Q4 is one of the busiest spending seasons, and with more consumers shopping online than ever before, new opportunities arise for advertisers looking to engage with their customers in a digital environment. We’ve identified holiday campaign trends from the top spending advertiser verticals, and our recommended audience strategy for each, so you can better understand and capitalize on seasonal audience demand.
FINANCE
Last year, holiday retail sales in the U.S. increased by 5.5%, the largest increase since 2010, with the majority of sales transactions occurring online. As this trend is expected to continue throughout the 2018 holiday season, financial institutions and credit lenders are deploying aggressive customer acquisition tactics and product/service incentives to capture market share. Despite the numerous opportunities to align business offerings with holiday shoppers, financial institutions are met with strict Fair Lending regulations that prohibit targeting around any attributes that may instill a bias when providing fair and equal access to credit based on an individual.
Recommended audience target:
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Shopping intent as identified by users who engage in search activity around specific goods/services
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Users who show an interest in goods/services that indicate spend power, such as luxury travel and electronics
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Users researching sites that cater to price comparison, discount card options, and blogs with an intent to shop
AUTOMOTIVE
Auto brands invest the majority of their TV ad spend during the Super Bowl, however the Q4 holiday season is where we see a significant uptick in spend on digital audiences. In fact, according to eMarketer, the investment auto brands are making to digital platforms is expected to reach $14.14 billion by 2020. While many auto agencies rely on publisher-direct relationships to generate intent data, they often have a hard time achieving scale and accessing complementary data types to reach their consumers beyond endemic digital destinations.
Recommended audience target:
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Holiday shopping behavior
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Lifestyle attributes that indicate financial status
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Sociodemographics, especially those indicating household attributes (ie: number of children in HH)
HEALTHCARE
Tis’ the season for healthcare open enrollment. According to a 2018 analysis conducted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, consumers who purchase insurance can generally expect premiums to rise much less than in recent years, with quite a few states experiencing a decrease in premiums. The end of 2018 is proving to be a health insurance buyer’s market, and advertisers are taking note. We’re seeing significant audience spend from both large and small insurance federations across the US, with a significant concentration around reaching medicare policy holders.
Recommended audience target:
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Declared age, as this is often a key eligibility requirement
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Non-sensitive medical conditions, and content around defining interests of conditions
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Lifestyle events, such as marriage or new jobs that by law, entitle consumers to new enrollment
For more holiday insights check out our Holiday 2018 Infographic.
