November Marketing Rundown: 6 Must-Know Stories of the Month

Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Christmas have dominated the November marketing landscape. It is early for these ads, but that has not stopped brands bringing stories, campaigns, and bold announcements.  

According to industry tracker System1’s 2025 Holiday Ads Tracker, this season marks a renewed surge in ad investments. Multiple large retailers across the US, UK and Europe have already launched their holiday campaigns by early November. 

This early season pushes up the stakes for creative teams and marketing budgets. Whoever gets the first mover advantage might own consumer attention for the entire festive shopping season. November was festive, frantic, and full of power plays.  

John Lewis (UK)— “Where Love Lives”

John Lewis released its 2025 Christmas advert in early November, built around a re-recorded version of the 1990s club track “Where Love Lives.”  

The ad follows a teenage boy giving his father the vinyl, triggering memories of his earlier clubbing days. The narrative focuses on intergenerational connections using music as the bridging device. Initial data from System1 and Kantar shows high effectiveness scores, with above-average emotional engagement and brand recall.  

The early release aligns with John Lewis’ strategic move to front-load holiday attention before Black Friday.  

The spot reinforces the retailer’s holiday branding as an emotional touchstone, taps cross-generational sentiment, and differentiates this year’s campaign by focusing on music and memory rather than cute mascots. 

Coca-Cola (Global)— “Holidays Are Coming” 2025 Version

Coca-Cola released its long-running “Holidays Are Coming” platform with an AI-generated visual treatment again for 2025.  

The ad applies Coca-Cola’s proprietary Create Real Magic AI system to generate animation, character movement, and environmental design. The company continues to use AI despite criticism last year regarding over-automation in creative development.  

The campaign reinforces Coca-Cola’s intent to drive brand consistency while simultaneously showcasing its AI ecosystem as a market differentiator. The company stated in Q3 2025 results that marketing investments had increased, though it also grew comparable currency-neutral operating income by 15%. 

Barbour (UK)—Wallace & Gromit “Gift-o-Matic”

Barbour partnered with Aardman Animations for its 2025 Christmas campaign featuring Wallace and Gromit. The ad showcases the duo using their new “Gift-o-Matic” machine to automate holiday preparations, integrating Barbour’s signature wax jacket as part of the storyline.  

The brand also released limited-edition character-inspired jackets and pledged proceeds to charity. The campaign leverages British animation IP with strong cross-generational recognition, ensuring consistent brand visibility.  

This continues Barbour’s multi-year strategy of blending entertainment IP with product heritage, which has historically driven high engagement across social channels and retail uplift during the holiday period. 

Global Market Reports Hint at “News Advertising” Outperforms Standard Placements 

Global marketers report that placing ads in “news content environments” outperforms standard campaign baselines by ~60 percent. 

A recent survey of nearly 2,000 global marketing professionals shows that advertising within trusted news environments — e.g. legitimate news publishers — outshine many digital channels in ROI and effectiveness. This contradicts longstanding assumptions about “brand-safe but low-performance” news placements. 

This alone could shift media-buying strategies. Agencies and advertisers might increase spending on premium news placements as a hedge against poor performance or brand-safety concerns on open social or programmatic environments. 

Omnicom Group Becomes World’s Largest Ad-Holdco After Acquiring IPG 

Omnicom Group completes acquisition of Interpublic Group (IPG) — forming the world’s largest ad-holding behemoth. 

The merger between Omnicom and IPG went through this month, creating the largest advertising holding company worldwide by revenue. The consolidation combines major creative and media-buying networks under one roof.  

Industry insiders view the move as a strategic bet to bulk up resources and buffer against growing pressures from in-house marketing teams, AI-driven platforms, and shifting client demands. 

This reshapes the agency landscape by reducing the number of independent major holding groups, potentially decreasing competition among global networks, and accelerating consolidation in the advertising agency world. 

Meta Earns Its Most Ad Revenue from Fraud Adverts

Meta Platforms, through its internal data, shows a significant portion of ad revenue that comes from fraudulent or banned-product adverts.  

Public documents published this November reveal that a non-trivial share of the ads running on Meta’s platforms are for scams or banned items. Meta itself estimated roughly 10% of its 2024 ad revenue originated from such content.  

The report intensifies pressure on Meta to overhaul ad moderation and trust-and-safety practices. 

Brands and agencies may grow wary of ad inventory quality on Meta’s ecosystem. Advertisers might withdraw or demand better guarantees. It exposes a credibility and regulatory risk point for one of the biggest ad networks globally.