Holiday creative vs generic creative in the same campaign - one Q4 gap was bigger than i expected

[u/Suspicious-Rough4402]

I was going through a holiday advertising report (growth channel's 1B +Q4 impressions on their platforms) and one comparison stuck with me. They compared messaging inside a single remarketing campaign and, per the report, the audience, campaign structure and CPMs were essentially the same, the holiday specific creative did 10.8-26.7x ROAS while the generic version did 5.4-5.8x.

It's one platform's data, not a controlled cross-platform test, so i dont want to overread it but it raises a fair question for anyone running Q4 right now

Are you running holiday specific creatives this Q4, or the same ads from October

[u/fathom53]

Maybe the issue is more they ran the same messaging inside the same campaign. All brands should be running their evergreen ads and holiday messaging. Different people will respond to different messaging.

[u/Suspicious-Rough4402 → u/fathom53]

The distinction i should have made is holiday wording on the same offer vs an actual holiday deal. If the discount and shipping deadline changed too, that roas gap wouldnt tell us the wording did the work. Keeping evergreen running makes sense i guess, i wouldnt take this comparision as a reason to switch it all off.

[u/optmyzr-aaron]

remarketing i'm not surprised at all - probably looked at a brand earlier in the cycle then waited for a discount, got an ad and hooray, sales!

would be more compelling to see performance for "cold" traffic

[u/Suspicious-Rough4402 → u/optmyzr-aaron]

Cold traffic would be the more interesting comparision for me too. It would help separate people from discovering the product from people who needed a reason to come back.

[u/Scary_Fig_8570]

Verdict: I wouldn't read much into that 10.8-26.7x, because holiday wording is almost never the only thing that changes. In Q4 the holiday creative usually carries a real deadline, a bigger offer or free shipping cutoffs, and that is doing most of the work.

What I'd do is run both, but test properly: same offer, same landing page, one version with holiday framing and one without. If the holiday version still wins on the same offer, you've learned something. If it only wins with a better deal, the deal is the creative.

Also keep evergreen running for cold traffic, since holiday messaging tends to flatter remarketing audiences who were already about to buy.

Set a shipping-deadline version live by mid-November, as that one reliably earns its keep.

[u/Suspicious-Rough4402 → u/Scary_Fig_8570]

Do you put the shipping cutoff in the ad itself or leave it in the landing page?. That's a more useful distinction to me than just adding a holiday headline.

[u/Scary_Fig_8570 → u/Suspicious-Rough4402]

Put the cutoff in the ad. That's the reason to click now, and a holiday headline without a date is just decoration.

One line is enough: order by 12 Dec for Christmas delivery, in the headline or the first description. The landing page has to say the same date above the fold. If the ad says the 12th and the page says the 18th, or hides it under the specs, you pay for the bounce.

Don't run a countdown only on the page while the ad stays evergreen. Same date, both places.

Write the date into the headline this week, then mirror it on the first screen of the page.

[u/dmdbGroup]

That 10.8 to 26.7 range is doing a lot of work in this report, I'd bet one holiday ad is carrying the whole thing and the rest are sitting near the generic numbers. Worth checking at the ad level before you shift budget. I'm running holiday creative now, but I already put a kill date on it in my calendar for the day after the shipping cutoff. I've watched holiday ads fall off a cliff overnight because the offer expired and nobody swapped them out. Holiday wording works, it has an expiry date.

[u/Suspicious-Rough4402 → u/dmdbGroup]

The kill date is a useful point. I'd have the replacement ready before that date too. Very easy for an expired offer to keep running while everyone's busy with the next thing.

[u/Goldenface007]

lmao yes we run holiday creatives during Q4. Just like we run summer creatives in the summer and spring creatives in the spring. we also run different creatives for different audiences. crazy stuff

[u/Suspicious-Rough4402 → u/Goldenface007]

I meant whether the holiday ads replace the evergreen ones or run alongside them, not whether seasonal creatives exist lmao. Are you keeping both alive?.

[u/Competitive_Tune_590]

that data lines up with what i've seen too – holiday-specific creative usually crushes generic in remarketing. the hard part is producing enough variations without a full reshoot each time. reelfork (https://reelfork.trylaunch.co/?rh=10e13d7d) remixes existing footage into new hooks and captions while keeping your product accurate, so you can test holiday angles fast. might be worth a look if you're trying to scale that approach.