How to do Easter marketing without being lame as hell

I’m about to whinge about holiday marketing – shock.

But come on! Every year, brands dust off their pastel palettes, dig out the egg puns, and send their creative teams spiralling into a frenzy of “spring savings” and “hoppy deals.” The result is a flood of marketing that feels more like a desperate attempt to cling to seasonal relevance than anything remotely inspiring.

Most Easter marketing is tacky, lazy, and painfully transparent in its commercial thirst. But y’all - it doesn’t have to be this way!!! There are ways to acknowledge the season without selling your brand’s soul to the Cadbury gods. So, here are some ways to bring Easter into your campaign without embarrassing yourself.

First, drop the clichés. Seriously.

Pastel palettes and wicker baskets rarely connect with today’s audiences. Instead of falling back on overused symbols, the smart move is to zoom out. Easter is really about transformation. Rebirth. Re-emergence. A spring reset. These are rich, emotional themes that can serve brands far better than a foil-wrapped chocolate bunny ever could.

Take Glossier, for example. Instead of going literal, they’ve historically used spring as a moment to talk about skin renewal and fresh routines—anchoring their content in emotional relevance, not visual tropes. It feels seasonally appropriate rather than like they’re co-opting a kid’s holiday.

Subvert the visual codes.

If you’re not going to bring something new to the pastel-and-florals party, don’t come at all. In fact, going the opposite direction might be your best bet. Anti-aesthetic is the new aesthetic. A great example? Acne Studios released a surreal, dreamlike spring campaign last year featuring melting fruit and glossy latex textures. It nodded to the strange, in-between feeling of the season without relying on a single Easter trope. It was unsettling, unexpected, and hard to look away from (exactly what seasonal marketing should be).

And then there’s Erewhon, which routinely taps into seasonal moments (like their limited-edition “Radish Easter Egg” but wraps it in their signature wellness-glam packaging—no cartoon rabbits in sight.

Lean into the weirdness.

Easter is a bizarre holiday when you really think about it. A rabbit that hides eggs? Candy shaped like tiny birds? Religious resurrection meets brunch? The cognitive dissonance is right there for the taking. So lean in.

This is where brands can get playful—especially if you’ve got a younger or more internet-savvy audience. Back in 2022, Duolingo dropped an “Easter egg hunt” inside their app, hiding absurd clues in lesson formats and teasing users on TikTok with cryptic hints. It felt fun, interactive, and perfectly on-brand for a company that’s built a personality cult around a threatening green owl.

Or look at how MSCHF approaches seasonal drops. Their take on Easter? Giant loot boxes filled with anything from Rolexes to a chewed piece of gum (if you were really lucky). It's irreverent, borderline unhinged—and it sold out instantly.

Build community, not just campaigns.

Here’s a radical thought: what if Easter wasn’t about selling something at all? You don’t need to drop a limited-edition capsule to make seasonal content feel meaningful. You could spotlight your community’s spring rituals. Invite creators to share their own “reset” moments. Or go analogue, like Kinder Joy did last year with their IRL Easter egg hunts for families. It wasn’t just cute—it was immersive, memorable, and shared like wildfire online.

You can also play with hidden meaning. “Easter eggs” are baked into gaming and internet culture already. Why not hide a few inside your UX, socials, or packaging? It gives people something to do, not just something to buy.

Or just… don’t do anything at all.

No one said you have to acknowledge Easter. In fact, if it doesn’t align with your brand’s values, voice, or visual identity, it’s probably better to skip it. Chasing seasonal relevance without intention is how you end up with a pink-themed panic post that screams “we needed something to go live today.” Sometimes the smartest move is to sit it out and focus on moments that actually matter to your people.

Easter marketing doesn’t have to suck—but it does have to mean something.

Whether you're channelling spring as a symbol of renewal, flipping the aesthetic script, or just embracing the chaos of the season, your campaign should feel intentional. Not obligatory. Not algorithmically generated. Not phoned in. So this year, resist the urge to hop on the bandwagon. Make something weird. Make something beautiful. Make something you.

And please, PLEASE —retire the egg pun.

-Sophie, Writer