According to Mastercard, Black Friday eCommerce sales this year rose 10.4% YoY, which aligns closely with what Adobe reported (a 9.1% jump YoY). Both reports outpaced forecasts (SOURCE). 

This past week, while I was in Miami for eCom North’s Miami Summit, our team reached out to current clients, past clients and brands we’ve spoken to this year and have yet to work with (but hope to in 2026 🙂 ) in hopes of getting real-world insights into how their BFCM ad strategy performed.

I’m excited to share what we got back.

First time reading the New Edition Newsletter?

👋 Hey, I’m Brandon Blum. I’m the Founder and Managing Partner at New Edition - a boutique creative agency based out of Brooklyn, New York that helps emerging e-commerce brands create content.

For this weekend’s newsletter, we prepared our first-ever BFCM Brand Insights Report, featuring:

• Recurring themes and trends

• Ad Creative Performance:

  • What worked

  • What didn’t work

Let’s get into it…

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RECURRING THEMES & TRENDS

1. Static Creatives > Video Creatives

Static ads emerged as the dominant creative format across all responding brands. 

Timeless Patents saw statics "vastly outperform videos," while Huug described statics as "closers" that efficiently convert bottom-of-funnel customers. 

One skincare brand confirmed this, as well, noting that statics—particularly those featuring before/after visuals and credible media features—outperformed both UGC and video ads.

2. Authenticity > Urgency 

Across multiple brands, the most effective creatives prioritized product clarity, clean visuals with minimal text, and authenticity to brand identity instead of heavy promotional messaging. 

One supplement-focused DTC brand reported that "stylized or promo-heavy creatives that fell outside our usual brand world didn't hold up," while one skincare brand found that UGC ads underperformed when "overly branded (with logos shown early)," diminishing perceived authenticity. 

The winning formula centered on straightforward product presentation and brand-consistent messaging rather than off-brand aggressive promotional tactics.

3. Channel Diversification > One Channel Strategy

Meta remained the primary volume driver, but brands that diversified their paid channel mix achieved better outcomes during volatile market conditions. 

One supplement-focused DTC brand demonstrates this clearly—while Meta drove bulk new customer volume, Google delivered superior efficiency and served as a stabilizer throughout BFCM. 

Timeless Patents saw Google achieve the best ROAS performance despite representing only 10% of spend.

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AD CREATIVE PERFORMANCE: WHAT WORKED

1. Taking existing winners and putting “BFCM sales messaging on top."

a) a skincare brand took one of their best performing “before/after” ads and slapped the discount and re-ran it, proving to be one of the best performing ads they ran during the period.

b) Huug noted that some of their best performing video ads from this year performed "well / efficiently" when they did this .

2. Staying true to the brand and keeping creative simple and clean

a) a supplement brand we spoke with said their winning ads included "simple product shots, cozy lifestyle stills, and native-looking UGC that felt true to the brand"

b) Timeless Patents notes strong performance with product-focused creatives that resonated with their demographic’s pain points.

3. Leveraging third-party validation / social proof is still important during BFCM

a) One health and wellness brand's best-performing statics featured recognizable media features and product visuals

b) One of our skincare clients leveraged a sticker that calls out their appearance on the Today Show, which turned into one of their best performing static ads during the period.

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AD CREATIVE PERFORMANCE: WHAT DIDN’T WORK

1. UGC Ads, especially with product/brand mentions in first few seconds

a) One skincare brand we spoke to found that "most UGC ads underperformed" and attributed the issue to ads appearing "overly branded (with logos shown early), which diminished perceived authenticity."

b) Timeless Patents found that "UGC in general did not perform well," attributing this to audience mismatch with their older female demographic.

2. Off-Brand Creative

One supplement-focused DTC brand's data shows that "promo-heavy creatives that fell outside our usual brand world didn't hold up.”

3. Video Without Clear Benefit Messaging Underperforms: 

a) Huug was explicit that video "didn't drive a ton of scale."

b) Timeless Patents found that "motion video crushed it" only when it was performance-focused for their category.

IN SUMMARY

Here’s what seemed to work this BFCM:

• product-focused ad creative that matches your brand voice

• diversified paid channels that hedge against rising CAC

• retention strategies built before the promo window

• and real-time reactivity to market conditions.

Brands that treated BFCM as a moment to deepen existing customer relationships while scaling new acquisition strategically outperformed those pursuing volume at all costs.

Exhausted with trying to keep up with what ad creatives are working and what aren’t? Respond directly to this email or email [email protected].

We can help you nail the fundamentals as we head into 2026 so that by the time next year's BFCM roles around, you’ll be firing on all cylinders

See you next week ✌️