A group of children jumping into a swimming pool, creating splashes, with water slides and sunny skies in the background.

How to make your brand shine this summer

RetailCPGArticle

August 14, 2026

Who doesn’t love summer? It’s a season that signals relaxation, freedom, and carefree fun.

That shift in attitudes and consumer behavior is clear every year – Americans start showing up and making plans that involve walking on warm sand, grills sizzling with burgers for family and friends, reliving childhoods at theme parks and county fairs, and lingering over drinks after the sun sets.

Summer is all about experiencing life at its brightest. And consumers are willing to invest heavily in making that goal happen.

What we're willing to spend on summertime

Last year, Americans planned to spend an average of $3,471 on their longest summer trip. It’s a figure that doesn’t even include dining, entertainment, or local experiences, let alone enjoying summers at home – and it’s not surprising when you consider what summer represents.

For brands, it represents something equally important: a chance to win customer loyalty that lasts across all seasons.

Getting to the heart of seasonal spending

Brands in the vacation and entertainment industry are ready for this time of year and already focused on securing a bigger share of consumers’ wallets. But some brands in sectors that feel less related give up on trying to capture their own share of wallet before they’ve even started.

The brands that win over customers summer after summer aren’t necessarily the ones selling the most relevant product, shouting the loudest about new features, or slashing their prices.

Increasingly, they’re the ones who are finding ways to connect themselves to the moments people already care about.

Turning everyday purchases into memorable moments

A discount code or cashback offer will only go so far when it comes to consumer attention in a saturated market – especially for brands who don’t have a clear seasonal angle for selling their products or services.

But giving your customers something tangible that creates a memory? Do that, and you’ve rewritten the rules of engagement.

Any competitor can add a sale sticker to their customer journey. If you’re the one adding genuine value through experiences your customers can redeem this summer and beyond – tickets to a live event, a weekend spa break, or a family day out – you’re the one they’re going to remember the next time they buy.

Why experiences resonate so deeply

It's simple: consumers remember how brands make them feel. That covers the full customer journey involved in experiencing your product of service – including those frequently missed moments to make an emotional connection.

Our emotions play a huge part in how we perceive, evaluate, and choose between options. By tapping into them, brands can create compelling promotional strategies that resonate with consumers on a more meaningful level.

Give a coupon, get a one-off purchase. Give an experience, and you’ve got prime real estate in people's summer memories.

That’s the key shift – by leading with experience-focused incentives, you’re moving from being the cheaper alternative to being the brand that made a great moment happen for your customers.

When you start being remembered the latter way, you build real loyalty that’s less likely to wax and wane based on price.

Getting remembered after September

By the end of summer, most promotions have blurred together. Discounts expire, billboards get taken down, trends and offers get forgotten.

But experiences stick – and so do the brands who’ve created them for their customers. That’s where we come in.

TLC has partnered with leading global brands for the last three decades to create scalable, experience-led loyalty programs that inspire action and protect margin.

Our promotions don’t just deliver measurable ROI – they build momentum for your brand that lasts for the whole calendar year. From ideation to design to implementation, we handle all the heavy lifting so you can focus on other priorities.

And we do it all for less than what traditional promotions like discounting cost your brand.

Is your brand set for summer?

Consumer spending is inevitable in summer 2026, with major milestones like America’s 250th anniversary on the calendar and World Cup matches coming home. Want to explore how to make the most of it?

Let's talk

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