By DENISE PURCELL

YOU’VE PLANNED YOUR PROMOTIONS FOR THE BIG FOUR CANDY HOLIDAYS—Valentine’s Day, Easter, Halloween and Christmas—but what about the rest of the year? With careful scheduling and a festive approach you can create candy promotions that tie into regional passions, international occasions, seasonal celebrations and truly curious official holidays (eg.: March 28: Something on a Stick Day).

Start by Thinking Local
A Southern Season, which is in Chapel Hill, N.C., located near the University of North Carolina campus, promotes local sports teams through their sweet selections. “We’re a home-grown store in a college town so we always have lots of ‘home team’ candy on special during every football and basketball weekend of the year,” explains Joyce Fowler, candy buyer. “It’s mostly fun stuff like UNC Pez, mints and lollipops.”

When seeking out candy growth opportunities, know who’s shopping in your store. You may find that certain products or flavors can have a bigger presence or a longer “season” than originally thought. Art Mart, Urbana, Ill., has “a big licorice community,” notes Owner Linda Ballard. The authentic flavor, originally popular in the jelly beans the merchant stocked, was hard to find so Art Mart has brought in a larger variety through Peter’s Imports, Grandville, Mich., of black, salt and double-salt licorice. “We offer it in bulk year-round and then have Bassetts Allsorts brand available in decorative tins during the winter holidays,” Ballard notes.

Go Global
International holidays offer more opportunities for special promotions, recommends Susan Fussell, vice president of communications for the National Confectioners Association, Vienna, Va. For example, rather than Valentine’s Day, Japanese customers may celebrate Red Day on February 14 when women give chocolate gifts to men, and White Day on March 14 when men reciprocate. Or for Mexican holidays such as Cinco de Mayo, colorful, tropical-flavored candies could sell well, she says.

Whatever the candy promotion, merchandising is critical, notes Fussell, and creative cross-merchandising can be particularly lucrative. Try displaying candy near greeting cards or party supplies, or as part of special storewide or international themed showcases. “My favorite promos are storewide celebrations from locations around the world,” says Fowler. “That’s when our candy department can really show off some of our more esoteric and interesting confections like Spanish Túrron, authentic Turkish Delight with Mastiha, Dutch salt licorice and Lübecker marzipan.”

Get Creative
Non-candy-related holidays can offer fun options if you use your imagination. March 22 is As Young as You Feel Day. What better way to celebrate than with retro candy? Or, do some good: The Great American Smokeout is the third Thursday in November. Some national sandwich chains have created promotions designed to help smokers take the first step. In exchange for at least a half pack of cigarettes, they offer customers a special sandwich promotion (as in Cold Turkey). Why not promote candy as an option to lighting up and pass out lollipops or gumballs?

You can also create your own mini food festivals. For the past three years, A Southern Season has hosted a month-long Joy of Chocolate promotion. “We have different sales and deals every week—gift baskets, bars, boxes—and samples at our demo stations and chocolate counters,” says Fowler. “It’s pretty lavish and sales have been great. We hold it in December, but it could certainly happen anytime during the year.”

Even bad news can help spark ideas. In London, economic woes helped launch the Credit Crunch candy bag, which is a top-seller at Selfridges & Co. department store. These $6 bags contain chunks of crunchy toffee covered in chocolate.

Plan Ahead
Look at the entire year and see where special promotions may boost candy sales or create opportunities for more traffic. To get you started, here are more than 50 sales opportunities:

First Quarter
In January, many retailers launch ongoing promotion cycles that aren’t tied to specific occasions. “Our Bar of the Month promo is consistently popular and successful. We sell about 500-plus bars in our chocolate department and put one of them on sale every month,” says Fowler. “Our customers are pretty much trained to buy the special before they start browsing for new bars. It’s a great way to nudge folks into trying something a little daring, and it also helps me to thin out inventory.”

Generally, Valentine’s Day rules first-quarter sales efforts, but there are numerous lesser-known occasions such as National Gumdrop Day or Something on a Stick Day (think lollipops, etc.) to promote individual candies. Also, don’t rule out holidays like Chinese New Year or St. Patrick’s Day when red candy or green and white candies or spearmint leaf jellies, respectively, are popular, notes Fussell.

