The holiday marketing season is no longer a single sleigh ride; it’s a months-long frenzy where brands battle for attention, shoppers hunt for deals earlier than ever, and creativity becomes your ultimate competitive edge.
If you’re searching for proven, high-impact marketing strategies that actually drive holiday sales, you’re definitely in the right place.
In this guide, we’ll break down what works, why it works, and how you can stand out in the noisiest (and most profitable!) season of the year.
10 Holiday Marketing Strategies That Absolutely Sleigh (With Examples)
From jolly branding to smart, data-driven moves, these strategies show how to turn seasonal cheer into serious performance:
1. Start Your Holiday Marketing Early
Holiday shoppers are gearing up earlier each year, which means brands need to meet them long before November.
According to Sprout Social, conversations about Black Friday and holiday shopping on X surged between August 11 and September 11, signaling that intent is kicking in far earlier than most marketers expect.
Example: In 2024, LEGO began their Christmas countdown content on Instagram in mid-September.
Why it works: It rides early “holiday hype” trends and captures attention before inboxes and feeds became saturated.
2. Lean Into Holiday-Themed Creative & Visuals
Holiday visuals are your secret weapon for stopping the scroll, especially in holiday social media campaigns where brands are competing for attention in overcrowded feeds.
Think cozy colors, winter motifs, and magical storytelling.
These are elements that make your brand feel unmistakably “holiday” and impossible to ignore.
Example: Cartier’s 2024 winter-themed commercial repurposed into YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok ads.
Why it works: Multi-channel distribution + strong emotional branding increased reach and reinforced holiday luxury appeal.
3. Personalize Messaging Across Channels
What makes a holiday message feel like it was made just for you?
Personalization.
Tailoring emails, social posts, and onsite experiences to each customer’s preferences, behaviors, or cultural traditions helps your brand feel more human during a very noisy season.
This, in turn, boosts emotional connection and makes your target audience far more likely to convert.
Example: Spotify’s annual Spotify Wrapped turns each user’s listening habits into a personalized in-app recap, complete with shareable stats about their top artists, genres, and moments.
Why it works: Wrapped turns user data into a celebratory, personalized moment that fuels massive organic sharing and strengthens loyalty every holiday season.
4. Leverage User-Generated Content (UGC) for Authenticity
Nothing builds trust faster than real people sharing real moments.
UGC adds social proof, boosts credibility, and gives your holiday marketing an emotional, community-driven feel.
It also multiplies your reach, since shoppers love sharing festive experiences, unboxings, and personalized products.
Example: Coca-Cola’s 2025 Share a Coke revival let fans scan QR codes and use its “Memory Maker” tool to create personalized videos with their own photos and memes, turning customers into content creators.
Why it works: It blends nostalgia with interactive UGC, making people part of the brand story and amplifying reach through shareable, user-made content.
5. Run Influencer Collaborations
Influencers play a huge role in holiday discovery.
Leaning into holiday influencer marketing allows you to showcase products more naturally, spark gifting inspiration, and tap into creators your audience already trusts during the seasonal rush.
Example: Adobe’s My Festive Story campaign featured illustrators sharing holiday-inspired artwork and invited fans to post their own using #MyFestiveStory. Adobe also released free festive assets to help people create and participate.
Why it works: Creator-led storytelling and community involvement make this holiday marketing campaign feel authentic, engaging, and highly shareable.
6. Launch Giveaways, Contests, & Limited-Time Holiday Deals
Holiday shoppers love incentives — and limited-time special offers and holiday promotions create urgency, drive traffic, and spark social buzz.
Whether it’s a flash discount, a seasonal freebie, or a contest, giveaways are a simple way to increase engagement and encourage repeat visits during the busiest shopping period of the year.
Example: Starbucks’ annual Red Cup Day gives customers a free limited-edition reusable holiday cup when they order a handcrafted seasonal drink — available across café, drive-thru, app, and delivery.
Why it works: The limited-time giveaway sparks massive foot traffic, boosts seasonal drink orders, and fuels social chatter around the brand’s holiday launch.
7. Share Behind-the-Scenes Content
Ever wonder how those magical Christmas ads actually come to life?
Behind-the-scenes content gives your audience that exact peek into the creative process — one of the most underrated tactics in holiday advertising.
This kind of content lets you showcase the people, planning, and playful moments that make the season feel special. It’s authentic, engaging, and often outperforms polished ads.
Example: In 2016, Sainsbury’s shared a behind-the-scenes look at how its Christmas advert was made, giving viewers insight into the creative process.
Why it works Showing how the Christmas advert came together feels more authentic to viewers, helping build trust, spark curiosity, and deepen their emotional connection to the campaign.
8. Optimize for Mobile Shoppers
Holiday shopping is happening on phones more than anywhere else, and the shift just keeps accelerating.
Mobile is expected to drive over half of all online spend in 2025, with Adobe forecasting 56.1% of holiday revenue coming from mobile and 70% of retail site visits happening on small screens.
In other words:
If your experience isn’t mobile-first and truly mobile-friendly, you’re already behind. Fast pages, simple navigation, and timely alerts make it easy for shoppers to browse and buy comfortably, no matter where they are.
9. Create Holiday Bundles, Gift Guides, & Value Offers
Holiday shoppers love anything that feels effortless.
And bundles and curated gift picks are the perfect answer.
They take the guesswork out of gifting by pairing products that belong together, often at a better price.
They make decisions easier, feel more premium, and give customers that “perfect gift” moment while naturally boosting cart size for brands.
Example: Sephora releases curated holiday gift sets each year, bundling bestselling beauty products into ready-to-gift kits at a lower price than purchasing them separately.
Why it works: The sets simplify gifting, highlight value, and reliably increase both conversions and average order value.
10. Use AI & Automation to Scale Your Holiday Marketing
AI helps brands move faster during the hectic holiday season by streamlining production, personalizing content, and generating creative variations at scale.
From automated holiday email marketing flows to AI-assisted video creation, it lets teams deliver more impactful campaigns in less time.
Example: Coca-Cola’s 2025 holiday campaign used generative AI to reimagine its classic Holidays Are Coming ad, producing hyper-detailed cinematic variations while keeping human creativity at the core.
Why it works: AI accelerates production, enables richer storytelling, and helps Coca-Cola deliver a modern twist on an iconic holiday moment, without sacrificing emotion or brand heritage.
Unwrap Better Creative This Season with Designity
The brands that win the holidays aren’t just the ones with big budgets — they’re the ones who can actually execute all 10 of these strategies with speed, quality, and consistency.
And that’s where most teams get stuck.
Holiday marketing demands more content, more coordination, and more creative firepower than most in-house teams or agencies can handle.
Tight timelines, talent gaps, and nonstop production needs make it nearly impossible to keep up.
That’s exactly where Designity comes in.
With our Creative-as-a-Service model, you get a dedicated Creative Director and access to the top 3% of on-demand creatives who can bring every holiday initiative to life.
No hiring. No bandwidth issues. No agency retainers.
Book a demo to start your two-week trial and unlock 100+ creative and marketing services.
Keep Exploring:
- If you’re ready to bring AI into your holiday strategy, explore 10 of the best AI marketing agencies to help you accelerate creative production and campaign performance.
- Also, check out our roundup of the top PPC agencies — experts at driving high-intent traffic and capturing holiday shoppers exactly when they’re most ready to purchase.
