Study: Marketers rack up 11 additional working hours over Black Friday weekend

The Black Friday weekend typically sees marketers working 11 hours extra because Black Friday requires more marketing materials than any other annual holiday, according to a recent study. 

The study on 600 professionals in the marketing industry found that a marketer will create 17 new assets on average for the spending holiday, with 12% admitting they are required to create more than 41 for the season.

Consequently, the survey by global digital asset management platform, Bynder, found that marketers will likely work 11 extra hours around the Black Friday weekend. In more extreme cases, 6% reported that they will work more than 25 additional hours.

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However, these numbers exclude almost a third (28%) of respondents who reported that they do not typically work around the Black Friday weekend, whereas 8% indicated being on call.

The need to create seasonal marketing assets also appears to also increase yearly. For example, brands have started to rebrand their logos around seasonal events such as Christmas and Halloween.

However, 51% of marketers surveyed indicated that more marketing assets are required for Black Friday than for any other seasonal holiday.

Some of the biggest challenges involved in managing seasonal marketing assets included managing the high volume of assets (35.5%) and ensuring brand alignment (21.17%). The speed required to deliver these assets (21.17%) and the need to ensuring that assets are available for all required channels (20.17%) were also flagged as major challenges.

For example, in 2021, Amazon Singapore went all out by offering 26 pairs of return tickets to Seattle, USA, as part of its marketing push for Black Friday.

"To celebrate this occasion, we are giving out 26 pairs of return tickets to Seattle on Premium Economy on Singapore Airlines. On top of our incredible deals, we aim to deliver greater joy to our customers with this contest that we are launching for the first time ever," a spokesperson from Amazon Singapore said at the time.

The giveaway campaign saw the company producing additional assets, such as Facebook and Instagram posts and an event page on its website.

Given these challenges, artificial intelligence (AI) offers an opportunity to cut down marketers’ overtime in the seasonal period. 75% of respondents used AI in seasonal asset creation, resulting in an average of 10 hours saved.

“Marketing teams continue to be challenged with the need to manage and distribute a growing volume of targeted content across more channels than ever before, often working to tight deadlines,” said Steve Vinall, director of global brand and communications at Bynder.

He added that the increased pressure to create assets for annual holidays can make the work of a marketer more stressful.

“Our data paints a picture of content chaos surrounding Black Friday. With more assets to create and manage than any other seasonal event, it’s clear to see why marketers have to work 11 extra hours on average around the spending event.”

However, he cited AI as a positive takeaway that can change the game this year.

“Marketers reported that AI saves time when creating seasonal assets, so if any last minute marketing materials are needed, AI may help to ensure this doesn’t require out of work hours,” he explained.

Other marketing technologies such as digital asset management platforms can also enable more efficiency, he said. Such tools provide a single source of truth for all assets, enhancing the ability to find and reuse content. This paves the way for better quality content to be delivered to market faster.

On an operational front, the Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend also means extended hours for warehouse workers and delivery personnel. Last year, the event brought about global protests by Amazon workers, with a few thousand warehouse employees across over 30 nations planning protests and walkouts.

Monika di Silvestre, head of Ver.di’s Amazon committee in Germany, said at the time that employees were specifically concerned about how they were closely monitored by computers to check on their productivity. For example, workers were monitored for how many packages they needed to handle every hour.

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