Q4 2023 - Post 6: Getting Design, Copy, and Creative Ready for BFCM

Look for creative inspiration externally and insights internally

Analyze macro trends alongside your own data when deciding what copy and creative to run for Black Friday Cyber Monday. Then prioritize creative testing in October with the clear intent of getting insights for BFCM ads.

Take inspiration from brands you admire (especially those outside your industry/niche) while also considering the creative trends that have been converting for you both with evergreen and sales ads.

One of our favourite sources to store creative inspiration is Foreplay; one of our favourite tools to analyze creative performance is Motion.

Here's some inspo to kick start your Black Friday ad ideation:

Creative volume & variations are key to winning Black Friday

You need a large batch of creative variations to work through in order to scale an ad account effectively during BFCM. 

A high volume of creative built out ahead of time will allow you to swap out low performing creatives seamlessly without resetting learnings or losing momentum with spend. You should also prepare ads in various formats to cover all placements, including video, reels/stories, images, and carousels. 

There’ll also be a big need for creative assets beyond what you need to run as ads, including banners, hero and product images, and organic social, blog, and email content. Consider hiring a freelancer if you don’t have a creative team, or taking a stab at it yourself if you’ve got the Adobe or Canva skills.

Planning creative for the holiday season

Start by organizing creative requirements based on your campaign calendar. For example:

1. October Lead Generation Campaigns (like Contests, Giveaways, or Holiday Gift Guides)
2. November VIP Lead Generation
3. Black Friday
4. Cyber Monday
5. BFCM Last Chance/Sale Extended
6. Last Minute Gifting & Shipping Deadline (December)

Create content in batches around these key dates. Then consider adding variations that can be released throughout the BFCM weekend that build urgency by expressing limited time and limited stock. 

From there, layer your offers, products/bundles, and creative content you’ll want to focus on. This should include your content creators and aesthetic approach as well. 

It’s most efficient to build creative within 1x1 and 9x16 aspect ratios to ensure they’ll work with the most placements possible on paid social. For video content, it’s always worth shooting in vertical 9x16 formats that can capitalize on cheaper placements like TikTok or Instagram Stories and Reels in October and the beginning of November.  

As you build your creative in the ad platforms, keep time-sensitive ads in separate ad sets and use consistent naming conventions to avoid confusion and running irrelevant ads after an offer has expired. It happens every year, but you definitely don’t want to be that brand that gets roasted in the comments for running a time-sensitive offer well past the expiry date.

Now that you've gotten creative and copy sorted, you're just about ready to turn on the acquisition firehose with some solid paid media campaigns. But before you launch, make sure your site is set up for success to avoid leaving revenue on the table.