BigSpy Report: Global Black Friday Ad Trends 2025

Black Friday Battle Kicks Off: Marketing Competition Intensifies

Every Black Friday is like the “World Cup” for global e-commerce. 
From North America to Europe, from Southeast Asia to Latin America, countless brands hit the “accelerator” on the same day, aiming to maximize both exposure and sales in a short time.
Compared to previous years, this year’s Black Friday competition started earlier and moves faster. 
Brands are investing more heavily in ad creatives and content innovation, with video ads becoming the mainstream format and content being updated at an increasingly rapid pace.
In an environment where traffic growth is slowing, more and more brands are turning to creativity-driven campaigns, leveraging precise messaging and strong emotional resonance to capture consumer attention.

In this high-pressure battlefield, marketing is no longer just a “price war.” It’s a test of creativity, timing, and insight.

Leveraging its global ad monitoring capabilities, BigSpy has identified the most representative trends, creative directions, and practical strategies for Black Friday 2025. 

Whether you’re a DTC brand, a cross-border seller, or an agency, these insights reveal actionable levers for growth.

Traffic Peaks Arrive Earlier, Emerging Markets on the Rise

BigSpy’s monitoring of global ad data from 2023–2024 reveals that peak-season campaigns are characterized by an “early start and concentrated surge.”

Overall ad spend in 2024 was significantly higher than the previous year, with peak activity arriving in mid-November—closely aligned with Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Brands are moving at a tighter pace to capture consumers’ attention windows.

Channel distribution: Meta platforms remain the main battleground for Black Friday:

Facebook and Instagram together account for over 60% of ad volume, continuing to serve as the core touchpoints for brand reach.

Meanwhile, TikTok, YouTube, and Audience Network are growing rapidly, especially in Latin America and the Middle East, becoming crucial channels for brands testing multi-platform strategies.

By country:

• United States: Solidly in the top tier, maintaining the highest ad density.
• Brazil: The fastest-growing emerging market, with ad volume up over 70% year-on-year.
• Germany & UK: Slight pullback, with some budgets shifting to high-growth regions.
• Canada & Australia: Stable performance.

Notably, the frequency of Portuguese-language ad copy has risen sharply, indicating that Latin America—with Brazil at its core—is gradually becoming a new main battlefield for Black Friday marketing.

Changes in keyword trends reinforce this shift. Electronics like “PlayStation” and “Switch” and home goods such as “Decor” and “Buffets” appear frequently, reflecting consumers’ core Black Friday intentions: tech upgrades and household spending.

Overall, Black Friday 2025 is shaping up to be a season of shorter content, faster creativity, and broader distribution. 

Brands aiming to capitalize on this peak season need to accelerate their ad pacing, channel deployment, and creative output simultaneously.

Black Friday Hot Ad Creative Trends: Emotion-Driven Storytelling Meets Visual Impact

The competition for Black Friday ads is no longer just about budgets—it’s about the speed and emotional resonance of creativity.

BigSpy’s monitoring data shows that the hottest ad creatives for Black Friday 2025 reflect three clear trends: “Enhanced Emotional Marketing,” “Refined Product Experience,” and “Upgraded Visual Impact.”

Enhanced Emotional Marketing: Shifting from Function to Feeling

Traditionally, Black Friday marketing focused on price and performance, but this year, more brands are telling emotional stories.

For example, ads for custom gifts and apparel often use a “memory-triggering” structure: 

• Start with real-life photos or everyday moments to spark resonance.
• Extend the story through the product to evoke emotions like love, nostalgia, or surprise.

Creative formula example:

Opening visual hook (happy photo) → Contrast showcase (high fidelity) → Product variety display → Emotional return (gift moment)

These creatives can drive rapid “heart-to-cart” conversions, making them among the most explosive ad types during Black Friday.

Refined Product Experience: Let Consumers “Feel Before They Buy”

Detailed product demonstrations are another major trend.

For products like smart litter boxes or small appliances, brands are including complete usage processes, feature explanations, and scenario demos.

This “guided-review” style addresses purchase concerns through realistic experience visuals and performs especially well in pet products, home appliances, and beauty tools.

Creative formula example:

Feature test → Usage demonstration → Detail magnification → Trust reinforcement

This approach is highly effective in video ads, satisfying two key consumer needs:

• Rational understanding (“I know how this product works”)
• Emotional reassurance (“I trust it won’t disappoint”).

