The tools finally caught up to the hype. This year, we didn't just "play" with AI; we built our entire Black Friday strategy on it.
Inspiration: Early performance surprises and the realization that I could generate 50 high-quality ad variants in the time it used to take to brief a designer for one.
GenAI has been “available” for a few years. But let’s be honest: until this year (specifically with Nano Banana Pro and Gemini 3), it wasn’t ready for prime time.
This is the first BFCM where the tools are adequate.
Meaning they can render text correctly, handle brand assets without hallucinating, and produce commercial-grade resolution.
So, we didn’t reinvent the wheel. We took our best-performing evergreen content and gave it a BFCM facelift. New text overlays (“30% OFF”), festive backgrounds (snow, neon, confetti), and high-energy edits.
The Findings: It Works (Especially on Meta)
Early data is showing strong performance for generated content.
The killer app? Meta Catalog Ads (Advantage+ Catalog).
We used GenAI to create custom Intro Cards and Frame Overlays for dynamic product ads. Instead of a boring white-background product feed, users see a branded, festive, high-design intro card that leads into the products. It stops the scroll.
The best part? We generated these assets in 10 minutes.
This allows us to react to trends during Cyber Week. If a specific product goes viral on TikTok on Tuesday, we can have a high-fidelity creative running for it on Wednesday.
(Note: This is mostly a Meta Ads play. Google Ads takes longer to learn and distribute creative, so Meta’s faster feedback loop is essential here.)
Unlocking Conversion Rates (The 4-Pillar Impact)
This isn’t just about “cheaper ads.” It’s about lifting conversion rates across the entire funnel.
1. Website (The Undermined Hero)
Brands spend weeks on homepage banners but ignore the Collection Pages. They are usually boring grids.
We sprinkled smaller, square lifestyle banners between product grids. “Gift Guide for Him,” “Free Shipping Thresholds”, “Best Sellers Under $50.”
When a daily deal changes, we don’t just change the text; we change the entire visual vibe of the collection page in minutes. This keeps the site feeling “live” and urgent.
2. Email (The Visual Upgrade)
Email teams are often resource-starved for creative. They reuse the same 3 assets.
With GenAI, we can now generate infinite background variants for product shots. A single shoe can be placed in a snowy street, a cozy living room, or a neon party.
Similarly, genAI also allows you to produce and add more creatives if you wish to either (a) separate your email into easier-to-read chunks or (b) connect the narrative between sections with smoother transitions.
We even recycled the strategy from last year (if it worked), but completely refreshed the visuals with AI. Same logic, fresh coat of paint.
3. Paid Media (Fueling Andromeda)
Meta’s new ad engine (Andromeda) thrives on creative diversity. Most brands starve the algorithm by feeding it only one type of asset (e.g., just lifestyle).
GenAI allows us to feed it everything: Catalog frames, text-heavy graphics, lifestyle composites, and surreal product art. We are unlocking new pockets of inventory and audience that a single creative style couldn’t reach.
4. SEO & Merchant Centers (The Invisible Lift)
Copywriting with Gemini 3 is instant.
We aren’t just writing for humans. We are writing for the algorithms of Google Merchant Center and Meta Commerce Manager. Richer, keyword-dense product descriptions (generated at scale) improve organic visibility and improve the relevance scoring for paid ads (Google Ads AI Max). It’s a double win.
Similarly, it also provides more information about the products to the e-commerce data feeds, which increases relevance and ad personalization, while also allowing automated features like landing page expansion on Google Ads to thrive.
Conclusion
The “Creative Combinatorics” are endless. It’s not just A/B testing images. It’s testing Image A + Frame B + Text C vs. Image D + Frame B + Text A.
The permutations are endless, and AI makes them executable.
My Warning: Don’t let quantity kill quality. The ease of generation means you can easily flood your account with garbage. Any test ran in this account went through careful review and last-minute touches (if needed).
Curation is now the most important skill.