The first spiced cookies have already been spotted in stores. And while that might feel way too early in August, from a PR standpoint, it's actually a perfect reminder: the end of the year is approaching faster than you think.
Sinterklaas, Christmas, and New Year’s are popular times for campaigns, hooks, and research every year. However, by the time November arrives, hundreds of other companies are trying to do the exact same thing. If you only start thinking about what you want to communicate then, you’re actually already late. That’s why now is the perfect time to prepare your (year-end) PR.
Good PR Starts Months Earlier
A strong hook often seems spontaneous in hindsight. In reality, quite a bit of preparation is usually needed. You need to come up with an angle, possibly collect data, have spokespeople available, arrange visual material, and especially determine which journalist would actually benefit from your story.
That’s why we recommend creating a simple PR content calendar for the last months of 2026 now.
Include in it, for example:
important holidays and themed days;
your own product launches, events, and milestones;
research or numbers you can publish around the end of the year;
moments when your expertise might be relevant;
deadlines by which a campaign must be prepared at the latest.
Think beyond just Christmas. A recruitment agency, for instance, can look forward to resolutions and job changes in January, while a retailer might analyze sales data or consumer trends around Sinterklaas.
So you’re not necessarily planning the final news months in advance. You ensure you’re prepared when the moment arrives.
Leave Room for Current Events
A PR calendar should not become a strict timetable that you cannot deviate from. Some of the best PR opportunities are simply unpredictable.
That’s why a combination works best. Plan for known moments well in advance, but reserve capacity for current events you can quickly capitalize on.
A brainstorming session with the team can yield surprisingly much. What numbers do we actually have? What questions do customers repeatedly ask? What happened around this time last year? And which campaign by another brand do we wish we had thought of?
The personal Newsfeed from Presscloud can also help. It prepares a PR agenda for every organization with relevant holidays, theme weeks, market trends, company developments, and other news hooks. Such moments are consciously identified well in advance, so there’s time to make something genuinely good out of them.
Avoid December Stress
The advantage of planning ahead is not just that you create better stories. It also prevents PR from suddenly being squeezed into November along with twenty other year-end tasks.
You can prepare press releases, initiate research earlier, gather visuals, and start thinking about the appropriate media. When the relevant moment finally arrives, you won’t have to start from scratch.
And during that planning, you might even discover that you don’t need a Christmas press release at all. That’s fine too. Good PR isn’t about leveraging every holiday at all costs, but about moments when your organization can truly add something relevant.
So now that the first spiced cookies are already on the shelves: grab your agenda and plan your year-end PR. Before you know it, you’ll hear Mariah Carey through the speakers again.
