From Fashion to Food – Power Digital’s Unique Data Uncovers BFCM Trends by Vertical
by Kylie Carrasco •
As Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) 2024 have come and gone, the digital landscape saw massive shifts in how brands engaged with shoppers across platforms. With a record $15 million in ad spend managed and thousands of creative assets generated, Power Digital’s experts have analyzed key trends from the 2024 holiday season using our proprietary tool, nova Creative Affinity.
For those unfamiliar, nova Creative Affinity is a powerful tool that helps us analyze and optimize creative assets by evaluating their engagement potential across digital platforms. Using proprietary algorithms, it measures how well elements like images, videos, and text resonate with audiences, allowing us to identify top-performing content and provide actionable insights to improve ad effectiveness.
In this post, we’ll take a closer look at the key BFCM trends across key verticals like fashion, health/beauty, food/beverage, and e-commerce, and how these insights can guide future marketing strategies.
Fashion Trends
Fashion brands were some of the biggest players this BFCM, and our nova tool helped uncover which creative strategies generated the most success. For 2024, the top-performing ad content across TikTok and Meta platforms included:
- 26% Static Assets
- 30% Video Assets
- 17% Dynamic Ads (DPA)
- 3% Carousel Assets
Additionally, 60% of ads achieved an affinity score higher than 75%, meaning they were highly resonant with audiences. Nearly 30% of these ads incorporated User-Generated Content (UGC), while 70% did not. What were the key creative trends that emerged in the fashion vertical?
Trend 1: Text Overlays Giving Main Character Energy
Text-heavy creatives with simple, bold designs stood out in the fashion sector. With “BIG sale” language, bold fonts, and clear copy, these ads highlighted discounts, making the sale the hero of the visual. Fashion brands utilized clear text overlays on simple backgrounds that allowed their sale language to shine.
Trend 2: Who Are You Shopping For?
Fashion brands succeeded by focusing on the gift-giving aspect of BFCM. Ads featuring gift guides or images positioning products as perfect gifts connected with shoppers who were looking for presents. UGC was also effective in showcasing the emotional side of gift-giving, often showing someone receiving and loving the gift.
Trend 3: Girls Just Want to Have Fun
Brands that incorporated humor and playfulness into their creatives saw great success. Whether it was unique edits, fun typographic treatments, or hyper-native designs like fake notes apps and text message overlays, these ads felt more relatable and native to the feed.
“Bold, simple designs and playful touches like text message overlays made fashion ads during BFCM 2024 feel fun, fresh, and impossible to ignore.” – Kyle Goodwin, Associate Creative Director at Power Digital
Beauty & Health Trends
Using our proprietary nova Creative Affinity Tool, we also analyzed top-performing BFCM ad content in the Beauty & Wellness vertical across TikTok and Meta for 2024. The results were telling:
- 17% Static Assets
- 62% Video Assets
- 9% Dynamic Ads (DPA)
- 3% Carousel Assets
The top-performing ads featured a mix of product-specific content and graphic (text-only) content, with a strong emphasis on socially native content. A notable 74% of ads had an affinity score higher than 75%, indicating high engagement levels. Only 15% of the ads incorporated User-Generated Content (UGC), with 85% relying on brand-created content.
“As we see with every Black Friday, discount-forward static creatives was the winning tactic this BFCM 2024. However, Beauty ads featuring comedic skits and handwriting promos were fresh takes on a classic strategic approach.” – Hayley Aguilar, Sr. Creative Strategist at Power Digital
Trend 1: The BIGGEST Deal of the Year – Driving Urgency
Beauty and wellness brands capitalized on urgency with messaging focused on “limited-time” offers, “biggest sale of the year,” and “best time to buy/save.” Ads often featured large text overlays that highlighted the value of the product, with product-centric humor catching the audience’s attention. Unusual product usage, such as oversized bags or serving products on a food platter, made the ads stand out in users’ feeds. Socially native content played a significant role in this trend, with humorous, unexpected edits boosting engagement.
Trend 2: From the Team – Mascots & Employees
Short-form comedy skits took off during BFCM, with beauty brands using unpolished, chaotic videos that mimicked TikTok trends. Mascots or employees played leading roles in these skits, adding a layer of authenticity and relatability to the content. These unfiltered, lighthearted approaches helped beauty brands break through the noise and connect with audiences in a fun, engaging way.
Trend 3: All About the Gifts – Sweetening the Deal with Gift with Purchase
Beauty and wellness brands used “Gift with Purchase” promotions to drive sales during BFCM. Highlighting these gifts in promotional creatives, often through studio imagery, UGC unboxings, and other creative photography, captured consumers’ attention. Ads were transparent about minimum purchase thresholds, making it clear how to unlock these exclusive offers and emphasizing the added value of the gift.
Trend 4: Unboxing – Building Anticipation
Unboxing videos were another standout trend in the beauty and wellness space. Ads showcasing the unboxing of bestsellers or subscription boxes created anticipation and excitement. These first-person POV videos helped build curiosity, driving consumers to act quickly. By offering complementary products within the unboxing (e.g., routine restocks), brands boosted their average order value (AOV) as shoppers added more to their carts.
