Breaking Black: How to Cook the Best Black Friday Ad Campaigns
“Save up to 90%! Get the second item for free! Get a gift card for a purchase!” – it’s Black Friday time, and the wave of seductive offers and terrorizing CTAs have reached its catharsis.
While most folks bathe in the pool of affordable capitalism and make their future selves poorer, we, as marketers, are tearing our hair out to reach them when it’s so easy to lose audience attention in the rain of discounts.
Well, if you’re reading this now, then it’s already too late to worry🌚
Instead of stressing out, buy yourself something nice, sit down, and learn about the phenomenon of Black Friday, how to highlight your brand in such a competitive time, and who did it the best throughout history so you can completely kill it the next year!
The History of Black Friday
Like with most ancient things, there are many versions of how Black Friday came to be. Unsurprisingly, all of them revolve around the crazy adventures of Americans.
Version 1: the first use of the term “Black Friday” was recorded quite a while ago, on September 24, 1869. The main heroes of our tale are the wolves from Wall Street from the golden age of American capitalism, Jay Gould, and James Frisk Jr.
These fine gentlemen aimed to dominate the gold market in the US. They bought gold, expecting prices to soar if President Ulysses S. Grant stopped Treasury gold sales. Their manipulation sent gold prices skyrocketing, sparking market chaos and a buying frenzy.
The plan backfired spectacularly when the president understood what was happening and ordered the release of gold into the market. The metal flooded the supply side and completely crashed the Wall Street market. It exposed how corrupt the industry is and got the name “Black Friday.”
Naturally, this doesn’t have anything to do with the current meaning of Black Friday, but the term stuck, and we’ll see it later.
Version 2: The most commonplace story behind Black Friday is that, after an entire year of operating at a loss (“in red”), the retailers would earn a profit (“in black”) one day after Thanksgiving.
That seems to be realistic, but unfortunately, selling at a loss the whole year would kill the retail industry and is simply not true.
Version 3: The true (at least generally accepted) origin of Black Friday spreads its roots to the 1950s. The day after Thanksgiving, the shopaholics in Philadelphia went completely insane and flooded the stores like the working people at 9 am in Kyiv metro.
Seriously though, shoplifting, broken goods and hour-long queues made everything quite problematic not only for the police but also for the taxi drivers and simple store employees. In 1975 (yeah, it wasn’t just a one-year thing), the Associated Press article rolled out, and the quote goes:
“That’s why the bus drivers and cab drivers call today ‘Black Friday.' They think in terms of headaches it gives them.”
Marketers understood that this was the golden mine. The phenomenon transformed into an annual tradition, and every year, on the last Friday of November, retailers would give massive discounts on their goods.
What Works on Black Friday
Now that you know about the history of this fine event, let’s get to the more practical part.
General Tips
The tips are called “general” for a reason, but hey, what if you forgot?
Although Black Friday only lasts for a day, it has now been prolonged for a week. Starting earlier makes sense from many business standpoints.
Firstly, you evade the risks of server crashes because of too much traffic. Secondly, you build up the hype and stay on the radar for a longer time. Thirdly, you have a chance to capture more clients. Lastly, you will have more time to optimize the campaign.
The modern person’s attention span lasts shorter than you can spell “Black Friday discount.” Focus your campaigns around the hottest products and most popular offers. Shortly, give people what they want. Also, be clear about the discounts in question (if you advertise a single offer). You don’t want to leave the user second-guessing how much they’ll save.
This works for most marketing activities, but a strong CTA is especially important during the Black Friday hysteria. Most clickbait-ish titles, bright images, and emotional CTAs – everything goes during this war for the user's heart.
And the most important (arguably)! Are you selling luxury items? Then, your ad creative should be subtle and stylish. Are you a nonconformist brand? Then, make your ad different from the rest of them. Are you the most boring brand ever? Then, make the most generic ads.
So many ad creatives are just copies of copies of copies. Make yours an organic fit for your brand image, and trust us, it will stand out. You’ll see how that works in the example section.
Black Friday Ad Formats
Hard to admit, but there is no 100% winning formula for success. Still, some formats are crushing both social media and display advertising right now, so why not give them a shot?
46 – that’s how many push notifications an average US citizen receives per day. Imagine the potential for advertising…
Some of you might think that push is a thing of the past, but hey, you are a thing of the past; push ads are growing harder than ever. Their affordability, real-time relevance, and consent-friendly approach make them a top pick for a Black Friday campaign.
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Popunder
Popunder might not be as sexy. Hell, it might not be sexy at all, but it has one major advantage that makes it a killer ad format: the price.
There is no deficit of popunder ad inventory, so combined with the affordability, you have pretty good chances of breaking through the wall of Black Friday banner blindness.
FAQ
Yeah, this one is exclusive for social media, but it’s really worth it. The question-answer format creates a sense of honest relationships between you and the buyer, plus it gives clear and short info without too much marketing crap.
5 Best Black Friday Ads/Ad Campaigns
Okay, calling them “best” might be a slight exaggeration. Think of this list as an example sheet that utilizes what we’ve talked about and makes it work or uses its own way to reach similar success.
1. Ralph Lauren
Simple, yet elegant and luxurious – Ralph Lauren’s Facebook ad is hardly a revolution of design, but it looks good independently and looks even better when you remember who posts it.
No walls of text, no toxic colors, and even no model in sight – the ad just screams “upper-class” and “cool.”
2. The Washington Post
If you’ve ever opened a mobile news web app, you know why we’ve added the Washington Post to the list.
Firstly, come on, one buck instead of 12 is a great deal. Secondly, the ad really looks like a newspaper headline. The color is bright red to highlight the offer, and the background is black to remind you of how serious and prestigious WP is (or was before the recent election). The text is minimal and straightforward – nice work!
3. Apple
Now, what if you are a super-duper luxury brand? What if the mere idea of lowering your prices contradicts the premium image you’ve built so hard? In that case, think Apple.
Apple doesn’t offer discounts for peasants on Black Friday, oh no. Instead, it retains the VIP status by giving customers up to $200 Apple Store gift cards alongside purchases. As you can see, the “discount” ain’t that big, and the time frame is limited, but that helps more than it hurts, because it’s Apple.
4. Patagonia
Remember: if your brand has a unique concept, then make it apparent in your campaigns.
Patagonia’s “Don’t buy this jacket” is an ideal example of the rule. The brand is known for hyping up product longevity and eco-sales, so the point of this Black Friday campaign is to stop and think for a moment.
“Do I need a new jacket? Should I fix my old one instead? What am I doing with my money?”
This approach doesn’t lead to immediate sales, sure. But the next time you think about conscious money spent and the environment, you will remember Patagonia and buy their stuff.
5. Nike
It’s so simple and effective that it’s almost funny to write about.
You know that you want Nike sneakers, and Nike knows that too. Nike uses sneakers in all of its promo materials, shoes are the default tab in the website’s Black Friday section, and it is shoes that are advertised in their search campaigns.
In short, it just uses the most basic advertising tactics, but in an almost perfect way; that’s why we should learn from these guys.
Black Friday: Ready, Set, Shop!
Black Friday isn’t just a holiday for regular folks; it is a holiday for you as well, dear advertiser. Follow our advice, don’t stress too much, and selling “in black” is almost guaranteed!
As for our non-marketing subscribers, what did you buy this Black Friday? I made sure to buy all the Christmas and birthday presents this week to save up some cash in the long run. The amount of presents, however, completely negated the potential savings…
What about you? Share your stories in the comments, and stay tuned for more content!