Black Friday is held every year on the last Friday of November, just after Thanksgiving worldwide. Contrary to its name, Black Friday, this day is a golden day for shopping and a two-pronged deal for buyers and sellers or business owners. On this day, stores and brands are sometimes at a disadvantage over competing and offering discounts that sell more. However, attracting customers by providing better services and products and promoting them by Black Friday campaign has made businesses take advantage of this day.
Do you know how much to spend on an advertising campaign? Check our article about it
In 2020, Thanksgiving weekend drew 186.4 million U.S. shoppers. During that weekend, shoppers spent an average of $311.75 on holiday purchases.
Here we have listed the six best Black Friday campaigns of all time:
Table of Contents
Cards against humanity’s 99% OFF sale
This company made fun of black Friday by creating a parody website. On their website, they have unique, expensive products that they discounted 99% off. Their campaign ran from 10 AM – 7 PM on Black Friday 2018, and they posted every 10 minutes. If you take a look at their website, you’ll realize how unusual and exciting it is. You can see they have put a lot of investment into their website.
CAH posted about the event from days before it happened on all their social media accounts. The campaign went viral and hit around 50000 people simultaneously on their website. They did a lot of preparation for their campaign and made it unique and different. That’s why they succeeded.
Patagonia’s “don’t buy this jacket” Black Friday Campaign
Patagonia published a full-page ad in the New York times saying you shouldn’t buy their jacket. They also put a detailed message saying why you shouldn’t buy their jacket.
It’s very clever how they went against the grain, making you think you don’t have to do many deals or coupons to buy things. They made a stand, and that gave them a lot of attention. They ran their ad in 2011, and it got covered by a lot of media platforms. Ironically, sales rose by 30% following this black Friday campaign.
The founder of this company said: “every time he makes a good decision for the planet, he makes money.” Also, every year Patagonia gives 1%-10% of its profits to environmental issues.
This campaign encouraged people to list their jacket on eBay or donate it to someone else. Their message is you don’t need to follow other people’s footsteps; go on your path.
Apple’s teasing
About two weeks before Black Friday, Apple begins informing its customers about Black Friday discounts by email marketing.
Instead of an email campaign on or before Black Friday or a few weeks before, Apple sends the first email as a teaser and gives the audience a chance to guess the discounts ahead. It also sends the second email precisely one week before the discount.
In fact, by promoting their offer, Apple is gaining more than just consumers’ wallets before deciding to make other purchases.
Kohl’s two way Black Friday Campaign
Social networks are inherently two-way media. Unlike traditional media, you do not just spread your message to your audience. Instead, your audience can respond to you and engage with your brand.
Savvy social media marketers understand this and use it to their advantage. Just like Black Friday campaigns.
Kohl’s asked its Twitter audience to tweet with the designated hashtags to win a $ 500 gift card.
And on Facebook, it asked them to complete a poem with the same hashtags to win a $ 500 gift card.
Kohl’s gained a lot of engagement by asking its audience questions on social media.
Pieminister’s Black Pieday
You don’t need many followers on social media to run a successful Black Friday ad campaign on it.
Pieminister decided to work with a favorite charity for the homeless to give them pies on black Friday. When Pieminister partnered with a larger company, it increased its followers and views without exorbitant advertising costs.
The Pieminister campaign was unique and exciting when all brands offered discounts to increase sales, raising them more and more on social media.
Steve Madden’s Black Friday Campaign
Email marketing is not very useful if you don’t have customer names in your email list. Of course, it is unlikely that Steve Madden has had a small email list. But as soon as the email campaign started, they got two birds with one stone. They also collected customer emails and informed them of Black Friday discounts.
Early access to their discounts and offers made the customers feel important. They also created a sense of urgency for people who wanted to know about their suggestions sooner than others.
In fact, by doing so, Steve Madden gathered a list of customers he could connect with within the long run and increased his Black Friday sales.
Conclusion
Black Friday every year is a crazy time. Everywhere you go, there are hundreds of people trying to purchase a product as fast as possible, so it doesn’t sell out. But with innovative black Friday campaigns, none of that will happen. Online shops and campaigns are the best, so make sure to get in the game before others.
