’Tis the season to be spending.
Early holiday shopping hit new highs this year: Consumers spent $76.8 billion in October, $4.3 billion more than last year, according to Adobe’s holiday shopping tracker.
On top of that, 19% of consumers shop for holiday gifts year-round, according to Gartner’s 2023 Holiday Marketing Guide for Retail. Gartner predicts that figure will increase to 30% by 2026, which means marketers need to plan for the holidays all year.
But the holiday shopping frenzy typically peaks in the last two months of the year, and marketers are gearing up for Q4’s grand ball: Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
“Black Friday and Cyber Monday will culminate in a tsunami of increased marketing volume: more posts, ads, emails and overall spend,” said Kassi Socha, a director analyst in the Gartner marketing practice who co-authored the holiday marketing guide.
While “traditional CMOs” under pressure will focus on proven ROI-driving channels like social, paid search and email, Socha said, “strategic CMOs” will shift their ad spend to channels like YouTube, where consumers increasingly find inspiration for holiday gifts.
Also, rather than focusing only on upper-funnel brand-building content, brands are running ads about core services like curbside pickup, Socha said.
But, arguably, few are as immersed in brand desires and anxieties as agencies, as they help media plans come to fruition during this festive yet stressful time of year.
We asked the experts: Looking at your ad spend for Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the rest of the holiday season, which channels are you leaning into — and which are you pulling away from?
- Maura Lohan Pierson, senior director of paid media, WPromote
- Jay Friedman, CEO, Goodway Group
- Brooke Hess, VP of paid media, NP Digital
- Jeff Malmad, global head of commerce, Mindshare
Maura Lohan Pierson, senior director of paid media, WPromote
As our teams have prepared for holiday pushes, they’ve focused on priming audiences with upper- and mid-funnel tactics across CTV, YouTube, Google’s Demand Generation and paid social channels to introduce audiences to our brands and keep them top of mind as they begin to consider what they’re buying during the holiday season.
Because this is happening pre-holiday, we’re able to shift the majority of our investment to channels that can capture demand during Cyber Week. Investment will focus most heavily on paid search and social commerce to prioritize seamless experiences for audiences as they make their purchases.
Jay Friedman, CEO, Goodway Group
The money flows to channels that can prove performance. This will leave some very valuable channels and real estate behind – namely, CTV and iOS inventory, which should be valued higher but won’t be. The real winners will be retail media networks and influencer content, as both offer closed-loop attribution in their respective channels.
Brooke Hess, VP of paid media, NP Digital
Brands are focusing their efforts on Google’s Performance Max and Meta’s Advantage+ shopping campaigns, not only to capture bottom-funnel demand but also to reach users who are considering which products to purchase during Cyber 5 [the period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday].
They’re also maximizing paid search spend during this year’s competitive market against the largest advertisers, which are aggressively bidding to capture most of the impression share on Google and Microsoft.
TikTok is also emerging as a top choice for ecommerce brands to advertise this holiday season.
Jeff Malmad, global head of commerce, Mindshare
No matter what channel you lean into, two of the critical things consumers want from their holiday shopping are frictionless experiences and customization.
When brands and retail platforms can make things easier for shoppers, everyone wins. Customization and personalization are integral, too. When you can make online shopping easier through AI for your consumers, it’s a win for multiple parties.
Answers have been lightly edited and condensed.