Upgraded Visual Impact: Capturing Attention with Suspense

With the rise of short-form video, capturing attention in the first 3 seconds is critical.

During Black Friday, categories like decorative lighting and digital accessories are increasingly using suspense-driven openings: start with a surprising or puzzling visual, then quickly reveal the product and its core function.

For example, Creative Lighting’s Aurora Lamp ad shows the “Northern Lights appearing at home” concept with rapid cuts, grabbing attention and anchoring memory. Paired with limited-time offers and strong visual impact, it creates a highly efficient impulse-buy chain.

From showcasing features to telling stories,
From rational selling points to emotional resonance,
Black Friday ad creativity is shifting from content overload to emotional engagement.

Brands that want to drive conversions must do more than show products—they must let consumers see themselves in the ad: in a feeling, a moment, or a lifestyle scenario.

Hot DTC Brand Case Studies

This Black Friday season, several DTC brands stood out for their advertising performance.

What they have in common isn’t lower prices—it’s the ability to “tell stories through content and close the trust loop through the brand.”

BigSpy data shows that the ad creatives of the following three brands ranked among the top in both campaign duration and engagement metrics, offering valuable lessons for cross-border sellers and brand owners.

Pela Case: Turning “Sustainability” into an Emotional Upgrade

Pela Case, a Canadian brand focused on sustainable consumer electronics accessories, delivered one of the most persuasive ad templates this Black Friday.

Its long-form, logically structured ad builds a complete emotional and rational chain:

• Create anxiety: “Is your phone case too boring?”
• Offer a solution: “Plant-based, eco-friendly materials”
• Reinforce trust: “2 million users + warranty guarantee”
• Trigger action: “Buy one, get one free—limited time offer”

The key to its success lies in narrativizing a functional product. Buying a phone case becomes more than protection—it’s a “responsible choice for style, quality, and the planet.”

According to BigSpy’s ad database, such dual-track (rational + emotional) creatives achieve click-through rates 27% higher than comparable ads.

Creative Lighting: The “Impulse-Buy Visual Template”

Swedish creative lighting brand Creative Lighting demonstrates another extreme approach—driving purchases through visual impact.

Its Aurora Lamp ad, only a few seconds long, packs all key information:

• Dreamy concept: “Bring the Northern Lights home”
• Clear selling points: “16 light colors, wooden base, remote control”
• Urgent promotion: “50% off countdown”

These ads don’t rely on complex logic. Instead, the “concept + visual + offer” structure persuades in the shortest time possible, tapping into Black Friday consumers’ instant-buy mentality.

Another ad for their EasyStick magnetic wall light shifts to functional storytelling, clearly listing “traditional wall lamp pain points → innovative solution”, targeting renters and convenience-focused consumers.

This pain-point + efficient demo format is the optimal way for functional brands to break through during peak season.

Owala: Leveraging Brand Momentum for Ecosystem Sales

Owala, a well-known U.S. insulated bottle brand and strong competitor to Stanley, exemplifies minimalist advertising.

Its main ad uses just one image and one statement: “Owala, now available in Switzerland.”

The power behind this lies in strong brand pre-heating and social media buzz. Owala doesn’t need to re-educate the market; the ad simply reminds consumers the product is now available.

This is a classic brand-momentum-driven ad—achieving maximum impact with minimal creative cost by activating existing brand assets.

During Black Friday, Owala also launched accessory products (e.g., non-slip bases), using cross-selling within the brand ecosystem to drive repeat purchases. This strategy not only increases AOV but also evolves the brand from a “functional product” into a lifestyle brand.

Common Logic Summary

Whether it’s Pela Case’s story-driven approach, Creative Lighting’s visual impulse, or Owala’s brand ecosystem strategy, they share one principle:

They don’t compete on price—they compete on value alignment.
During extreme marketing moments like Black Friday, the best ads don’t just “sell”—they make consumers want to buy.
Each brand turns advertising from a single promotion into a resonant emotional experience with the consumer.

Practical Recommendations: From Data to Growth—How Brands Can Win the Black Friday Battle

Success on Black Friday is never a one-off spike—it’s the result of systematic planning.

