Why this one is split by market
Most digital PR calendars are quietly American. Pitching a US date to a British desk is the fastest way to be
ignored, and several moments that share a name fall in different months depending on where you are: Father's Day
lands in June in the UK and the US, and in September in Australia. This calendar covers the UK specifically.
How to use it
Work backwards from the date, not forwards from today. Seasonal desks plan weeks ahead and the story window
opens and closes long before the moment itself, which is why every row below carries a pitch-by column rather
than just a date. Pick four or five moments for the year that your own data can genuinely speak to, and ignore
the rest. A calendar is a filter, not a to-do list.
The one rule: bring your own data
A date on its own is not a story. What earns the link is a number nobody else can publish, tied to a moment a
journalist is already writing about. Every row below names the kind of first-party data that turns the moment
into a pitch. If you cannot supply that data, skip the date rather than sending a press release about a day.
A note on dates
Fixed moments carry their exact date. Movable ones carry the rule that sets them, such as the fourth Thursday
in November, rather than a single year's date. That keeps the calendar correct every year instead of going stale
each January, and it is how newsrooms think about them anyway.
The UK calendar, month by month
January
| Moment | Date | Pitch by | Data-led angle |
|---|
| New Year reinvention | 1 Jan | Early-mid Dec | Resolution and reinvention data: what people change vs quit |
| Quitters Day | 9 Jan | Early Dec | Why resolutions fail, backed by your retention data |
| Blue Monday | 19 Jan | Early Dec | Mood or engagement data. Say plainly it is a marketing invention if you use it |
| Dry January | All January | Late Nov | Sober-curious spend and no/low alcohol trend |
| Burns Night | 25 Jan | Mid Nov | Food, whisky or Scottish tourism data |
| Veganuary | All January | Late Nov | Category switching data from your own transactions |
February
| Moment | Date | Pitch by | Data-led angle |
|---|
| Safer Internet Day | 10 Feb | Early Jan | Password hygiene, scam exposure or fraud attempts you observe |
| Valentine's Day | 14 Feb | Mid Jan | Spend, dating and anti-Valentine angles |
| Lunar New Year (Year of the Horse) | 17 Feb | Early Jan | Spend, travel and gifting data |
| Ramadan | ~18 Feb to ~19 Mar | Early Jan | Food, community and late-night commerce data |
| Six Nations | Feb and Mar | Mid Dec | Viewing, hospitality or delivery data by nation |
March
| Moment | Date | Pitch by | Data-led angle |
|---|
| International Women's Day | 8 Mar | Early Feb | A gender-gap number you can evidence, not platitudes |
| Pi Day | 14 Mar | Mid Jan | Anything genuinely numeric in your category, plus the food-desk pun |
| St Patrick's Day | 17 Mar | Early Feb | Hospitality, drinks and going-out spend |
| Eid al-Fitr | ~20 Mar | Early Feb | Gifting, food and community spend |
| World Sleep Day | Friday before the equinox | Early Feb | Usage-by-hour data showing when people are actually awake |
| Mothering Sunday (UK) | 15 Mar | Late Jan | Gifting and spend data. Note this is months earlier than the US and AU date |
| World Book Day (UK) | 5 Mar | Mid Jan | Reading or costume-spend data. The UK date differs from the UNESCO date in April |
| UK clocks go forward | 8 Mar | Early Feb | Sleep, productivity and safety data |
April
| Moment | Date | Pitch by | Data-led angle |
|---|
| April Fools' Day | 1 Apr | Mid Feb | Only if the joke carries a real insight. A stunt with no data is coverage you cannot repeat |
| Easter long weekend | 3 to 6 Apr | Late Feb | Travel, spend and family data |
| Earth Day | 22 Apr | Early Mar | Sustainability data you can actually prove |
| UK tax year end | 5 Apr | Mid Feb | Filing behaviour, allowance usage or last-minute contributions |
| London Marathon | April | Mid Feb | Training, fundraising or footfall data |
| World Book Day (UNESCO) and St George's Day | 23 Apr | Late Feb | Reading or national-identity data |
