To fine-tune your holiday season ad campaigns for max performance, you need the right creative for each platform in your mix. Each platform is special in its own unique way, which means there’s no one-size-fits-all creative approach that you can apply to all. If you want to bring cheer to your bottom line this holiday season, you’ve gotta take a custom creative approach for each platform.
This article will help you do exactly that. In it, we explore the key creative strategies that will help you optimize your holiday campaigns across TikTok, Meta, Pinterest, Amazon, and Snapchat.
Jump to platform:
TikTok: Focus on Value & Variety
Value
On TikTok, traditional direct-response, product-focused holiday season ads aren’t going to cut it. When placed in the FYP, this type of hyper-salesy creative is going to stick out like a sore thumb – leading audiences to simply scroll past and ignore your ad.
To engage TikTok audiences to engage with your holiday messaging/offerings, you need to present them with creative that provides value. Entertainment is a key part of this, with audiences 3.3x more likely to engage with TikTok ads when they find them entertaining.
In order to produce valuable holiday season creative, you need to think less like an advertiser and more like a TikTok content creator. Think about how you can you package (pun intended 📦) your holiday messaging in a way that feels native to the platform so that it will resonate with audiences.
Here's two tips to help you achieve this:
1. Adopt TikTok-native creative techniques
On TikTok, 32% of awareness impact and 11% of intent impact can be attributed to creative having a native look and feel. This can be understood as the language of TikTok.
TikTok’s has its own unique language. It consists of native narrative frameworks (e.g. POV, unboxing, and get-ready with me), and native visuals (e.g. font treatment and reply stickers, along with popular editing techniques and transitions).
By speaking and creating with this language at the forefront of your holiday creative, audiences are much more likely to engage with your ad – and ultimately take action.
Tip: For native creative inspo during the holiday season, scan TikTok’s latest trends and top-performing ads.
2. Collaborate with creators
Another great way to ensure your TikTok holiday ads provide value is to collaborate with creators and let them take the creative reins. TikTok creators have their fingers on the platform’s pulse; they know the formula to create videos that audiences will love.
You can discover creators by visiting TikTok’s creator marketplace.
Another way to collaborate with creators is through Shuttlerock’s end-to-end UGC solution. An example of this can be seen above. Our solution connects you with the right creator(s) for your campaign objective. Our ideation team then develops a creative concept and briefs the chosen creator. Next, the creator provides us with raw, UGC-style footage, which our designers then remix and optimize for TikTok ad placements.
Variety
Along with value, the other key to holiday creative success on TikTok is variety. Variety is about diversifying your creative. It allows you to speak to different audiences, activate various buyer motivators, and keep your holiday campaigns fresh like a snow-covered morning.
Diverse creative delivers strong performance. Average return on ad spend (ROAS) is 1.5x higher with campaigns that feature 5–7 different creatives. For performance-focused campaigns, the best practice is to run:
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3–5 creative assets per ad group.
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3–5 ad groups per campaign.
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Refresh creative every 7 days to avoid fatigue.
When you’re running multiple campaigns during the holiday period, it’s easy for your creative asset requirements to run into the hundreds. Producing at such high volumes can prove problematic. However, you can make it a lot easier by remixing your existing assets.
Not only are Reels really entertaining, they are also great for driving sales. 79% of people surveyed have made a purchase after watching Reels.
At Shuttlerock, remixing for TikTok is our bread and butter. You can supply us with any assets – from static product images and key visuals, through to TVCs and UGC – and our design team can remix it into TikTok-optimized video, at serious scale. Remixing also enables fast turnaround times, enabling you to refresh your creative regularly to maintain performance.
Meta: Use Creative to Your Advantage
Advantage+ shopping campaigns
Advantage+ shopping campaigns are a must for any brand looking to drive sales via Meta this holiday season. These campaigns leverage AI to optimize your campaign to ensure you’re reaching the highest-intent shoppers – helping increase ROAS by 32%.
A key aspect of Advantage+ shopping campaigns is that it removes guesswork and enables you to deliver the right creative to the right audience. This is done by testing up to 150 different creative combinations and delivering the highest-performing option across each placement.