Analysis of BigSpy’s global ad database shows that high-performing campaigns share a common operational logic: early planning, rapid testing, emotion-driven messaging, and precise post-campaign review.

Based on 2025 trends, here are five actionable recommendations to help brands win strategically during the peak season.

Start Creative Planning Four Weeks in Advance

The four weeks leading up to Black Friday are the golden preparation period for creatives and budget allocation. Top brands usually enter a warm-up phase early:

• Mid-to-late October: A/B test ad creatives and copy structures.
• Set control groups for different markets (e.g., U.S. vs. Brazil) to identify the highest-CTR creatives.
• Early November: Scale campaigns to ensure peak-season creatives launch on time and avoid overconsumption.

✅ Tip: Use BigSpy’s trend monitoring to track recent high-performing creatives in your category—analyze their launch timing and structure to reverse-engineer competitors’ campaign pacing.

Focus on Latin America and Multilingual Markets

Data from last year shows Portuguese-language ad frequency increased over 50% year-on-year, positioning Brazil as a “new blue ocean” in a saturated market.

Opportunities for brands:

• Language localization: Portuguese, French, and Spanish campaigns remain underleveraged.
• Platform diversification: TikTok and Audience Network are rapidly catching up with Facebook in emerging markets.

✅ Tip: Use BigSpy’s country/language filters to analyze trending ad languages in target markets, then validate keyword popularity with Google Trends to plan content localization in advance.

Rebuild Creative Logic Around “Emotional Anchors”

Data shows the highest-converting ads on Black Friday aren’t always the most feature-rich—they are the most emotionally compelling. Brands can focus on three directions:

• Visual Hook: Capture curiosity or resonance in the first 3 seconds.
• Emotional Trigger: Highlight gift-giving, self-reward, or lifestyle moments.
• Trust Loop: Include real experiences, social proof, or recognition (e.g., sales figures, review screenshots).

✅ Tip: Analyze top brands (like Pela Case or Creative Lighting) on BigSpy to break down how they generate emotional resonance faster than similar ads.

Integrate Multi-Channel Campaigns with Unified Timing

Over the past two years, ROI from single-platform campaigns has declined. Brands now rely on creative-led, multi-platform distribution:

• Adjust the same creative for each platform (e.g., TikTok: fast cuts; Facebook: visuals + captions).
• Layer audience targeting strategies (budget split roughly 60:40 between cold-start and retargeting creatives).

✅ Tip: Use BigSpy’s multi-platform comparison to evaluate interaction rates for similar ads across channels and find the optimal combination.

Rapid Post-Campaign Review and Build “Creative Assets”

The end of Black Friday is often the starting point, not the finish line. Strong teams complete reviews within 7–10 days:

• Identify ads with high clicks but low conversions (optimize landing pages and CTAs).
• Analyze performance differences across creative structures to create a content template library.
• Prepare assets and data for Christmas and Q1 peak-season campaigns.

✅ Tip: Use BigSpy’s save and tagging features to build a private creative library, enabling cross-cycle reviews and continuous optimization.

Data as Sword, Creativity as Shield: Winning Before Insights

Black Friday is a marketing war without smoke.
Facing rising ad costs, shorter creative lifecycles, and dwindling consumer patience, brands must stay clear-headed amid the chaos:
It’s not the biggest budget that wins—it’s the brand that understands market rhythm and reacts fastest to change.

This year’s global ad data shows more and more brands moving toward “data-driven creative growth.”
They no longer chase trends blindly; instead, they use monitoring tools to spot insights, validate directions through testing, and let creativity turn data into results.
This is precisely the mission BigSpy pursues.

As a global leader in ad intelligence and creative monitoring, BigSpy covers 69 countries, 24 languages, and 10 major ad channels, with over 1.2 billion ad creatives in its database.

Through multi-dimensional filtering, competitor tracking, and trend insights, BigSpy helps brands, agencies, and independent sellers quickly identify high-performing creatives for more efficient campaigns and conversions.

In an era where traffic is increasingly expensive, data is not a cost—it’s leverage. The earlier you use it, the higher your chance to stand out during peak seasons.
The smoke of Black Friday has yet to clear, and the next peak season is already approaching.
May every brand wield data as their sword and creativity as their shield, winning before insights even hit the market.

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