Seasonal Campaigns: 3.5x ROAS in 2026

October presents a unique opportunity for brands to connect with audiences through imaginative and memorable seasonal campaigns. The holiday spirit, from eerie Halloween thrills to autumnal coziness, offers a rich canvas for creative content that cuts through the noise. But what does it take to craft a campaign that not only captures attention but also drives measurable results?

Case Study: “Haunted Home Harmony” by Aura Decor

In October 2025, Aura Decor, an e-commerce brand specializing in unique home furnishings and seasonal decorations, launched its “Haunted Home Harmony” campaign. The objective was clear: increase brand awareness, drive traffic to their Halloween collection, and in the end boost sales of their themed products. We aimed for a 20% increase in Q4 Halloween product sales over the previous year, with a particular focus on new customer acquisition.

Strategy and Objectives

Our strategy centered on evoking a sense of sophisticated spookiness, moving beyond generic Halloween tropes. Aura Decor’s brand identity leans towards elegant, curated aesthetics, so the campaign needed to reflect that. We decided against jump scares or overtly gory imagery, opting instead for atmospheric suspense and playful macabre. The primary channels selected were TikTok for organic reach and micro-influencer collaborations, Instagram for visual storytelling and shoppable content, and targeted Google Search Ads for high-intent queries. We also planned a small retargeting budget for website visitors who browsed the Halloween collection but didn’t convert.

The campaign ran for the entire month of October, from October 1st to October 31st, 2025. Our total allocated budget was $25,000, distributed across platforms as follows: 40% to TikTok influencer partnerships, 30% to Instagram paid ads, 20% to Google Search Ads, and 10% for retargeting across Meta platforms.

Creative Approach: Crafting the Aesthetic

The creative direction for “Haunted Home Harmony” was paramount. We developed a visual style guide that blended gothic elegance with modern minimalism. Think velvet textures, antique brass accents, subtle flickering candlelight, and shadowy corners, rather than plastic spiders and bright orange pumpkins. Our photography emphasized mood and atmosphere. For instance, a shot of a decorative raven perched on a mantelpiece would be framed with soft, diffused light, creating long, intriguing shadows. The product descriptions leaned into storytelling, describing how each item could transform a living space into an “enchanted lair” or a “ghostly boudoir.”

On TikTok, we briefed micro-influencers to create short-form videos showing how they incorporated Aura Decor’s Halloween items into their existing home decor. The key was authenticity. We didn’t want overtly promotional content. Instead, we encouraged “mini-hauls” or “decorate with me” style videos that subtly featured our products as part of a broader aesthetic transformation. One successful creator, @CozyGothicHome, produced a video demonstrating how to style our “Midnight Veil” sheer curtains for a dramatic effect, garnering over 300,000 views and a 7% engagement rate.

Instagram content included a mix of high-quality product photography, short lifestyle videos, and interactive Stories. We ran polls asking users to choose between “Spooky Chic” or “Harvest Haven” decor styles, which helped segment our audience for retargeting purposes. We also experimented with Instagram Reels showing quick home makeovers using our products, set to trending, slightly eerie audio tracks.

Targeting and Audience Segmentation

Our targeting strategy was multi-layered. For TikTok, we focused on users interested in home decor, DIY, vintage aesthetics, and gothic fashion, primarily women aged 25-45. We used TikTok’s Spark Ads feature to amplify influencer content, targeting lookalike audiences based on past purchasers and website visitors. On Instagram, our paid campaigns targeted custom audiences built from website visitors, email subscribers, and lookalikes of our most engaged followers. We also used interest-based targeting, including keywords like “interior design,” “Halloween decor,” “vintage furniture,” and “dark academia.”

Google Search Ads were more direct, targeting high-intent keywords such as “elegant Halloween decorations,” “gothic home decor,” “unique spooky accents,” and specific product names. We bid aggressively on these terms, ensuring Aura Decor appeared prominently for users actively searching for our niche offerings.

Campaign Performance: What Worked and What Didn’t

The “Haunted Home Harmony” campaign yielded mixed but in the end positive results. Our overall campaign metrics were:

• Total Impressions: 4.2 million
• Total Clicks: 78,000
• Overall CTR: 1.86%
• Total Conversions (Purchases): 2,100
• Average Cost Per Conversion: $11.90
• Average Cost Per Lead (Email Sign-ups from Contests): $8.50
• Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): 3.5x

TikTok’s performance was a standout. The micro-influencer approach proved highly effective, generating authentic engagement and driving qualified traffic. Our investment of $10,000 in this channel resulted in approximately 1,500 direct conversions, yielding a 4.0x ROAS just from that segment. The cost per click from TikTok was surprisingly low, averaging $0.15, largely due to the organic virality some influencer posts achieved. What worked here was the trust built between creators and their followers. It felt less like an ad and more like a recommendation from a friend.