The importance of creative diversification
In order for Advantage+ shopping campaigns to work their magic, they need to be supplied with diverse creative. The more creatives tested, the more precise the algorithm can be in terms of serving the right creative to the optimal – highest intent – audience.
Meta recommends using at least 10–20 assets, with a range of different creative approaches. There are three main ways that you can diversify your creative:
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Diversify visually: Use a mixture of hi– and lo-fi content; experiment with different visual approaches, settings, and scenarios to showcase your product/service.
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Diversify your messaging: Test a variety of opening hooks, speak to unique holiday shopper motivators, and highlight different offers.
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Diversify your placements: Use both video and imagery. Make full use of Meta’s wide range of placements: Stories, Reels, In-Feed, Catalog, Instant Experience, and more!
Achieving such creative diversification might seem daunting. This is where Shuttlerock can help. Our remixing approach makes it fast, easy, and affordable to produce high volumes of diverse creative optimized for any Meta placement. An example of this can be found above with our work with BIC.
Resonate with Reels
Not only are Reels really entertaining, they are also great for driving sales. 79% of people surveyed have made a purchase after watching Reels.
To help ensure your Reels are fit for the festive season, we’ve made a list – and checked it twice – of best practices to follow.
1. Nail the basics first
First things first, to maximize performance, you need to nail the basic Reels design specifications:
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Design for a vertical 9:16 aspect ratio and make the most of the screen real estate.
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Stay within the “safe zone” to avoid your messaging and key visuals being covered by the Reel interface.
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Amplify with audio: use voiceover, music, and sound effects to maintain attention and reinforce messaging.
2. Follow established Reels story types
Presenting your creative through established Reels story types will help your holiday messaging better resonate with audiences. Here are some examples of story types that are perfect for holiday season ads:
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The photodump: As shown in the Rumored example above, photodumps take a wide range of images and videos, stitching them together into a fast-paced, engaging Reel. This story type can be useful if you want to showcase a lot of different products within a short timeframe.
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The listicle: Use an editorial approach that breaks your video down into easily digestible, bite-size chunks. For example, “5 Christmas gift ideas” or “3 holiday recipes that will leave your guests wanting more”.
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Q&A: Answer common customer questions about your holiday offerings. Use this format to provide info on areas such as shipping deadlines or store opening hours.
3. Balance people & product
Being too product-focused is a common mistake brands make when producing holiday season creative. This is something you want to avoid, especially on Reels. Reels ads that feature people see a 25% higher click-through rate (CTR) than those without people.
For audiences to relate to your creative, show people interacting with your product. This can be in the form of a try-on, unboxing, or review.
Pinterest: Engage Active Shoppers
Pinterest is a major holiday shopping destination. In 2023, Pinterest users spent 63% more during the holiday period compared to those on other social platforms. This is because Pinterest users are in an active shopper mindset, seeking out products to purchase.
Because of this mindset, ads on Pinterest play a unique role. 2 in 3 Pinterest users say that ads on the platform “fit their mindset”. In other words, ads function less like ads and more like valuable content that adds to a shopper’s experience on the platform rather than disrupting it.
Capture the shopping mindset with impactful creative
Impactful creative is the key to unlocking this active shopper mindset. Here are some creative strategies that will help ensure your holiday campaigns are set up for max performance.
Use interactive and shoppable ad formats
Beyond standard video and image pins, Pinterest offers a wide range of interactive and shoppable ad formats. These include Showcase Ads, Shoppable Video, Quiz Ads, and Premier Spotlight. Note: availability of these formats is dependent upon your region.
These formats have been designed to help you move shoppers down the funnel towards a sale. They create a more seamless experience where shoppers can learn more about your product and make a purchase in a matter of clicks.
Diversify your creative
There is a wide range of reasons that can lead shoppers to be interested in the same product. By running a diverse set of creative assets, you can speak to these different motivators with creative that is more relevant and personalized.
Creative diversification also enables you to discover different audiences and speak to unique buyer motivators. It also allows you to run creative that’s designed specifically for each stage of the marketing funnel.
Focus on the 4Cs of creative effectiveness
In order for your Pinterest holiday creative to gel with audiences, it’s important to use visuals that fit the platform. This can be achieved by following the 4Cs of creative effectiveness:
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Context: Consider how your creative will appear when placed among other pins. Design for a mobile experience, and keep your video duration short and digestible.
