The Grinch Holiday Franchise: From Classic to New
A two-year holiday franchise program. In 2025, we focused on the classic Grinch backlist, keeping the original story front and center for the holiday season. In 2026, the focus shifted to new titles: I launched How the Grinch Stole Christmas… According to Max!, with teaser social, advertising, retail displays, and in-store storytimes, alongside a Grinch advent calendar, with a campaign built around getting it into the right hands at retail and in front of holiday gift shoppers.
Year
2025 & 2026
Scope
Brand marketing / Seasonal franchise campaign
Client
Dr. Seuss / Penguin Random House
Duration
Holiday 2025 & 2026
The situation
The Grinch is one of Dr. Seuss's most iconic holiday franchises. For the 2025 season, a brand-new title — How the Grinch Stole Christmas… According to Max!, told from the Grinch's dog's point of view — anchored the campaign. The goal: give a beloved evergreen franchise a fresh, buzzy reason to shop, while merchandising the full Grinch collection through the holidays.
My role
I led brand marketing for the Grinch holiday campaign end to end — strategy and messaging, copy, creative direction, retail and event assets, advertising, and social — coordinating across editorial, sales, design, and Dr. Seuss Enterprises.
The approach
I built a playful, franchise-wide holiday campaign — "Have a Wonderfully Awful Christmas with the Grinch" — that launched a new title and lifted the whole collection:
Teaser & reveal: a "Behind every naughty Grinch…" teaser leading into the reveal of Max's POV — a social-first hook that invited fans in.
Advertising: holiday display, ADSP, Bookshop, Snapchat, and Our House campaigns, plus newsletter and e-blast, merchandising the Grinch collection (Stole Christmas, Lost Christmas, Merry Grinchmas Baby!).
Retail: floor displays and a retail & event kit that turned stores into Grinch destinations.
Experiential: in-store Grinch storytimes and activities (coloring, crossword, sticker sheets) for families.
The result
A buzzy, franchise-wide holiday moment: the new title's social announcement drew 17.8K+ likes and sparked organic engagement from major brands in the comments, and retailers ran their own Grinch storytimes and displays — extending a classic franchise with a fresh title across social, advertising, retail, and events.