Instagram paid ads performed moderately well. Our interactive Stories saw a CTR of 2.5%, significantly higher than our static image ads which hovered around 1.1%. The shoppable posts directly linked to product pages had a conversion rate of 1.8%. However, the cost per conversion on Instagram was higher at $15.50, indicating that while engagement was good, the conversion intent might have been slightly lower compared to TikTok’s audience or Google Search users. One particular creative, a Reel showing a time-lapse of a living room being decorated with our “Grave Garden” botanical prints, generated a strong emotional response and saw a 2.8% CTR and 2.1% conversion rate, outperforming other video creatives.

Google Search Ads delivered high-quality traffic with a conversion rate of 3.2%. The cost per click was higher, averaging $1.20, but the conversions were more direct and often involved higher-value items. This channel provided reliable, bottom-of-funnel sales. The negative aspect was that our budget here ($5,000) was quickly exhausted by mid-month due to competitive bidding on premium keywords. We should have allocated more here.

Retargeting campaigns saw a strong 6% CTR and a 4.5% conversion rate, demonstrating the effectiveness of reminding interested shoppers. The cost per conversion for retargeting was the lowest at $8.00, confirming that nurturing existing interest is highly efficient. This is where we saw the highest return on our investment, albeit with a smaller budget fraction.

Optimization Steps Taken

Mid-campaign, we made several adjustments. Observing the strong performance of interactive content on Instagram, we reallocated some budget from static image ads to create more Stories-based polls and quizzes, which immediately saw an uptick in engagement. We also noticed that creatives featuring stylized product flat lays performed better than lifestyle shots with models, so we shifted our Instagram ad creative production towards the former. This was an unexpected insight. Perhaps our audience preferred to envision the items in their own spaces, rather than seeing them in someone else’s.

On Google Ads, we expanded our negative keyword list to reduce irrelevant clicks, particularly for terms that were too broad or associated with cheap party supplies. We also increased bids on our top-performing keywords where conversion rates were highest, even if it meant a higher CPC, recognizing the value of those specific searches. We also initiated a “Mystery Box” promotion for the last week of October, offering a curated selection of smaller items at a discount. This created a sense of urgency and exclusivity, leading to a 15% spike in daily sales during that final week.

One area that underperformed was our initial reliance on a single type of influencer content on TikTok. We had assumed “decorate with me” videos would be universally appealing. However, after reviewing analytics, we found that short, punchy “product reveal” videos from creators with a more direct, review-style approach actually drove higher click-throughs to our product pages. For future campaigns, we’ll diversify our TikTok influencer briefs to include a wider range of content formats and creator styles. This is a critical lesson: never assume what works for one creator will work for all, even within the same niche.

Key Learnings for Future Seasonal Campaigns

The “Haunted Home Harmony” campaign reinforced several important lessons. First, authenticity in influencer marketing is non-negotiable. Brands must give creators creative freedom within defined parameters to produce content that resonates with their specific audience. Second, interactive ad formats consistently outperform static ones, especially on platforms like Instagram and TikTok, by actively engaging users rather than passively displaying information. Third, granular data analysis during the campaign is vital for agile optimization. We wouldn’t have caught the flat lay vs. lifestyle shot discrepancy without daily monitoring of ad set performance metrics.

Finally, understanding the intent behind different channels is key. Google Search captures immediate purchase intent, while social media often builds brand awareness and desire. A balanced budget across these stages of the customer journey is important for a well-rounded strategy. For example, according to a 2025 IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report, digital video ad spend continues to grow, indicating the increasing importance of dynamic content in capturing consumer attention.

Overall, while there were areas for improvement, “Haunted Home Harmony” successfully elevated Aura Decor’s brand presence during a competitive seasonal period and exceeded our sales growth target for the Halloween collection by 5%, reaching a 25% year-over-year increase.

Crafting impactful seasonal campaigns requires a blend of creative vision, strategic channel allocation, and continuous data-driven optimization. By dissecting what worked and what didn’t in campaigns like “Haunted Home Harmony,” marketers can refine their approach, ensuring future efforts not only capture the festive spirit but also deliver tangible business outcomes.