The best Black Friday campaigns of all time
Let’s take a look at the most creative and attention-grabbing examples of Black Friday marketing.
Let’s take a look at the most creative and attention-grabbing examples of Black Friday marketing.
About the company: Samsung is a South Korean multinational major appliance and consumer electronics corporation.
The 2022 campaign: On Black Friday, customers anticipate big discounts and are willing to spend money on things they have been eyeing for a while, particularly electronics. Last year in Australia, Samsung came up with the Reverse Auction to encourage people to make up their minds. Bidding started at full retail price and continued to decrease until either all available items were bid for or the price reached $1.
The campaign was promoted through a series of videos that portrayed the Reverse Auction as a breaking news story on TV. While most auction items were known beforehand, the brand included mystery products revealed only on the day.
The exciting shopping experience drew over 50,000 customers who purchased products at nearly 50% below the recommended retail prices.
About the company: Google is an American multinational search engine company.
The 2020-2022 campaigns: In 2020, Google launched a special Black Friday campaign to support and draw attention to black-owned businesses and shops during the holiday season amidst the pandemic.
Google invited Wyclef Jean and Ari Lennox to write jingles for local Black-Owned businesses they loved. The music pieces were later transformed into animated videos and Spotify tracks. As the word spread, more and more people on social media shared their favorite places, leading to half a billion media impressions.
But the main highlight of the campaign was the debut of the Black-owned badge on Google Search and Maps. Now, businesses could add the Black-owned badge to their Business Profile, and other people could easily find them through searches like “Black-owned shops” or “Black-owned restaurants.”
What makes #BlackOwnedFriday rather unique is that the campaign was repeated a year later and then again the following year, and who knows, we might see a new one this year, too.
Both in 2021 and 2022, Google again invited Black artists to create music videos, except this time, they were interactive, allowing viewers to buy whatever they saw on screen.
About the company: TWOJEYS is a Spanish unisex jewelry brand.
The 2020 campaign: For Black Friday 2020 the brand created a short movie with guest stars, company founders and employees. The film tells the story of a heist at a casino bank and the theft of 10 million euros worth of jewelry.
It was launched on the company’s Instagram page and resulted in more than 5000 orders within the first 24 hours of publication. Also, it gained 5 million views on Instagram.
About the company: The Verge is a tech news website.
The 2019 campaign: The website chose a good old marketing strategy –– a prize draw but with a twist. People love free stuff, and on Black Friday The Verge offered them a chance to win a bag full of the best tech gear and gadgets.
There was only one condition: to subscribe to The Verge Twitter account, and that’s it! Existing followers also could participate in the contest and even enter it again and again in exchange for a retweet.
About the company: 22 Days Nutrition is a plant-based health food company.
The 2018 campaign: Curiosity is hard to resist. Having added just one new element to the marketing campaign, the brand significantly increased the traffic to their website.
They sent each customer Black Friday emails offering a unique discount ranging from 20% to 50%. Which one have you got? Go shopping online and find out your fortune!
About the company: Barnes & Noble is an American bookseller.
The 2016 campaign: Who said Black Friday is just for discounts? If lowering prices doesn’t align with your brand values or business model, it’s still possible to find an alternative and run a successful campaign.
Take a look at Barnes & Noble’s solution: in 2016, they released over a half-million autographed books from acclaimed authors as their Black Friday deal. As a result, they had one of their most successful holiday seasons.
About the company: Walmart is an American multinational retail corporation.
The 2020 campaign: During the pandemic Black Friday completely took over online spaces. For obvious reasons, many retailers launched their campaigns exclusively on social media, via emails, or on their websites. Despite being a giant offline retailer, and one of few stores that could at least partially operate offline during the lockdown, Walmart still chose not to stay away and also enter the online game.
The brand launched a 6-day shopping campaign on social media, where they ran multiple mini-campaigns within the main one.
One of these mini-campaigns #UnwrapTheDeals, a shoppable AR-filter for TikTok, brought the most impressive results. With 5.5 billion views and over 1 million videos created with the hashtag, the campaign helped Walmart break traffic records for a digital sales event.
About the company: Lush is a British cosmetics retailer.
The 2017 campaign: Another good example of a not-just-discounts approach. Lush chose a creative way to highlight one of the company’s key values –– being a cruelty-free brand.
