For businesses · 6 min read · Updated November 2026

Holiday local advertising plan: what to book now and what to skip

Work back from the longest lead time: mail, transit and benches need booking, while profiles, email and window signs can go out this week. Prices and minimums inside.

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For a holiday local advertising plan, work backwards from the channel with the longest lead time. Mail, transit and bench ads need booking and production before the season starts, while a search listing, a window sign or an email to past customers can go out this week. Lunar's own car stickers sit on the slow side: a sticker goes live only after matching, printing, shipping and the driver's install, and nothing sets a number of days for that, so treat Lunar as a plan for the year ahead rather than a December rescue. The sections below list what each channel publishes about price, minimums and limits, with the source and date.

Start with what you can still do this week

The cheapest holiday advertising has no production step: update your Google Business Profile hours, post your holiday offer in the window, email or text people who already bought from you, and ask your best customers to mention you. None of these needs a printer, a mail house or a contract. Do them first, then decide which paid channel is worth the lead time that is left.

Direct mail: the deadline is your printer and the post office

USPS Every Door Direct Mail Retail postage is $0.260 per piece from 12 July 2026 (USPS EDDM page and DMM Notice 123, checked 3 November 2026). Retail has a 200-piece minimum and a limit of 5,000 pieces a day per ZIP code. Printing a 6.25 x 9 postcard in runs of 5,000 or more costs about $0.10 to $0.22 a piece and preparation about $0.035, according to mailpro.org in September 2026, so a full 5,000-piece drop lands near $2,000 to $2,500 before design.

In Canada, Canada Post Neighbourhood Mail is 18.7 cents for a standard piece up to 50 g and 20.7 cents oversize, effective 23 March 2026 (Canada Post rate sheet NM_00-e). Neither the USPS page nor the Canada Post sheet publishes a holiday cut-off date, and printers set their own turnaround. So the honest advice is to phone your printer today, ask for the proof, print and drop dates in writing, and work back from the week you want the card in homes. If they cannot name a date, pick another channel.

Transit and bench ads: minimums decide whether they fit

Published transit rate cards show why these are rarely a last-minute buy. Yolobus in the Davis and Sacramento area lists a tail sign at $275 per four weeks, a queen at $375 and a king at $425, with production and installation charged once and varying by bus (2026 media kit, 2 March 2026). TTC advertising in Toronto, sold through Pattison, lists a king at $600 per four weeks plus production, and a Superbus wrap at $7,000 with an eight-week minimum (media kit, January 2026, in Canadian dollars). El Metro in Laredo, Texas asks $150 a month for one bench with a six-month minimum and a sign printed per bench (El Metro website).

A six-month bench contract signed in November runs well past New Year, which is fine if you sell all year and a poor fit if your offer expires on 24 December. For the full comparison, see what bus ads cost.

Billboards and digital billboards

No billboard operator publishes prices. A 2026 marketplace estimate from billboardsamerica.com puts a bulletin at $1,000 to $5,000 per four weeks in small and mid-size markets and $5,000 to $15,000 in large metros, with vinyl printing extra. That is an estimate, not a rate card. Blip, which sells digital billboard plays, charges per play of about eight seconds through an auction with a maximum bid and no contract. Its help pages state the daily minimum as both $5 and $20, and for Burlington, New Jersey it estimates $20 a day at about 491 plays (help.blipbillboards.com). With no contract and no print step, that is the one billboard-style option that can start quickly.

Vehicle wraps and Lunar stickers

A full commercial wrap costs $5,000 to $8,500 installed and a partial wrap $1,000 to $2,000, according to FASTSIGNS' 2026 guide (checked 12 July 2026). It also needs a shop booking, which in December is the busiest time for many sign shops, so ask for a date before you commit.

Lunar is the small-budget version of a car ad. Half Moon is $500 a month for 2 cars and Full Moon is $1,500 a month for 7 cars, on a binding 3- or 6-month term, with a team-made design you approve. Apart from the $50 deposit, nothing is charged until your first sticker is on a driver's car. The catch for a holiday plan is timing: matching, printing, shipping and the driver's own install all come first, and no one can promise you a date. If you start now, plan on Lunar working for you in the new year. For the cost comparison with other formats, see local advertising prices compared.

A simple order of work

• This week: free channels (profile, window, email list) and a phone call to your printer for a written schedule.
• Only if the printer's dates work: one mail drop sized to a single neighbourhood, not the whole city.
• If you want a paid channel without a contract: test a small digital billboard budget.
• For January onwards: book a transit or bench ad only if you can use the whole minimum term, and start Lunar so a car carries your name in the new year.
• After the season: ask every new customer how they heard about you, so next year's plan starts from your own numbers.

The pattern across every rate card above is the same: the cheaper the per-week price, the longer the minimum or the slower the production. Decide which of those you can live with before you pick a channel, and write the dates down.