Every November it's the same. Everybody runs 30% off and then everybody complains that nobody's buying. So I lined up six Black Friday campaigns from 2021 to today that got people talking without betting it all on price.
Then I looked at the two things that actually matter: what it costs to buy ads on those days and whether these ideas worked. I'll tell you one thing right now: almost nobody publishes sales numbers.
If you care about Christmas, that's another article, because the timing and budgets are different: here are the most creative Christmas campaigns of the 2000s.
Six ways to run Black Friday without betting everything on the discount
2021, Cards Against Humanity: we'll pay you
These are the masters. In 2013 they raised everything by $5. In 2014 they sold “Bullshit” for $6, a box of real bull manure from Texas: the name was literal, and they shipped 30,000 of them. In 2015 they asked for $5 in exchange for nothing. In 2021 they flipped it: the Pays You Five Dollars Sale, one day when the brand pays you, from $5 to $10,000, to do random tasks.
Price isn't the point. And they still win Black Friday.
2021, IKEA: I'll buy your old furniture back
Buy Back Friday started in 2020, in 27 countries: bring back your used furniture and get a voucher. In 2021, in Germany, they raised the buyback price by 20%, from November 20 to December 5.
Read that again: a voucher, not cash. While everyone's talking about sustainability, IKEA brings you back to the store with credit to spend. For me this is the smartest of the six.
IKEA's Buy Back Friday video.
2023, ADEME: the salesperson who won't sell you anything
This one isn't from a brand. It's from France's ecological transition agency: in November 2023, a few days before Black Friday, it aired the “dévendeurs”, the de-sellers, salespeople who talk you out of buying. Retailers asked for it to be pulled, minister Bruno Le Maire called it clumsy, and in the end none of the ads was withdrawn. In 2024 it came back, in a revised version. The sources are in French.
You can't do this one, because you have to sell. But look how much noise a simple idea makes when it annoys the right people.
“Le dévendeur et le polo”, one of ADEME's ads.
2023 and 2024, Veja: instead of a discount, the cobbler
Veja hasn't done Black Friday since 2017. In 2023 it launched Free Friday: one free repair per customer, 450 pairs fixed in 24 hours. In 2024 it became Repair Friday, two days at its Paris headquarters: 300 people and 500 repairs and diagnoses, fees waived, repairers paid by Veja.
Clean, Repair, Collect: Veja's repair project.
2024, Freitag: stores open, but not selling
On Black Friday 2024 Freitag’s 30 stores, from Zurich to Tokyo, suspended sales, online and offline. At 20 locations people swapped used bags instead.
To pull this off you need a product people want to keep and trade. It's not a November stunt: it's the brand doing what it has always said.
2024, Davines: the whole day's online revenue
Davines, an Italian beauty company, donated 100% of that day’s online sales to soil and forest regeneration projects in Ethiopia. The message fits in one line, and you know right away whether you believe it.
The grandfather of all of these is still REI, which has closed on every Black Friday since 2015: in 2025 it reached its tenth year, with 195 stores closed.
What does it cost to buy ads on Black Friday?
Brands almost never say how much they put into Black Friday alone. What you can look at is what you're up against and what it costs to be seen on those days. Adobe expects $12.9 billion online on Black Friday this year, up 9.2%, with discounts of up to 30% off list price during Cyber Week. And on the ad side there's a surprise:
So does Black Friday work? On Meta's numbers, yes. On your P&L, it depends: a higher ROAS at 30% off can leave you with less money than a lower ROAS at full price. Before celebrating, check your break-even ROAS at the discounted price. And if you have to decide how much to spend, start here: how to plan your BFCM ad budget.
Why the budget plays out in a few days
It only stays above half of its peak for 1 week: 29 the week before, 100 on Black Friday week, 12 the week after. “Christmas gifts” stays there for 5. That's why you can't plan them the same way: at Christmas you can tell a story for weeks, the way the Christmas campaigns of the 2000s did. Here you have to be ready before it starts, and the timing is in the Black Friday plan.
Did they sell more? What I know and what I don't
| Campaign | Result | Source | How much I trust it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Veja, 2023 | 450 pairs repaired in 24 hours. Annual sales up 18%, to €300 million | Glossy | A lot on the event. The +18% proves nothing: Veja doesn't say what Black Friday did |
| Veja, 2024 | 300 people, 500 repairs and diagnoses | Glossy | A lot on the event. Costs and sales aren't public |
| Cards Against Humanity, 2015 | $71,145 made selling nothing | TechCrunch | A lot. It's outside the period, but it makes the point |
IKEA, ADEME, Freitag and Davines have no public sales results. They get people talking, sure. Whether they sell more is another question.
The 6 campaigns that skipped the 30% off
| Campaign | Year | The idea in one line | The number |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cards Against Humanity | 2021 | The brand pays the customer | $5 to $10,000 per person |
| IKEA, Buy Back Friday | 2021 | Buying furniture back for a voucher | +20% on the buyback price, in Germany |
| ADEME, dévendeurs | 2023 | The salesperson who won't sell | None |
| Veja, Repair Friday | 2023 and 2024 | Repair instead of discount | 450 pairs, then 500 repairs and diagnoses |
| Freitag | 2024 | Swap, don't sell | 30 stores |
| Davines | 2024 | Donate the day's online revenue | 100% of online sales |
If you run an online store, what do you take home?
- Do the friend test. Would your customer tell someone about the campaign without mentioning the discount? If not, you just ran an offer.
- Do the math first. Closing your site on the hottest day of the year looks great on LinkedIn. Then at the end of the month there are suppliers to pay. If you do discount, start from your break-even ROAS. And first check whether a bundle or a gift box leaves you more on each order.
- You have to actually mean it. Veja repairs shoes all year, Freitag has been trading bags for years. If you only do it in November, it shows.
And remember: these are the campaigns that made it. Nobody writes about the ones that flopped.
Which one would you steal?
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