Holiday planning in July? You betcha! July is a GREAT time to start planning a successful holiday promo execution! Q4 can be a stressful time for everyone looking to wrap up the year strong, so we want to help get you started (early!!) on executing your perfect Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM for short) or holiday promotions.

Where to begin? We got you! 

Step 1: Set clear goals (and debrief from last year’s promos if you ran them)

Step 2: Make an irresistible offer

Step 3: Create scroll-stopping content

Step 4: Test everything!

Now to get your ideas flowin’ we’ve listed some real life examples of CPG brands that executed some killer holiday promos.

MaryRuth’s Organics: A straightforward BFCM campaign!

MaryRuth’s Organics has some quality e-commerce focused marketing… If you haven’t already, scour their website, sign up for the email + SMS, check out their ads in the Facebook Ads Library, follow them on social, and take a look at the robust work they do with affiliates and influencers. Guaranteed you’ll learn something!

In 2022, they employed a straightforward 25% off sitewide discount and sent emails daily. Outside of the 25% off sitewide – they boasted UP TO 30% off sitewide in all subject lines and some headlines to promote their discounted bundles. Bundles are great for increasing AOV and promoting during holiday shopping since it allows people to try multiple different flavors and/or products (or share the variety with their loved ones).

4 email subject lines:

Email 1:

Email 2:

Poppi: CANCEL Black Friday (but not really at all)

Poppi put a little spice on their BFCM promo by saying they were CANCELING it. But not really because the founder explains in this video posted on Tuesday, November 15 (Black Friday was on November 25) that they’re still providing a sale but making it *exclusive* to email and SMS subscribers… More sales AND more email + SMS opt-ins? YES, please!

But then, to no one’s surprise, they still did a Cyber Monday 30% off deal.

Important note: you can see from some of those comments that Poppi didn’t complete our “step 4: test everything” well enough… Looks like the instructions on how and where to get the 30% off for Cyber Monday weren’t clear and that likely lost them some sales (and created more customer service inquiries than expected). Don’t forget to include all terms in your marketing assets, test the promo on your own website (and have others test it, too), and make it as EASY as possible for people to purchase!

OUR PLACE: Give back while getting sales.

If you’re a brand that has several sales a year and you’re not keen on sharing an additional discount during BFCM, consider a Giving Tuesday campaign like Our Place did last year!

For every purchase made on their site from Giving Tuesday (November 29) through the end of the year, they donated meals through three different food banks. Not only are they living up to their mission of “connecting across the kitchen table” – they’re also getting those sales.

The holidays are all about giving – and if you have a really strong community and a lot of retargeting opportunities (retargeting your leads and audiences who *already* know your brand via channels like email + advertising) – then a campaign like this can be quite the money maker.

Ritual Supplements: Keep the party going through the New Year! 

The holiday season + new year is HOT for people focusing on their wellness, and Ritual jumped on that by sharing back to back promos.

They launched their BFCM deal early (November 18, the friday before Black Friday) and promoted bundling (again, to increase that AOV! ← which is great for established brands but may be harder for emerging brands that don’t have an established sales and customer base yet). They offered 40% off when someone bundled with one of the SKUs, which also likely helped drive trial to one of their newer, popular products, Symbiotic+! 

Then on *actual* Black Friday through Cyber Monday – they posted daily to promote the bundle deal utilizing Reels (for potential higher reach) + a meme.

Butttttt it doesn’t end here!

On Christmas day, Ritual took a break with a “BRB post”, but came back swinging on the 26th with their New Year’s 30% off sale to promote new subscriptions! Keepin’ those good vibes and sales going.