LA-based creative agency Saylor is seeing a major shift in how marketers are approaching the 2025 holiday season, particularly around spend allocation, creative trends, and the role AI is playing. Sean Reed, Head of Accounts, explains.
What’s driving this year’s holiday ad spend?
Now more than ever, brands are investing in social and creator-led content. We’ve seen that shoppers are much more likely to purchase an item from an influencer they trust, and even more likely after seeing the ad multiple times (or by multiple influencers). This means brands are allocating budget to influencer marketing and affiliate programs that show up the exact moment someone is ready to buy—not just browse. AI is helping to do a lot of the heavy lifting here to anticipate this moment and create personalized offers.
What did brands get wrong last year — and what are they doing differently this season?
Last year, some brands jumped on the AI hype too quickly and forgot that the holidays are still a feelings game (or season). There were a few big examples where AI-driven creative felt too obvious, forced, or just emotionally flat. Naturally, audiences clocked it immediately. This year, the smarter brands are treating AI as an amplifier, not the main character. They’re using it to optimize their creative and strategy while still anchoring the story in human warmth, nostalgia, and specificity that feels handcrafted.
Brands are also being more intentional about where they show up and why. Creator partnerships and shoppable content are getting more love because they collapse the gap between “that’s cute” and “add to cart,” especially for late-season, mobile-first shoppers.
And instead of dumping everything into Black Friday, brands are slicing the season into phases—early discovery, main event, and last-minute scramble—with different creative, offers, and pacing for each, so the work feels fresh while the strategy stays disciplined.
