What Holiday Shoppers (and Marketers) Want: The (Data-Driven) Secrets to Q4 Creative

“Nobody reads advertising. People read what interests them, and sometimes it’s an ad,” said Howard Gossage, innovator and OG from the Mad Men era of advertising. We all know that brands with a powerful story to tell (and products to match) are the ones who succeed. But changing shopper behavior, the perception of value, and — let’s face it — the rising cost of living have made it more challenging for brands to shine. We’ve seen these play out through the year across various shopping events and holidays, but it’s really Q4 where the delicate relationship between ad creative and consumer psychology will truly be tested. We explored this in MNTN’s recently launched Performance TV Guide to Holiday 2024, but there was so much to unpack that we decided this topic deserved a piece all its own. 

Value Trumps Values

In MNTN’s Holiday 2024 guide, we explored modern pricing heuristics that influence how shoppers grade value. We found that they’re willing to walk away when price is a major factor in their purchasing decisions, or if they’re not seeing value in what you’re offering (for example, if you reduce the size of a product without reducing the price). This is why value-driven messaging is vital in Q4. This messaging could be quantified, such as “Save X when you subscribe today” or “Don’t miss out on X% off your first order.” But if you don’t necessarily have discounts to lean on, then it could also be through quality assurance or innovation — think “Order by X to guarantee delivery before the holidays,” “Check out our holiday bundle for stress-free shopping,” “We’ve upgraded our formula,” or “Our product is approved and certified by X.” 

Research from McKinsey has also revealed that even sustainability is taking a backseat in favor of more cost-conscious purchases, as fewer Gen Z and Millennials ranked sustainability as an important purchasing factor in Q1 2024 versus Q2 2023. This same research study found that they’re also less likely to pay a premium for it.

Creative Considerations During an Election Year

This year’s Q4 coincides with an election year, and marks a record-breaking year for elections globally. According to the World Economic Forum, more than 2 billion voters in 50 countries will head to polls; closer to home, all eyes are on November 5th as much as (if not more than) they’re on the Cyber Five. So the question remains: to advertise, or not to advertise? Turns out, it’s the latter. Studies show that advertising within trusted and well-respected media can have a halo effect on your brand.

Before people flock to the polls, they’re flocking to the TV screens to get the lay of the political landscape. This increased viewership will create a big opportunity for advertisers, even as brand safety remains a valid concern. Nevertheless, a poll by global market research firm Ipsos revealed that what customers say they’ll do doesn’t always align with what they actually end up doing. Less than 25% of respondents actually stopped using a product or service due to a political or social issue related to a corporation, even though almost half (43%) said they would be less likely to buy from a brand whose stance they didn’t agree with.

This doesn’t grant brands license to let loose on their ad creative come election season, of course. Ipsos’ research revealed that uplifting creative outperformed sales-focused messaging alongside political advertising / content.

The key to succeeding this Q4 is distinct storytelling, which positions your brand in a positive light and builds an emotional connection with your audience. This can be through the use of brand cues (hear Heinz, think ketchup), and putting your product (or service) at the heart of your campaign. And don’t forget — if your brand does have a stance on an issue, this should also be consistently reflected in your messaging. Stay on course, and your shoppers will follow suit. 

Does High Performing Creative Look the Same for B2C and B2B Brands?

In our recently launched MNTN Research Q4 report, we shared B2B brands’ performance gains over the Cyber Five, which closely matched their B2C counterparts. But what about creative performance? We analyzed three of the top-performing ad creatives by ROAS for B2B and B2C during Q4 2023 and noticed that the creative elements that generated performance were not the same.

What was common to all of these segments: a prominent watermark throughout the creative, whether that be the brand logo, offer, or URL. The end cards also all featured a final “hook” or tagline to reinforce memorability.

Holiday Creative Takeaways

This year’s holiday season will be far from a snooze fest. Price-driven shoppers are demanding value, and this poses a challenge for brands to provide messaging that speaks to this need. However, with this year being an election year (and with emotions at an all-time high), brands also need to focus on the storytelling element in their creative that will uplift spirits while still being rooted in their service / product offering. And while there are some subtle differences between what top performance B2B and B2C brands are doing on Connected TV, the main creative best practices still hold true. We envision this year’s holiday season panning out similarly, but having a performance marketing channel like Connected TV makes it easy for brands to produce performance-driven creative that delivers on its goals.