On Black Friday 2017, the company launched a limited edition soap to draw attention to orangutan’s near extinction. All the revenue from sales went to the Sumatran Orangutan Society.
As on Black Friday and Cyber Monday an average brand pushes a sale or promotion, it may be hard to stand out. That’s why many retailers set themselves apart from the competition, opting for more thought-provoking campaigns. Here are the best examples:
About the company: Cards Against Humanity is a fill-in-the-blank party game for adults.
Cards Against Humanity are known for their unconventional Black Friday campaigns. Doing them for over a decade, the company reached the point when people are genuinely anticipating the upcoming Black Friday, as everyone wonders what CAH are up to this year. For this article, we picked two of our all-time favorites.
The 2013 campaign: While other brands were reducing prices as much as possible, Cards Against Humanity raiseds them. Such a mockery of a Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales culture!
You probably wonder about the results, and here they are:
CAH sold a bit more games than usual on Black Friday, but what’s more important they experienced a nice sales spike on “Regret Saturday” from people who were waiting to buy the game until it came back down in price.
The 2015 campaign: Two years later, Cards Against Humanity offered people to buy absolutely nothing for $5. And yes, 11,248 people gave them $5. Some enthusiastic fans filled out the form multiple times to give the company more than $5, and one person transferred $100 that way.
In total, Cards Against Humanity made $71,145 from that prank. Some of that money went to charities, but some of it, the team spent on buying fun things. When we say “fun,” we mean a Macbook Pro and a gold vibrator with lube.
It’s quite a bold move, but if it fits into your brand like in the case of Cards Against Humanity, then why not?
About the company: McDonald’s is an American multinational fast food chain.
The 2017 campaign: People still argue whether it was made on purpose, or was an honest mistake by a sleepy staff member (didn’t get enough coffee!). But the fact is that the “mistake” tweet existed for 9 hours and generated 23,000 likes and 11,000 retweets.
About the company: Patagonia is an American designer of outdoor clothing and gear for silent sports.
The 2011 campaign: In 2011, Patagonia launched their first alternative Black Friday campaign called “Don’t Buy This Jacket,” which was meant to make a wider audience aware of the pitfalls of consumerism.
With this smart ad, the company encouraged people to reduce, reuse, recycle, and repair their items instead of buying new ones. The campaign was published in the New York Times, both in online and paper magazines.
About the company: Hiut Denim is a Welsh brand producing jeans for men and women.
The 2017 campaign: The brand shut down their website for Black Friday –– a simple yet elegant move. They stated, that they are already charging a fair price and become sick of all the Black Friday ads and special deals.
The campaign resulted in numerous positive reviews from Hiut Denim’s existing customers and even attracted new audiences:
About the company: Buy Me Once researches and sells long-lasting products.
The 2021 campaign: The brand encourages consumers to choose longer-lasting products instead of throwaway ones while offering good deals on these items. Before launching the campaign, Buy Me Once sent the customers a survey to figure out what products they actually want but were struggling to afford.
After analyzing the results, they chose the ten most requested items and discounted them for Black Friday –– you can find them in the picture above.
About the company: Pantee is a British sustainable underwear brand.
The 2021 campaign: The company is against mindless consumption. That’s why on Black Friday they made online shopping on their website available only for those on the mailing list. The members of the existing community received the password and got access to new and best products that appeared on the website on Black Friday.
About the company: Allbirds is a New Zealand and American sustainable accessory and footwear brand.
The 2020 campaign: Instead of lowering the prices for Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping, as do many other retailers, the company decided to increase all prices across their entire collection by £1.
Such a move serves two purposes: to show their commitment to sustainability best practices and to donate extra money to Fridays For Future, the youth-led international climate movement founded by climate activist Greta Thunberg.
About the company: VivoBarefoot is making barefoot shoes with minimalistic design.
The 2021 campaign: On Black Friday, the brand promoted their ReVivo platform. This platform is used for purchasing repaired shoes that have either been returned by other customers or that are surplus or ex-display stock.
Such a thoughtful approach to this day correlates best with the values of the company.
It doesn’t really matter what strategy you choose for your Black Friday marketing campaigns –– traditional or alternative. The most important is that this strategy aligns with the values of your brand and meets the needs of your target audience.
The article was originally published in November 2022 and was updated in October 2023 to remove campaigns that didn’t age well and add a few new ones that we loved from last year.
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