Post-event advertising: Transform your holiday campaign insights into sustainable growth strategies

The last day of the holiday shopping season is not the end—it’s the beginning of your next best strategies. Whether you exceeded your goals or fell short, the post-event window is a chance to analyze, optimize, and activate.

Let’s walk through the following hypothetical scenarios. These examples reflect common holiday outcomes across key product categories. For each one, assess the situation, choose the right performance summary, and determine the best follow-up strategy. This exercise helps sharpen your ability to interpret results and take meaningful action.

This guide includes content from the Ads Strategy Guidebook for holiday marketing 2025. View the entire guidebook here.

Top products: Holiday gift set collection, daily moisturizers, vitamin C serum.

Holiday performance summary:

• Gift sets sold out by mid-day Cyber Monday.
• Sponsored Brands campaigns drove 2.1% click-through rate (CTR), above 1.8% benchmark, but conversion on skincare category keywords was under 3% (below expectation).
• Sponsored Display campaigns drove a 70% new-to-brand (NTB) customers for the gift set.
• Evergreen moisturizers saw a 25% year-over-year decline in sales, despite being included in deal pricing.

Learning and ideas for next steps:

You reached customers with a one-time gift purchase. The next step is to encourage repeat purchases by introducing shoppers to your daily skincare line, like moisturizers and serums, which offer long-term value and recurring purchase potential.

Top products: $25 wireless earbuds, Bluetooth audio accessories.

Holiday performance summary:

• Sponsored Products saw a 65% increase in top-of-search impression share.
• Return on ad spend (ROAS) declined 30% year-over-year (from 4.1 to 2.9).
• Used “bidding up-and-down” with a 100% multiplier for top-of-shopping results placements.
• 70% of advertising spend was allocated to broad keywords (for example, “wireless audio”) with less than 4% conversion rate (CVR).

Learning and ideas for next steps:

High bids on broad keywords may have hurt performance. To improve ROAS, shift budget to high-intent keywords, adjust bids for top-of-shopping results placements, test bidding strategies, and use negative keywords to help maintain efficiency.

Top products: Holiday party dresses, statement outerwear.

Holiday performance summary:

• Sponsored Products using holiday terms with exact match (for example, “NYE outfit,” “holiday dresses 2025”) delivered 7.2% CTR and 12.4 ROAS, exceeding benchmarks.
• Branded keywords contributed to 70% of total holiday sales, indicating high purchase intent.
• Sponsored Brands video drove 2.5x higher NTB sales year-over-year.
• Outerwear CTR dropped 30% versus the previous quarter, suggesting a drop in category demand.

Learning and ideas for next steps:

Branded and seasonal terms helped increase sales, though results varied. Consider updating messaging to align with the current season—for example, changing “holiday party looks” to “winter layers,” and refine your budget based on recent shopping activity.

Top products: Copper non-stick pans, ceramic cookware sets.

Holiday performance summary:

• 100% bid multiplier applied to Sponsored Products for top-of-shopping results placements.
• Top-of-search impression share rose 90% year-over-year.
• Advertising cost of sales (ACOS) increased from 19% in early October to 34% during Cyber Monday week.
• Sponsored Brands campaign CVR dropped 22% year-over-year.

Learning and ideas for next steps:

Prominent placements can help increase visibility, though conversions may depend on creative relevance. Consider refreshing your Sponsored Brands headlines, images, or messaging and test different creative approaches after seasonal events, like lifestyle images or videos showcasing product benefits, to help understand what engages shoppers.