2024’s Top Black Friday Brand & Campaign Winners
▼ Summary
– Shoppers began Black Friday research weeks in advance, with YouTube views for purchase-informing content rising 26% in October and 19% in November compared to earlier in 2024.
– Nike led fashion brands with the highest Buzz score (26.2), while Walmart topped retailers (23.9), iPhone dominated tech (33.5), Dove led beauty categories, and Call of Duty was the top video game.
– Amazon and Walmart successfully used humor in their campaigns, with Amazon’s ads rated 22% funnier than average and Walmart’s 19% funnier, boosting purchase intent by 6.4% and 5.8% respectively.
– Home-related content saw the largest growth in video views during the shopping season, increasing 91% in October and 62% in November, indicating shoppers were making bigger lifestyle purchases.
– Successful 2024 strategies show that winning Black Friday requires early consumer engagement, content aligned with research behaviors, and creative storytelling rather than just focusing on deals.
Success during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping period extends far beyond simply moving products off the shelves. The real champions are those brands that manage to seize consumer attention, spark meaningful conversations, and create a memorable brand experience. A comprehensive analysis of the 2024 season, drawing on data from Pixability, YouGov, and DAIVID, reveals the strategies that separated the winners from the rest of the pack.
Pixability’s analysis of YouTube behavior offers a clear window into how consumers prepared for the big shopping days. Matt Duffy, Pixability’s CMO, noted that while tech product searches spiked dramatically on Black Friday itself, the most significant viewership growth occurred in home-related channels. This indicates shoppers were using video to research major purchases like furniture well in advance.
The data shows a clear pattern of early planning. By October, views on videos designed to inform purchases, such as gift guides, product reviews, and haul videos, were already 26.3% higher than the average for the first nine months of the year. This trend accelerated in November, with those same videos seeing an 18.7% increase over the rest of the year.
Category-specific growth was particularly telling. Home content saw a massive 91% surge in views during October, followed by a 62% increase in November. This dwarfs the growth seen in tech (26% in October, 8% in November) and fashion (17% in October, 8% in November), suggesting consumers are increasingly using Black Friday deals for significant lifestyle investments, not just consumer electronics. Retailers like Best Buy benefited from this trend, with brand-related content views jumping 18% in November as search intent converged with shopping plans.
YouGov’s BrandIndex provided another critical piece of the puzzle by measuring which brands generated the most positive chatter, or “Buzz,” during the peak shopping period. By surveying over 2,000 U.S. consumers, they identified the brands that broke through the noise across several key categories.
In the fashion retail space, Nike led decisively with a Buzz score of 26.2, followed by Adidas (22.5) and Rolex (19.9). The list demonstrated a mix of athletic performance, luxury, and everyday comfort, with brands like Skechers, Old Navy, and Crocs all making the top ten.
Among general retailers, Walmart claimed the top spot with a Buzz score of 23.9, with Home Depot following extremely closely at 23.8. Target and Lowe’s tied at 22.0, highlighting the continued dominance of large-format stores that successfully blend convenience, deep discounts, and a strong multichannel presence.
The tech and electronics category was particularly vocal. The iPhone achieved the highest single Buzz score across all categories at 33.5, with Samsung (29.4) and the Apple brand (29.0) not far behind, underscoring the intense competition within the mobile ecosystem.
In the beauty sector, Dove accomplished a notable feat by ranking first in both skincare (28.6) and haircare (26.0), showing the enduring power of trusted personal care brands. The video game landscape was led by Call of Duty (16.8), with Candy Crush Saga (16.5) and Super Mario Bros. (14.8) also generating significant conversation.
Beyond search and buzz, creative execution played a pivotal role. According to data from DAIVID’s AI-powered testing platform, both Amazon and Walmart found success by embracing humor in their 2024 campaigns.
Amazon’s “Five Star Theater” campaign featured actor Adam Driver delivering dramatic readings of actual, often quirky, customer reviews. Walmart responded with “Deals of Desire,” a parody series that playfully mimicked popular television genres. DAIVID’s analysis found that both brands significantly outperformed the industry average for humor. Amazon’s ads were rated 22% funnier than typical campaigns, while Walmart’s were 19% funnier.
While both campaigns initially struggled to capture viewer attention in the crucial first few seconds, Amazon’s longer-form spots, like the “Salad Bowl” video, managed to win viewers back by the end, ultimately exceeding industry averages for sustained attention. The creative risk paid off in tangible business results. Purchase intent lifted by 6.4% for Amazon and 5.8% for Walmart, putting both brands well ahead of the average advertisement. Using DAIVID’s Creative Effectiveness Score, both campaigns scored highly, with Amazon slightly ahead at 6.39 compared to Walmart’s 6.21.
The collective insights from 2024 provide a powerful blueprint for future success. Victory is no longer just about having the deepest discounts. The brands that will win in 2025 and beyond are those that understand Black Friday is a season, not a single day. They will be the ones that enter the consumer conversation early, align their content with how people actually research and shop, and use bold, creative storytelling to cut through the clutter and connect on a human level.
(Source: Search Engine Journal)