May
| Moment | Date | Pitch by | Data-led angle |
|---|
| Star Wars Day | 4 May | Late Mar | Pop-culture and merch spend data |
| World Password Day | 7 May | Mid Mar | Password reuse, breach exposure or reset volumes from your own systems |
| Global Accessibility Awareness Day | 21 May | Late Mar | Accessibility failures across your sector, audited properly |
| World Bee Day | 20 May | Late Mar | Environmental or supply-chain data with a genuine link to your category |
| May bank holidays | 4 and 25 May | Mid Mar | Travel, retail or hospitality data across the long weekends |
June
| Moment | Date | Pitch by | Data-led angle |
|---|
| World Environment Day | 5 Jun | Mid Apr | Sustainability data, evidenced |
| Pride Month | All June | Early Apr | Inclusion data with substance, never rainbow-washing |
| Father's Day (UK) | 21 Jun | Late Apr | Gifting and spend data |
| Glastonbury and festival season | June | Mid Apr | Travel, spend or resale-market data |
July
| Moment | Date | Pitch by | Data-led angle |
|---|
| World Emoji Day | 17 Jul | Late May | Emoji or language usage from your own messaging data |
| Amazon Prime Day | Mid July | Mid May | Sale-event shopper behaviour data |
| School summer holidays | From late July | Mid May | Childcare cost, travel or family-spend data |
August
| Moment | Date | Pitch by | Data-led angle |
|---|
| International Cat Day | 8 Aug | Mid Jun | Pet-adjacent spend, naming or claims data |
| International Left Handers Day | 13 Aug | Late Jun | Product or usage data split by handedness |
| International Dog Day | 26 Aug | Early Jul | Naming trends, insurance claims or spend from your own records |
| Notting Hill Carnival | Late Aug bank holiday | Mid Jun | Footfall, hospitality or transport data for London |
September
| Moment | Date | Pitch by | Data-led angle |
|---|
| Talk Like a Pirate Day | 19 Sep | Late Jul | Language, naming or search-quirk data. A genuine favourite of light-news slots |
| International Podcast Day | 30 Sep | Early Aug | Listening, completion or drop-off data |
| Back to school (UK) | Early Sep | Mid Jul | Uniform and supply cost data per household |
October
| Moment | Date | Pitch by | Data-led angle |
|---|
| International Coffee Day | 1 Oct | Mid Aug | Consumption, spend or productivity-by-caffeine data |
| World Mental Health Day | 10 Oct | Early Sep | Wellbeing data with a credible angle. Never a stunt |
| Cybersecurity Awareness Month | All October | Early Sep | Breach, scam and password-behaviour data |
| Halloween | 31 Oct | Early Sep | Spend, trends and pop-culture data |
| UK clocks go back | 25 Oct | Mid Aug | Behaviour-by-daylight data: commuting, energy use, activity |
November
| Moment | Date | Pitch by | Data-led angle |
|---|
| Singles Day | 11 Nov | Early Oct | Global e-commerce spend and trend data |
| Movember | All November | Early Oct | Men's health data with a credible source |
| Black Friday | 27 Nov | Late Sep | The definitive sale-behaviour and spend story |
| Cyber Monday | 30 Nov | Late Sep | Online-only sale behaviour and device-split data |
| Bonfire Night | 5 Nov | Mid Sep | Safety, pet-anxiety or event-spend data |
December
| Moment | Date | Pitch by | Data-led angle |
|---|
| Christmas | 25 Dec | Early Oct | Spend, stress, returns and gifting-fail data |
| Year in review | Throughout Dec | Early Nov | Your proprietary year-in-data story |
| New Year's Eve | 31 Dec | Early Nov | Celebration, safety and hospitality spend data |
| Small Business Saturday (UK) | 5 Dec | Mid Oct | Independent-retail spend data |
| Boxing Day sales | 26 Dec | Late Oct | Post-Christmas spend and bargain behaviour |
Download it
Two ways to take this with you. The Google Sheet drops a copy straight into your own Drive, filterable by month, by whether the date moves year to year, and by industry fit. The CSV imports into Sheets or Excel if you would rather start from a file. Both cover the UK only, so grab the other markets below if you work across regions.
The other markets
Working across regions? The same calendar exists for each one, with the local moments and the local dates.