Trend 5: Adopting the Best Routine – Social Proof
Social proof was a key tactic for beauty & wellness brands this BFCM. Testimonials showcasing how customers use their favorite products proved effective in driving trust and sales. Ads that highlighted discounts as the “best time to buy/save” leveraged this sense of urgency, encouraging shoppers to make their purchase decisions right away.
Trend 6: Green Screen – Consumer Hacks
The green screen trend took off as beauty brands used it to highlight site-wide discounts and drive traffic to their websites. Leveraging trending CapCuts or creator-generated content, brands presented these promo “hacks” as guides on what to buy, emphasizing the value, savings, and popularity of their products.
Trend 7: Put It in Writing – Physical Signs & Handwriting
To stand out in a crowded feed, beauty brands broke through the noise by incorporating physical signs and handwritten elements in their creatives. Whether it was large promo callouts or handwritten notes, these tactile elements added a personal touch that caught the attention of consumers.
Trend 8: A Classic – Studio Product Photos
Studio product photos with negative space emerged as a clean and effective way to showcase beauty & wellness products. By overlaying large promotional text on these high-quality images, brands highlighted discounts while keeping the focus on the product itself. The addition of design elements like stickers helped drive urgency and encouraged consumers to take action.
Food & Beverage Trends
Using our proprietary nova Creative Affinity Tool, we also analyzed top-performing BFCM ad content in the Food & Beverage vertical for 2024. Here’s what we found:
- 21% Static Assets
- 37% Video Assets
- 12% Dynamic Ads (DPA)
- 10% Carousel Assets
Nearly 38% of the ads had an affinity score higher than 75%, indicating strong engagement. Additionally, 17% of ads utilized User-Generated Content (UGC), with the majority (83%) relying on brand-created content. Notably, 50% of the top-performing ads prominently featured promotions.
Trend 1: Eyes Eat First – Give Your Product the Spotlight
Food & beverage brands successfully capitalized on the “eyes eat first” principle during BFCM. Ads that featured clean, high-quality images with limited lifestyle content allowed the product itself to be the focal point. These creatives emphasized product recognition through branded overlays and graphics. The key takeaway? Keep the product front and center to drive attention and engagement.
Trend 2: Don’t Overcomplicate It – Clear Messaging, Big Offer
In the Food and Beverage sector, simplicity was key. The best-performing ads kept their messaging clear and concise—focused squarely on the sale. Branded text overlays were used to communicate the offer, with minimal social-native text involved. The most successful creatives used button overlays and header text to reinforce the promotion, ensuring that the message was easy to digest at a glance. The simpler, the better!
Trend 3: Grids are a Marketer’s Best Friend – Show More, Sell More
For food and beverage brands with multiple SKUs, grids were an effective way to showcase several products at once. Grids not only allowed brands to display a range of options but also helped communicate promotions in a visually organized manner. The most successful grids featured a blend of high-production photography and socially native video mashups, effectively combining premium visuals with a relatable, engaging approach.
“During the BFCM ’24 season, the winning recipe for food and beverage ads was clear: Hold off on lifestyle content and focus on mouthwatering product visuals and simple, digestible offers. Top ads that leaned on those two elements performed best during this saturated sale period.”
– Katy Moore, Senior Creative Strategist at Power Digital
E-Commerce Trends
Analyzing the top-performing ads with our nova Creative Affinity, we found the following content breakdown across e-commerce brands:
- 36% Static Assets
- 36% Video Assets
- 5% Dynamic Ads (DPA)
- 3% Carousel Assets
A substantial 36% of these ads had an affinity score higher than 75%. Interestingly, only 16% of ads utilized UGC, with the majority relying on brand-created content.
“Bold, text plus graphic-based designs were the most successful across ecommerce brands for BFCM 2024. Simple ads with strong promo offers were able to cut through the noise.” – Mackenzie Hansen, Associate Creative Director at Power Digital
Trend 1: Text-Only Layouts and Bold Promo Offers
E-commerce ads that featured bold, large text, and clear calls to action were highly effective. Simple backgrounds and easy-to-read fonts were crucial in making the promotion clear, with messaging like “Cyber Monday” or “50% Off” resonating strongly. Ads that conveyed a sense of urgency, like “Last Chance” or “Ends Today,” performed better in grabbing attention.
Trend 2: Imagery and Text Overlay
Ads that combined product photography with concise text overlays were particularly effective. The key to success was pairing the right imagery with a strong, clear message, whether showcasing lifestyle shots or the products themselves. Simple animations or static images with a promo sticker callout helped to make the offer stand out while keeping the design clean.
Next Steps for Brand Growth
Brands have seen key shifts in digital engagement, with trends like bold text overlays and product-focused visuals driving success across fashion, e-commerce, beauty, wellness, and food & beverage. These insights highlight the importance of simplicity, urgency, and relatability in ads. Looking forward, brands must continue to adapt using data-driven strategies to optimize performance. Want to learn more? Contact Power Digital for more insights and recommendations on how to improve your advertising strategy.