Here are some more ideas for 2009:
Jan. 8:    English Toffee Day
Jan. 10:    Bittersweet Chocolate Day
Jan. 20:    National Buttercrunch Day
Jan. 26:    Chinese New Year
Feb. 6:    Bubble Gum Day
Feb. 11:    Peppermint Patty Day
Feb. 14:    National Creme-Filled Chocolates Day
Feb. 15:    National Gumdrop Day
Feb. 19:    National Chocolate Mint Day
Feb. 24:    Mardi Gras
Feb. 25:    National Chocolate-Covered Nuts Day
March 1:    National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day
March 17:    St. Patrick’s Day
March 19:    National Chocolate Caramel Day
March 22:    As Young as You Feel Day
March 24:    National Chocolate- Covered Raisins Day
March 28:    Something on a Stick Day

Second Quarter
Easter dominates candy sales in the second quarter, though confections geared toward Passover are growing in popularity. Jacques Torres promotes four varieties of chocolate-covered matzo at his retail outlets in New York—peanut butter, coconut, mendiant (studded with nuts and dried fruit) and spiced. Torres also celebrates chocolate surrounding Mexican holidays such as Cinco de Mayo. In his new book, A Year in Chocolate: 80 Recipes for Holidays and Special Occasions, he notes that cacao is integral to Mexican culture since the ancient Mayans and Aztecs. Torres uses Mexican traditions, such as mixing warm spices in chocolate, as inspiration for his Chocolate Hot Tamale molded cookie and other confections.

Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are also opportune times to highlight chocolate—fancy and boxed for mom and almost any variety, especially chocolate-covered nuts, for dad, says Fussell. Additionally, candy-dish candies are an excellent way to say thank you to everyone on Administrative Professionals Day, she adds.

And lastly, June has been designated as National Candy Month, offering 30 days of creative promotion.

Following are some other occasions in 2009:
April 5:    National Caramel Day
April 6:    National Caramel Popcorn Day
April 12:    National Licorice Day
April 12:    Easter Sunday
April 21:    Chocolate-Covered Cashew Truffle Day
April 22:    National Jelly Bean Day
April 22:    Admin. Professionals Day
May 5:    Cinco de Mayo
May 10:    Mother’s Day
May 11:    Eat What You Want Day
May 23:    National Taffy Day
June 16:    National Fudge Day
June 21:    Father’s Day
June 29:    National Almond Butter Crunch Day

Third Quarter
Summer months offer retailers a chance to be creative with their candy promotions. “Summer is a time when candy tends to be forgotten,” says Fussell, who points to the three big summertime cookout days—Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day—as ideal times to promote candies, especially red, white and blue-colored confections or indulgences that won’t melt such as hard candies or marshmallows. Other warm-weather treats such as cotton candy and s’mores can rate their own days of honor on a promotion calendar.

Back-to-school can be an event as well. Torres notes in his book that his retail shops see a surge of mothers buying chocolate as lunchbox treats to start off the school year.

Here are some more idea sparkers for 2009:
May 25:     Memorial Day
July 4:     Independence Day
July 8:    National Chocolate with Almonds Day
July 20:    National Lollipop Day
July 21:    National Junk Food Day
July 28:    National Milk Chocolate Day
July 31:    Cotton Candy Day
Aug. 10:    National S’mores Day
Aug. 15:    Best Friends Day
Sept. 7:    Labor Day
Sept. 23:    National White Chocolate Day

Fourth Quarter
The fourth quarter is all about the holidays for most retailers, but there are some peripheral opportunities to further boost sales. You can once again celebrate Mexico’s rich chocolate history during Dias de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). Encouraging shoppers to leave chocolate treats at gravesites as they do in Mexico is probably a stretch, but you can make or stock a similar assortment of chocolates molded into skulls, skeletons and coffin shapes. Also, don’t overlook opportunities between Halloween and Christmas and Hanukkah. Thanksgiving is a perfect time to promote mints or candy-dish candies for entertaining, says Fussell.

Following are some more candy occasions for 2009:
Oct. 14:    National Chocolate-Covered Insects Day
Oct. 17:    Sweetest Day
Oct. 21:    Caramel Apple Day
Oct. 28:    National Chocolate Day
Oct. 30:    National Candy Corn Day
Nov. 1:    Day of the Dead (Dias de los Muertos)
Nov. 4:    National Candy Day
Nov. 26:    Thanksgiving
Dec. 11-19:    Hanukkah
Dec. 16:    National Chocolate-Covered Anything Day
Dec. 19:    National Hard Candy Day
Dec. 25:    Christmas
Dec. 26:    National Candy Cane Day

Sweetening the Outlook
With all eyes focused on the economy, now is an ideal time to include candy as a year-round promotion. “We highlight our candy as local, high quality and comforting,” says Art Mart’s Ballard. “We find that people still want to treat themselves, especially on high-end chocolate where one piece is very satisfying.”

The store offers an everyday display of upscale chocolates, including local favorite Ruebens Belgian chocolates and Audra’s Toffee, “a grandmother-type recipe,” Ballard explains. “Customers are including it in corporate gifts because it’s not ostentatious.”

“Candy is lucky in that it’s a little insulated,” notes Fussell. “It’s a relatively affordable luxury and it’s so much a part of our culture that we don’t think to not include it in celebrations.”

However, she continues, “If people are not shopping as much and are coming into less frequent contact with candy, merchandising and promotion is all the more important.”

Denise Purcell is editor of Specialty Food Magazine.