Every year, retailers gear up for the holiday season, a period full of opportunity, as shoppers are eager to explore products and experience what brands have to offer. It’s a time when the right message can spark excitement, inspire purchases and strengthen connections. Retail marketers must deliver creative that resonates with audiences and captures the spirit of the season – a tall order when shoppers expect content that feels personal, all while busy marketers race to produce more, faster and on budget.
Most marketers (71%) say creative effectiveness is a top priority when evaluating their marketing strategy. High-quality creative matters – a lot – but producing it is no small task. Meeting peak demands calls for solutions that work as hard as marketers do. That’s where AI comes in.
Turning Evergreen into Ever-Ready
AI gives retail marketing teams a new level of agility. Instead of crafting campaigns one by one, marketers can now make creative more adaptable, adjusting content to stay timely across multiple seasonal periods – what I like to call “holiday-ifying” your best creative at a click. That doesn’t mean swapping in a stock image or adding a generic holiday slogan – it means using AI to subtly tailor creative elements so campaigns feel lively and in the moment.
For instance, a furniture brand might have several ads featuring a living room setting. With AI, these ads can automatically incorporate seasonal cues – from a Santa Claus in the background for Christmas to a menorah on a table for Hanukkah – keeping campaigns engaging throughout the holiday period. Or, during the lead-up to peak shopping seasons, a battery brand might show ads where the batteries power holiday toys instead of everyday devices. Small contextual cues like these help shoppers see the product as timely, appealing and part of the season’s story.
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Creative That Moves at Holiday Speed
AI also transforms how creative is produced and optimized. Campaigns that once took weeks can now be refined in days. Teams can quickly create multiple variations of imagery, taglines, or video scenes. They can then see almost instantly which ones resonate best with audiences.
Beyond speed, AI provides insights into why certain creative works. There are creative AI ad tools that analyze engagement signals, audience reactions and performance data, helping marketers continuously refine campaigns with data-driven insights – no guessing, no long feedback loops. For smaller retailers, this levels the playing field, enabling polished campaigns without a large creative team or heavy production costs. For larger brands, it ensures global consistency while allowing local customization based on trends, inventory or promotions.
An example from a previous calendar moment showed how an agency supporting a smart bird feeder brand used an AI workflow to launch a Father’s Day campaign in just three days — a process that once took weeks. By developing video concepts and iterating on visuals with AI, the brand achieved a threefold increase in click-through rates and attracted mostly new-to-brand shoppers. It’s proof that speed and creativity can go hand in hand; with the right tools, even small teams can deliver campaigns that feel handcrafted.
This nimbleness gives teams the freedom to pilot and test ideas across different campaign formats. Marketers can maintain a cohesive brand identity while adapting strategies to evolving market conditions and key shopping periods.
From Sparks to Impact
Ultimately, AI is helping retail marketers move from campaign execution to limitless creative strategy. Instead of guessing what will resonate, they can anticipate customer needs, refine messaging in real time and optimize budgets based on what’s working right now. It also enables marketers to spot new opportunities and adjust campaigns as trends emerge. Campaigns can move faster, experiment more freely and reach shoppers when they’re most ready to buy.
Holiday advertising has always been about capturing attention in a crowded marketplace. AI doesn’t replace creativity – it amplifies it, giving marketers the tools to execute with precision and impact. Teams that embrace AI gain a true strategic partner — one that streamlines production, fuels bold ideas and delivers measurable value. It opens space for marketers to pursue untapped creative avenues, fostering innovation and more memorable brand experiences.
As the holiday season approaches, retailers leveraging AI won’t just keep pace with the competition – they’ll set it.
Jay Richman serves as the VP of Creative Experiences, Amazon Ads, overseeing all creative formats, builders and performance across sponsored ads and Amazon DSP including areas such as AI-generated creative and interactive TV formats. Prior to joining Amazon in November 2022, Richman served as the VP of Monetization at Spotify, where he helped shape the company’s foundation and growth over a near 10-year span. He built Spotify’s early subscription, advertising and creator businesses before taking on the role of Advertising General Manager, where he oversaw product, engineering, sales and marketing operations. He played a pivotal role in guiding the company through its IPO, driving global expansion and achieving significant growth while broadening its mission from music to include products and audiobooks.
