By Diego Andrade, Executive Creative Director, Orci
The holiday season keeps starting earlier each year, with Christmas décor hitting shelves before the clearance Halloween candy is even gone. It’s not just a meme anymore, it’s become an observable shift to such an extent that a meaningful portion of total holiday spend happens before November.
2025 was no different. Whether it was due to price anxiety, tariffs, or an attempt at budget control, consumers have spread out their spend this season. Retailers and advertisers have readily adapted to this shift and adjusted their behavior accordingly. Major brands launched holiday campaigns as early as September—cue October “deal days” (Prime Big Deal Days, Target and Walmart promos, etc.) which have, in their own way, become unofficial kickoffs to primetime season. Black Friday? Not just a single day. Gone are the days when those savings lasted a mere weekend through Cyber Monday. This year, we’ve seen blocks of as many as four, five and six weeks headlined by terms like “Black Friday.”
The economic logic is clear: an extended season equals extended revenue capture.
But for those brands willing to look closer, there’s something else they’ll see—because while this might seem like an emerging trend at first glance, this extended season is the norm for Latine families who’ve long embraced an expanded holiday season. Trees go up early and stay up through at least mid-January, long enough for the Reyes to have come and gone. And we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Because we have always had a longer, richer, more layered holiday window. From Día de los Muertos, straight through to the Guadalupe-Reyes marathon all the way to early February, when whoever got the baby in the rosca delivers on the party they owe us. For our community, this isn’t a trend, it’s just how we’ve always done it. So consider that the communities who already live this rhythm don’t need to be invented or educated. They already shop, gather, and celebrate in this way.
Which is to say that there’s an opportunity here for brands to recognize this, learn from it, and hopefully engage with this behavior—and our community—in an authentic way. By embracing marketing which appreciates what Latine consumers are spending their drawn out holiday season thinking about. Marketing that reflects those values back at them. Of course there are obvious plays toward gifting, but brands should see it as one facet, not the only.
Instead of marketing that relies solely on urgency, discounts, and countdown clocks, brands can align with how these audiences actually experience the season: extended periods of preparation, hosting, caregiving, and togetherness, all in a category beyond gifting, and arguably more important. Food, home, beauty, entertainment, financial services, and retail brands all have permission to show up as helpers throughout this marathon—not just as sellers at the finish line.
Brands that show up authentically during this full window—supporting all of the active behaviors just listed out—can earn something more durable than seasonal sales from Latine consumers: trust, loyalty, and long-term relevance.
