About You Fires the Starting Gun on Christmas — in Early September
Zalando-owned About You has launched what it calls the year's first Christmas spot, fronted by Lena Gercke, a full three months before the holidays.
The campaign
About You, the Zalando-owned fashion retailer, began airing its Christmas campaign on 10 September 2026 — deliberately leaning on the surprise of a September holiday spot. It stars model and presenter Lena Gercke, and doubles as promotion for her own label, LeGer. The spot runs on TV with a 20-second cut on YouTube; About You produces its brand films in-house.
The retailer has been wholly owned by Zalando since July 2025 and uses AI platforms for roughly 90% of its e-commerce product imagery — a reminder that its content operation is built for speed and scale.
Why 'first' is the whole strategy
The Christmas advertising arms race keeps creeping earlier, and here being first is itself the earned-media hook. A holiday ad in early September gets written about precisely because it feels absurdly early — which is the point. About You buys share-of-voice not just with media weight but with the novelty of the timing.
Our read: this is a calculated trade. Go early and you own an uncluttered window and the "first Christmas ad" headlines; go early and you also risk fatigue by the time the season actually peaks. Whether it pays off depends on sustaining presence through Q4, not just spiking in September.
What retail and fashion brands should weigh
First, decide deliberately whether the early-bird slot is worth claiming. If share-of-voice in a quiet window matters more to you than freshness at the peak, move early; if not, hold fire. The worst outcome is drifting earlier by reflex because competitors did.
Second, note the celebrity-plus-own-label structure. Lena Gercke fronting a spot that also sells her LeGer line turns talent into a second revenue stream, not just a borrowed face. Brands signing ambassadors should ask whether the partnership can carry product, not only awareness — that is where the economics get interesting.
Quick FAQ
When did About You launch its Christmas campaign?
On 10 September 2026 — about three months before the holidays — billing it as the year's first Christmas spot, fronted by Lena Gercke.
Why launch so early?
Being 'first' is itself the earned-media hook, winning share-of-voice through novel timing in an uncluttered window.
What's the risk?
Peaking too early and fatiguing audiences before the season's actual peak, so the payoff depends on sustaining presence through Q4.
Launching a Christmas ad in early September isn't a scheduling quirk — it's the whole media strategy. Being 'first' earns the coverage that paid media alone can't buy. The catch is fatigue: own the quiet window by all means, but only if you can still be there, loudly, when the season actually peaks. — Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing
The 'first Christmas ad' is an earned-media play — claim the early window only if you can sustain presence to the peak, not just spike in September.
Is your Q4 plan built to own an early, quiet window — or to be loudest when buying actually peaks?
If you would like to know more about this topic, please contact us on danieln@merxmarketing.co.uk
Sources: Campaign Germany, turi2.
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Written by Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing Ltd and Marketing Minute
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