Hop on to Higher Easter Day Sales with Demand Gen Ads

Easter 2025 is set to be one of the most anticipated holidays, ranking as the 4th-most popular holiday just behind Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Mother’s Day. With Easter falling on April 20th this year, consumers have extra time to plan their celebrations and shop for Easter promotions, providing advertisers with a unique opportunity to drive sales.

This extended shopping window opens the door for advertisers to implement targeted strategies and drive high-intent customers into the lower funnel. In this blog, we’ll explore how Demand Gen ads can maximize targeting, creative flexibility, and campaign performance. With proven strategies and creative options, you’ll be fully equipped to increase your conversions for your Easter Day sales campaigns.

Easter Advertising and Consumer Trends

Are Easter Day sale campaigns going to be a hit this season? Let’s explore the consumer behaviors and shopping trends to help guide your Demand Gen ads strategy:

What Do Consumers Buy For Easter?

According to the National Retail Federation’s 2024 survey, candy and food are the top two purchases for Easter, a trend expected to continue in 2025. Additionally, Easter decorations are seeing a 7% increase, reflecting the growing enthusiasm for holiday celebrations. Gifts, traditionally associated with the Christmas season, also rank in the top three purchases for Easter shoppers.

Easter egg hunts remain a beloved tradition, securing the top spot in celebration plans for the season. While Easter events had waned in popularity in recent years, they’re back on top this year, with holiday meals and family gatherings taking second and third place, respectively.

When Do Shoppers Start Hunting for Easter Deals?

Easter shoppers typically begin searching for deals and inspiration about a month before the holiday but make their final purchases closer to the event. According to Numerator, purchase planning often begins 1-2 months in advance, with the most active buying period happening 1-2 weeks before Easter.

Timing your Easter advertising is essential so your campaigns align with your target audience’s shopping habits, capturing them as they move through the purchase funnel.

How Do Shoppers Engage with Ads Leading Up to Easter?

While 61% of U.S. consumers will be celebrating Easter, 33% of shoppers will be flocking to online stores, offering a prime opportunity for advertisers. Demand Gen ads, which can be presented across different networks, are an effective way to reach these consumers. Your Easter ads should focus on related items that highlight traditions, Easter activities, or promotions to draw attention.

Even for the 55% of consumers who say they are not celebrating Easter, many will still be engaged with Easter Day sale ads, eager to take advantage of the deals. This makes advertising during Easter a lucrative opportunity for brands looking to launch seasonal sales campaigns.

Aligning your Easter campaign strategy with consumer trends and shopping behaviors can help you boost engagement, drive sales, and optimize conversions this season. So, how will you make your brand stand out and be Easterrific this year?

Easter Day Sale Ads That Convert

Easter is a season of joy, renewal, and vibrant celebration. For some, it’s rooted in faith and tradition. For others, it’s a cheerful time filled with pastel colors, sweet treats, and springtime energy.

As such, how can your Easter Day sale ads stand out and convert? The key lies in aligning creativity, format, and urgency to inspire clicks and purchases.

• Winning Ad Formats: Short-form video ads, especially on YouTube, are proving to be powerful tools in Easter advertising. In fact, YouTube Shorts holds an average engagement rate of 5.91%—beating out TikTok (5.75%) and Instagram Reels (5.53%). Easter promotions featuring product demos, festive recipes, or DIY crafts are perfect fits for this ad format.

Easter Marketing Using Demand Gen Ads

YouTube advertising gives you all the tools to build a full-funnel strategy—from creating awareness to driving traffic and action. For your Easter Day sales, you can layer your campaigns: start with Video Reach Campaigns to spark interest, use Video View Campaigns for deeper engagement, and activate Demand Gen Ads to turn viewers into customers.

Why Use Demand Gen Ads for Easter Day Sale Campaigns?

With Google’s AI, Demand Gen ads use dynamic content and advanced targeting to engage audiences and drive action. The design is to deliver visually engaging, multi-format ads across Google’s most immersive platforms, including YouTube, YouTube Shorts, Discover, and Gmail. 

The focus is to create demand rather than relying solely on search intent, making them ideal for Easter advertising when consumers may not yet be actively searching for specific products but are open to inspiration.

Still new to Demand Gen ads? Check out our complete guide to setup and strategy.

Why YouTube and Google’s AI-Powered Audience Expansion Make Them Ideal for Easter Promotions?

Google’s AI ensures that ads are shown to users most likely to engage with Easter-themed promotions, whether they’re browsing for gift ideas or planning family celebrations. Since YouTube is a highly engaged platform, first-party data and behavioral signals are analyzed to identify users most likely to click, watch, and convert.

Demand Gen ads have been proven to deliver 2.3x higher ROAS than other paid social campaigns, making them highly ideal and effective for Easter Day sale campaigns.

How Can Demand Gen Ads Help Brands Scale Campaigns Efficiently While Reducing Costs?

Not only do Demand Gen ads optimize campaign performance by automating ad placements, but it also actively optimizes bid strategies. As Demand Gen identifies the most optimal placements to generate views or clicks, you benefit from improved cost efficiency because your ads are shown to viewers who are more likely to stay engaged or make a purchase.

Here are additional examples of cost efficiency achieved with YouTube and Demand Gen ads:

• A campaign promoting a movie’s theatrical release, primarily using Demand Gen ads on YouTube, achieved up to a 7.6% CTR with a 43% improvement in CPC efficiency.
• Rituals, a health and beauty brand, saw impressive results from YouTube Shorts placements; their Easter Day sale ads drove 145% more sales by leaning on current consumer trends.
• A marketing company that previously relied on Discovery ads shifted to Demand Gen ads, using multi-format YouTube video and carousel ads, and experienced up to 6.8x more clicks compared to their former strategy.

Seeing these results, Easter 2025 is definitely an advertising season that brands should not miss.

Creating Effective Demand Gen Ads for Easter Promotions

To capture the attention of Easter shoppers, Demand Gen ads offer a creative solution. By combining trends and insights from this blog, here’s how you can build an effective Easter Day sale campaign:

• Use Google’s AI-driven audience insights alongside your own first-party data (e.g., past purchase history) to segment audiences effectively. Focus on behaviours like browsing for Easter gifts or engaging with spring-themed content.
• Demand Gen ads support localized targeting, allowing you to direct your campaigns toward users in specific store locations. Promote offers such as “Available at your nearest store” to increase foot traffic and boost in-store purchases during your Easter Day sale.
• Vertical video formats (9:16) on YouTube Shorts create immersive experiences that capture attention quickly. With Demand Gen’s multi-format ads, you can also use carousel ads to showcase Easter bundles or limited offers.
  • Bonus: Use Google’s creative enhancements for video and image ads to generate multiple ad variations tailored for different platforms.
• With over 75% of U.S. retail site visits coming from mobile devices, optimizing for mobile placements is always a smart move. While audience location is a key factor, Strike Social data shows that both CTV and mobile lead in ad retention rates, with 63% for CTV and 47% for mobile.

Demand Gen ads offer enhanced solutions for scaling 2025 Easter Day sales campaigns by combining AI-driven targeting with visually immersive formats across YouTube and Google platforms. By tailoring your creative approach to seasonal trends, you can drive higher engagement and conversions.

What’s your strategy for Easter advertising? Reach out below, and we’ll guide you through a personalized walkthrough of our ad activation and management tools to set you on the path to a successful Easter 2025 campaign.