Every year, months of planning, strategy, content creation and campaigns come down to five days (six if you count Thanksgiving) starting with Black Friday and ending with Giving Tuesday. Thankfully every year is different. While you’re enjoying time with family over the holiday weekend we’re putting together a list of trends we noticed to recap what’s new and what you can keep in your back pocket as you look to 2020. 

Before you get too far, sign up for our newsletter to get the full list of 2019 trends we saw. 

In short, Americans spent $11.6 billion in two days (Thanksgiving and Black Friday) online with $2.9 billion of that coming from mobile purchases. Not a fan of waiting? Buying online and picking up in-store grew by 43.2%. Of course, this was driven more so by the big box retailers but it’s a trend that isn’t going away. 

The Black Friday extravaganza also isn’t as big of a deal for families as it used to be with online shopping becoming more prevalent (as NPR highlighted). Holiday sales launched as early as November 1 in 2018 and late-October in 2019, and us consumer folk know we can find sales outside of the holiday weekend. So why get up early on Black Friday if you don’t have to?

As you were sitting down to eat turkey we were keeping tabs on what some of the major national brands were up to. Brands like Topo Designs and Aesop to Adidas and REI were a few brands that piqued our interest and here are a few trends we noticed from them and others through Cyber Monday. 

Black Friday Timing

Many brands started launching Black Friday sales as early as the Monday before this year and let them extend into the weekend. It’s no longer about one individual day but the week. Brands did everything from teasing out their Black Friday weekend sales to launching them early. 

Every year this shifts earlier and earlier and we’ll continue to see it spread out for e-commerce brands. While foot traffic has, for the most part, remained the same leading up to and on Black Friday so there is still an opportunity to get in front of people on the busiest weekend of the year.

Story Driven Campaigns

Stories continue to drive marketing campaigns and it was no different this holiday season. As consumers continue to ask for clarity in the products they buy and hold brands ever-more accountable to the impact they have on our environment, campaigns are starting to match that anthem. 

Take Adidas for example. They took to social to bring back the topic of their FUTURECRAFT LOOP project, not to talk about the holiday sales. Social media is about connection and brand building now and this is a prime example. 

Four the fourth year of REI’s Opt Outside campaign, the outdoor brand took it one step further in this area and launched the Opt to Act project. Every year since 2015, REI closed its doors AND paid its 13,000+ employees to make a difference on Black Friday. It started so that we would spend more time outside and as the conversation around climate change intensifies consumers are asking brands to do more. So that’s what they did. 

No Holiday Strategy? 

Didn’t have the time to focus on a clear holiday strategy this year? It could have put a dent in your performance by as much as 65-80%. At the very least, focus on the time around the Black Friday weekend but it’s also important to think about your holiday strategy holistically. As we head into September (yes, September) we begin planning for our clients’ holiday campaigns and look at a couple of things including timing and channels. 

From November 1 to Dec. 14 (the typical cut-off for shipping) all of your marketing channels should be hitting on the same beat and should also have a specific purpose. Check out Aesop for example. A sophisticated skincare brand that had social, email and web all highlighting similar collections and messages. Open their email? See the holiday collection. Open Instagram? See the holiday collection. Finally, find time to make it to their site after wanting to pick up the holiday collection? See the holiday collection. 

In the same vein, you need to focus on these channels all year round to make sure that they are engaged and interested in what you have to offer. Did you look at your inbox over the holiday break? It was packed with marketing emails and which ones did you open? LIkely the ones from brands you know well and engage with often. 

If there was one major takeaway for us it’d be this. More than ever, customers are asking the brands they shop from to be more transparent and to do more for the world and a lot of brands are stepping up to the plate. But that story can’t simply be told during the holidays. 

Connect with us if you’re interested in finding unique ways to tell your story and to build community around your brand.