It all started with a single clove of garlic—well, make that 20 cloves.
After an incredibly busy week, the creatives at TOP, a PR and digital marketing agency based in San Francisco were in desperate need of some celebration and relaxation. Someone on the team had a breath-taking idea: Because National Garlic Day was this week, why not have a garlic-themed happy hour?
It could be smelly, but the team was up for it.
Everyone rallied around the theme, spitballing a list of foods and ideas. Garlic eating contest? Garlic mincing race? We settled on a garlic buffet with every garlicky treat imaginable: garlic bread, garlic shrimp, garlic pasta, garlic mussels, roasted garlic, pickled garlic. You get the idea. The spread brought everyone to the conference table, and it was the best (if most pungent) happy hour in memory.
Then, a funny thing happened on the way to the mouthwash.
What if every week’s happy hour revolved around a theme? As the world’s fastest-growing viral marketing agency, we were already leveraging a buzzworthy holiday on the cultural calendar for our clients. We had crafted stories around Budweiser for National Drink Beer Day. We spread the word about Del Monte’s iconic green bean casserole for Thanksgiving. And we were hot on the trail of some viral holidays for Meow Mix, Smuckers, Milk-Bone, Mercedes and Dr. Pepper.
Why were we using these holidays for our clients but not celebrating them ourselves—and why were we not spreading the love to all?
And so it was decided.
In spare moments in between pitching stories and scheduling interviews for clients, we built a beautiful website to share everything we were learning about these delightful daily holidays.
Our writers researched the days and discovered fun facts. Our social media team created pun-filled Facebook posts. Our animators experimented with cool cartoons. By the time our filmmakers had ideas for documentaries, our market research team ran fun holiday-themed surveys, and our multimedia team started filming viral videos, we knew we were on to something.
After all, who can resist a wiener dog in a hot dog costume for National Hot Dog Day? (Trust us, no one can.)
What started as a quirky side project soon became an exciting new business because everyone wanted to be in on the fun. Journalists from local and national media started featuring our national holiday write-ups until they spread like wildfire. Consumers were sending us stories about the epic way they were choosing to celebrate their favorite days. Brands like national food delivery service Postmates were partnering with us to help spread the love—and we came full circle by helping them offer free garlicky foods for National Garlic Day, too.
With an internationally-minded team, plus an office in Santiago, Chile, we decided to take the fun globally, discovering and incorporating holidays from countries all around the world.
Today, National Today is the number one destination in the world for people looking for a reason to celebrate, and the brands that want to celebrate with them.
And that in itself is worth celebrating. Perhaps with some garlic.