this, the collaboration with Peter Andre was centered around showing viewers how to swap animal meat for plant-based meat. The content was published on the brand’s website and its social media channels.
Beyond Meat’s Veganuary campaign not only generated a lot of interest, it was also an opportunity to collect valuable first-party data. Entrants to the competition would likely have been asked to submit their entry alongside zero- and first-party data such as name, age, location, and dietary preferences. This allows Beyond Meat to develop more detailed customer profiles.
The contest not only increased online engagement, but encouraged people to purchase Beyond Meat products. The Veganuary campaign as a whole was a big hit, gaining 2 million views and hundreds of entries across the UK.
In 2024, international beer brand Heineken went all in for Dry January. The brand’s ad campaign centered around its non-alcoholic beer, Heineken 0.0. To spread the message “who needs alcohol to have fun”, they teamed up with footballer Gareth Bale.
Last year’s ad must have caught consumers’ attention, as in January 2025, Heineken is running Instagram ads from the same campaign, encouraging viewers to claim their free Heineken 0.0. In exchange for the free beer, the brand collects first-party data, helping to send more targeted communications in the future.
In fact, Heineken’s commitment to responsible drinking goes well beyond Dry January. In 2024, the beer giant partnered with the UK government’s THINK! campaign to encourage young drivers to stick to 0% options, especially during the festive season.
What makes Heineken’s 0.0 campaigns so impactful? It’s not just empty words—they’re putting their money where their mouth is when it comes to responsible drinking, and that’s something consumers notice. With almost one in three men planning to stay off alcohol in January 2025, Heineken’s ongoing Dry January campaign is sure to grab their attention.
The brand’s savvy marketing efforts convey the message that Heineken isn’t just jumping on the Dry January bandwagon for a quick sales boost—it’s building a long-term strategy around its non-alcoholic beer. The beer maker’s marketing strategies are paying off, with Heineken 0.0 dominating the non-alcoholic beer market.
Greggs got the nation talking when it released its much-anticipated vegan sausage roll in January 2019. The bakery chain’s marketing team hit a home run when they drummed up a huge amount of buzz.
The brand posted cryptic teaser content on social media and sent the new product to influencers to try out. When launch day came, Greggs released an Apple-esque video, complete with clean visuals and epic music, that made for a very shareable product launch announcement. The publicity around the launch paid off, with the brand crediting the hype around the vegan sausage roll for a surge in sales in the first few months of 2019.
Since then, Greggs has significantly expanded its vegan range, and the products have become one of the popular bakery chain’s USPs.
By regularly posting social media content that gets people talking and publishing informative blog posts to encourage customers to give their plant-based options a go, Greggs has cemented itself as the go-to destination for vegan treats.
How do you go about creating a Dry January or Veganunary campaign that gets people interested like those above? It all comes down to understanding your customers. Here’s how to do it:
The first step to truly understanding your customers? Capturing first-party data (in a compliant way, of course).
If you’re yet to create a first-party data strategy, our blog post exploring first-party data strategies is the perfect read for growth-minded marketers looking to step up future campaigns.
Businesses that segment their customers see increased revenue as well as higher conversion rates and ROI. Gathering valuable socio-demographics, mobile and web activities and cross-channel campaign feedback data allows you to create customer-centric campaigns that convert.
If you’re interested in more advanced customer segmentation, our blog post exploring Mapp Marketing Cloud’s advanced customer segmentation capabilities is a must-read.
Make sure every interaction with your customers counts by creating personalized content. I know–easier said than done. You’ll need to use the right technology to create truly hyper-personalized content, such as recommendations for similar products to those users have already interacted with.
If you’re keen to create more personalized content for your brand, you might be interested in learning about Mapp’s advanced personalization capabilities.
Now comes the hard part: implementing and orchestrating cross-channel campaigns. We’re talking websites, social media, email, mobile apps, and brick-and-mortar stores—it’s a lot. But with the right technology, it doesn’t have to be a challenge. That’s where Mapp comes in!
Find out exactly how Mapp Marketing Cloud is redefining cross-channel marketing–Mapp customers see 540% ROI over three years.
My final tip for you is to think beyond January. While Dry January and Veganuary campaigns make a big impact, the best campaigns keep the conversation going all year round. Some people will slip up a little and lose interest as the year progresses. We’re all human, it happens. When you collect first-party data (with data privacy as top priority), you can reach out again later with helpful content to keep your brand top-of-mind.
As a marketer, you’ll know the pain of keeping track of upcoming dates—Dry January and Veganuary are just the tip of the iceberg! Never forget an event again by downloading our eCommerce marketing calendar, filled with:
Download the eCommerce calendar and never miss an event!
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