Is ‘Black November’ a problem?

It used to be that the frenzy of Black Friday and Cyber Monday was tied to a set few days at the end of November.

That’s no longer the case.

The window for holiday-timed sales has crept up earlier and earlier, with major brands like Ulta, Lowe’s, and Best Buy pitching preliminary sales as early as late October this year. Some have leaned fully into the “creep” aspect, releasing ads that nod to the phenomenon.

The result is that, around the time that Black Friday and Cyber Monday come around, a nearly monthlong sales promotion is already in full swing, with shoppers on the hunt for deals and marketers at the ready with ads pitching said deals.

“The fact that we branded it as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and now it’s Black November for some brands is a little confusing,” Kevin Simonson, CEO at performance marketing agency adMixt, told Marketing Brew.

The extended sales window has changed the nature of the holiday shopping season, and even potentially dimmed its significance, according to ad agency execs, who say that the extended sales period combined with other sales events throughout the year softens the power of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Without the urgency of a tight sales window, it also changes how and when brands show up and advertise.

“Instead of concentrating spend on that single weekend like we traditionally have, we’re seeing clients stretch their investment along and across these longer windows,” Stasia Fulginiti, director, paid search and YouTube at Rain the Growth Agency, said.

Whenever, wherever

Some brand marketers see the longer window as an asset. More time gives agency execs the flexibility to roll out campaigns earlier, test what’s working and what isn’t, and tweak their efforts to lean into successful advertising methods by the time Black Friday and Cyber Monday do happen. And getting started on holiday discounts sometimes means cheaper CPMs—or, at least, the hope of cheaper CPMs than in the traditional window.

“The CPMs [on] November 1, generally speaking, are not going to be as high as Black Friday, Cyber Monday,” Simonson said. Brands may have the mentality of, “I don’t want to fight when it’s [at its] peak. I’d rather fight earlier when it’s easier,” he said.

Shifting to earlier in the month isn’t for every brand, though, and marketers are faced with considering a brand’s business goals and what’s more important, profitability or revenue, Simonson explained.

“If a brand is more focused on their profitability and/or contribution margin, they might have a shorter sale window, and if a brand is focused on revenue, they might open up their sales window early, because they’ll probably generate more revenue from having a longer sale at maybe a smaller margin,” he said.

Regardless of a brand’s business goals, marketers recognize that the expanded holiday shopping season is an opportunity to focus on awareness, prioritizing campaigns that “connect demand generation to brand search,” Fulginiti said, so that their brands are top of mind when sales do come around.

Going live with “bigger, top-funnel investments” earlier in the fall is something that Chris Shewmake, VP of media and digital at Cactus, recommended to clients to get ahead of consumer shopping behavior.

“When people start kicking into that holiday shopping mode in October, November, and you’ve got everyone ramming Black Friday, Cyber Monday sale messaging down their throats, we’ve carved out a little bit of mind share, as much as we can,” he said.

Search for me

For brands leaning into paid and organic advertising during the holiday shopping season, there’s another big consideration for marketers as consumer search habits shift from traditional search to emerging platforms and AI-powered search.

“People are focused on the AI discoverability playbook right now, [which] is pretty owned-oriented,” Shewmake said. “If we can effectively get people thinking about our brands or talking about our brands, we do think there’s a downstream benefit to the discoverability and search overall, whether that’s through AI, AI discoverability, or it’s just classic organic search.”

This season, marketers are looking to understand the impact of AI search efforts and the use of AI agents, and may keep an eye on Black Friday and Cyber Monday results to understand the early effects, Damien Bianchi, group director, media at VML, explained.

“Next year could be a totally different ball game,” he said. “I would say the long-term impacts are definitely something to start thinking about.”

As the holiday shopping season continues to shift, though, it may mean its importance in the market will continue to wane.

“Black Friday and Cyber Monday have lost their sparkle,” Fulginiti said.