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Content: Lead with an engaging hook in the first couple of seconds. Tell relevant stories that draw on organic posts for inspiration.
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Craft: Let your visuals take center stage by putting copy at the top and bottom of the frame. Keep things moving with engaging motion and transitions.
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Color: Stroke a balance between brightness, contrast, and sharpness. Ensure your key visuals and messaging stand out from the background.
Amazon: Stand Out with Video
In 2023, Amazon sales during the 11-day shopping period surrounding Black Friday and Cyber Monday reached an all-time high, with more than 1 billion items being sold. And you can bet your bottom dollar that this will be eclipsed in 2024. This makes Amazon a huge opportunity for holiday marketers, especially if your products are sold on the platform.
But with huge sales opportunities, comes stiff competition. So, how do you stand out and put your products in a prime position to engage shoppers?
Our suggestion: embrace video. Video gives you an added level of impact that allows you to draw the attention of Amazon shoppers where they shop.
Here are three areas on Amazon where you can deploy video to great effect:
1. Sponsored Brands Video
Sponsored Brands video ads put you front and center on search results pages, allowing you to target shoppers through keywords, categories, and products.
Running videos – as opposed to static images – puts you in a much stronger position to capture shopper attention. In fact, when Sponsored Brands video ads are used in combination with Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands campaigns, brands see a 10% increase in sales and a 25% increase in CTR.
2. Product Detail Page
Setting up a rich, detailed, and engaging product detail page is key to driving sales on Amazon. Shoppers base their purchase decisions heavily on the info shown on these pages. Incorporating video on your page can be a gamechanger, allowing you to communicate information in an efficient, impactful way. As a result, the addition of video on product detail pages increases sales by up to 9.7%.
3. Stores
Last but not least: Stores. Stores are immersive microsites that allow you to house your full product catalog in a central location. You can customize your Store using a variety of different tile types. One of which is – you guessed it – video.
One of the best ways to use video on your store is to feature a full-width video above-the-fold. You can use the video to make a strong first impression with shoppers, showcasing your different holiday offers, and encouraging them to continue exploring. Having your store refreshed and themed to the season also drives greater performance. Stores updated within the past 90 days see 21% more repeat visitors and 35% higher attributed sales per visitor.
Snapchat: Craft Your Comms for Gen Z & Millennials
If you’re looking to target Gen Z and Millenial holiday shoppers, Snap is where it’s at!
Snapchat reaches 75% of the 13-–34-year-old population in more than 25 countries. And these Snapchatters love to shop, so much so you could call them Snapshoppers. This can be seen with 82% of Snapchatters considering shopping to be a primary hobby, and 75% of Snapchatters identifying as “impulse shoppers” – if they like it, they buy it.
To effectively capture this shopper mindset during the holiday season, you’ve gotta craft your content comms in a way that Gen Zers and Millennials can connect with.
Here are some helpful tips:
1. Be authentic
Rather than creating ads that are polished and staged, embrace a more lo-fi ethos that offers an authentic look into your brand. Draw inspo from organic Snapchat content, and mirror the look and feel of these videos.
2. Incorporate UGC
Gen Z and Millennial audiences are more likely to connect with your creative if you feature people that are real and relatable. This can be achieved by incorporating UGC and framing your messaging in relevant scenarios such as unboxings, try-ons, and Q&As.
3. Diversify & personalize
Gen-Zers and Millennials expect personalized messaging from brands. They respond to ads that cater to their unique preferences, interests, tastes, and values. This means that in order to connect with the broadest possible audience, you need to run a diverse set of creatives, each with unique messaging and visuals approaches that are personalized for different audiences.
4. Demonstrate diversity
Gen Z and Millenials are the generations that are leading the charge when it comes to diversity and inclusion. Ensure that diverse representation is a core part of your creative strategy, but make sure it’s backed up by real actions.
Shuttlerock: Your Cross-Platform Holiday Helper
As an official creative partner for each of the platforms discussed in this article, Shuttlerock can help you get the most out of your cross-platform holiday campaigns by supporting you with optimized creative.
To learn more, get in touch with one of our team members to discuss your specific holiday creative needs.
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