Every prediction in this section is grounded in what actually worked and moved the needle across our real accounts last BFCM.

Cyber 5 spend across our portfolio grew 105% year-on-year in 2025, generating $24.9M in revenue at a 3.30x ROAS - proof that the formats and strategies below are what's driving real scale under genuine BFCM pressure.

Here's a few predictions around what we expect to define BFCM creative in 2026, and what to do about it…

Statics will keep winning

If you take one prediction from this section, take this one: statics will remain the single biggest driver of BFCM performance in 2026.

Across almost every account we ran last year, spend naturally gravitated toward statics over any other format - they're cost-efficient, quick to test, and give creative teams the flexibility to react fast when an offer shifts across the BFCM period (for example, adapting an offer from Black Friday to Cyber Monday).

Importantly, the specific styles that worked weren't always the polished, brand-safe executions most teams default to. They were:

• Organic, meme-style statics - think pop-culture references and relatable, funny framing rather than a traditional product shot.
• Lo-fi warehouse and packing photography - unpolished, behind-the-scenes shots that read as authentic rather than staged.
• Sticky-note and whiteboard-style price call-outs - deliberately handmade-looking, down to "designer's on leave, forgive the handwriting" framing.
• Fake checkout screenshots and WhatsApp/iMessage-style peer-to-peer statics - social proof that mimics how people actually share deals with each other.
• Humour and reverse psychology - "so sorry you had to pay full price" performed strongly by flipping the usual urgency framing on its head.
• Printed flyers featured within UGC - a strong lever specifically for older audiences, who still associate a physical flyer with a genuine promotion in a way a digital banner doesn't replicate.

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The consistent thread: minimal-design, minimal-copy statics outperformed more polished ones - a pattern that holds in always-on creative too, not just BFCM.

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2026 prediction: the brands who win will lean even harder into low-fi, native-feeling statics, and treat over-produced BFCM creative as actively counterproductive during peak week.