Key dates for 2025 product sampling campaigns

As brands prepare for 2025, strategic planning for sampling campaigns is crucial to ensure product samples reach the right consumers at the right time.

Whether your focus is on increasing brand awareness, gathering consumer reviews, or boosting sales during peak shopping periods, understanding the key dates and timelines is essential for success.

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Why timing matters for sampling campaigns

Launching a campaign at the right moment means that it can have maximise impact, drive consumer engagement, and ensure your product is top of mind during key purchasing periods.

Aligning sampling with other media channels, or with key retailer promotional periods, can increase impact by up to 50%.

This topic was discussed in our December webinar, where Nicola Truswell, Head of Trade Marketing and Category Insight at Weleda, shared how aligning sampling with a TV flight for their Skin Food campaign significantly increased sales.

This guide outlines critical dates and booking deadlines, helping you plan your campaigns with significant consumer events throughout the year.

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‍Key dates for sampling in 2025

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Our easy guide to campaign timelines

To make the most of your sampling campaigns, it’s important to understand the necessary timelines.

Here’s a clear breakdown of what you need to consider:

1. Determine the event date

This is the key date when you want your sampling campaign to launch or need to see the benefit.

• For event-focused campaigns, this could be a seasonal sale or a key promotional window.
• For gifting or review-focused campaigns, you might want to launch 3 weeks before the event to generate consumer reviews in time.‍

2. Set booking deadlines

• New Clients: Booking must be confirmed 8 weeks before the campaign launch date.
• Existing Clients: Booking must be confirmed 6 weeks before the campaign launch date.

3. Review campaigns (if required)

If your goal is to gather reviews ahead of a major event, you’ll need to factor in additional time

• New clients: Bookings must be made 11 weeks before the event date to account for setup and review generation.
• Existing clients: Bookings should be confirmed 9 weeks before the event date.

4. Put this into a timeline

Finally, it's best practice to put this into a timeline with the key dates throughout the campaign, to make sure that it lands on time.

As an extra bonus, below you'll find an downloadable, editable template to help you plan your sampling campaigns throughout the year.

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Key takeaways

• Start early: Whether you're a new or existing client, plan your campaign well in advance. For review-based campaigns, start even earlier to allow consumers time to trial and provide feedback.
• Customise your timeline: Depending on the nature of the event—whether it’s gifting-focused or sale-driven—adjust your campaign timelines accordingly.
• Think about how you will use consumer reviews: Reviews can significantly boost your campaign’s credibility and effectiveness. Plan for a review collection period before your main campaign to maximise impact on conversion rates.