Unwrapping Success: Boost Your Holiday Advertising Strategy

As we say goodbye to summer and transition to fall, it can only mean one thing: the holiday shopping season is fast approaching. So before the leaves start changing and the first wave of holiday shopping begins, let’s explore what will make your ad campaign successful. 

‘Tis The Season To Embrace Evolving Shopping Habits

Consumers are diversifying how they shop.  Emarketer forecasts that in 2024 mobile holiday shopping will increase by 13.4%, and will account for more than three-quarters of the holiday e-commerce sales increase. Physical store sales are expected to increase 3.7% YoY during the holiday period², with 70% of US consumers preferring to shop in-store⁵. With fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, there’s less time to account for shipping, which will drive holiday shoppers back to physical stores. Consumers are diversifying their shopping habits and it's important to consider timing and channels when planning your holiday shopping campaigns.  

Omnichannel Creates Holiday Magic

Understanding how to engage consumers across CTV, DOOH, Audio, Desktop, and Mobile is key to a strong holiday strategy. With purchases on mobile devices increasing and shopping behaviors changing, running the exact same creative across devices neglects an opportunity to drive awareness and conversions. Small mobile screens require clear and concise messaging and a strong call to action. Thoughtful creative components, such as a carousel feature, can showcase more products, while touchpoints can be used to highlight more product details in an engaging way.   

While CTV is a more nascent option as a purchase path, it's an important channel for reaching holiday shoppers. In a recent study by LG, CTV ads increased awareness with 69% of CTV users remembering holiday shopping ads, while 49% would scan a QR code for a discount³. Building a strong CTV strategy is important to reach motivated shoppers in a highly influential channel. Consider adding QR codes to existing video assets to drive more engagement across screens, and encourage shoppers to purchase with special holiday deals & offers.  

With the shorter shopping season driving an expected increase in foot traffic in physical retail stores between Thanksgiving and Christmas, take advantage of strategic partnerships that offer access to retail ad placements, such as billboards or even in-store audio ads. DOOH ads, whether in store or close to shopping areas, allow brands to keep their products top of mind. Make sure your messaging is clear and value-driven so that it captures shoppers' attention. 

The Greatest Holiday Gift Is Data

Successful omnichannel advertising campaigns benefit from access to strong data. Reaching shoppers based on their hobbies, interests, and shopping habits helps with personalization and optimization towards more engaged consumers.  

For this holiday season, commerce media networks should be a priority for your media strategy. In this competitive season, spending your budget smartly is crucial, and commerce media networks are goldmines for deep audience insights. These addressable audiences create a perfect opportunity for advertisers to achieve effective targeting at, or near, the point of purchase and drive actual sales for their brands, maximizing the potential of your holiday strategy.

Yahoo DSP provides access to unique Yahoo audiences based on content consumption across Yahoo media properties (e.g., Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports, etc.) and user engagement, including insights into the audience's interests, lifestyle, and intent behaviors. Additionally, Yahoo DSP has a strong network of Commerce media partnerships, including Kroger Precision Marketplace, Planet Fitness, Rippl, and more, to help build a custom strategy for your holiday goals.

For example, to find a motivated shopper, a new gym membership is an opportune time to include workout apparel in an ad creative. Grocery shoppers who are purchasing holiday food and drinks are most likely to be the primary household shoppers and might be shopping more in-store than your standard shopper - so be sure to adjust your campaigns accordingly, whether that’s through the creative itself or where the ad will run. 

Making Creatives Bright 

Shoppers' excitement for the holidays is an opportunity to help align your brand with the holiday spirit. Building holiday-themed creatives not only increases relevance but also improves performance. Looking back at Q4 2023, Yahoo Creative found a 4.4x higher conversion rate with Holiday Creatives vs. non-Holiday Creatives⁴.  Another important strategy is including holiday deals, as consumers will continue to prioritize purchases in lower-priced categories and hunt for deals².  

Capitalize on motivated shoppers, and use this time to test and learn what creative strategy works for your business. Set up experiments to see if holiday imagery helps move the needle on performance. Utilize A/B tests to help avoid creative fatigue, and compare different ad variations and elements to see what resonates with your consumers. Leveraging creative-level optimization ensures your budgets are allocated to the most impactful holiday creative.  

Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO) can be an incredible way to build a thoughtful personalization strategy that combines data and customized creative to drive better results. Building creative that speaks to niche audiences requires access to valuable data, flexible design tools, and robust mapping technology. When properly executed, targeted creative allows for more relevant messaging, and better campaign outcomes.

Yahoo Creative is integrated with the Yahoo DSP, allowing future-proof personalization through Yahoo’s Identity Solutions. This diverse access allows you to easily build a data-led, scaleable holiday creative strategy to reach your audiences.  

While there’s no one-size-fits-all for a successful holiday campaign, there are key strategic best practices to set you on the right path. Hop on your sleigh and launch into the season with your data-driven, omnichannel, holiday-themed creative strategy.

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¹ “5 key stats on holiday retail: Shoppers start early, spend on mobile, and rely on buy now, pay later,” EMARKETER, June 2024
² “US Holiday 2023 Recap and 2024 Preview,”  EMARKETER, February 2024
³ “Season’s Streamings,” LG, July 2024
⁴ Yahoo Internal Data, 2024 
⁵ Yahoo Holiday Study, August 2024