Top Thanksgiving Video Ads of 2025
Introduction
Thanksgiving is more than turkey and pumpkin pie—it’s a cultural moment that brands can’t afford to miss. In 2025, video continues to dominate holiday marketing, but the landscape has shifted. Short-form content, authentic storytelling, and values-driven messaging are outperforming generic “feel-good” ads.
This article spotlights the best Thanksgiving video ads that cut through the noise, showing how brands are winning attention and driving results. Whether you’re a marketer, content strategist, or business leader planning your holiday campaign, these examples double as a playbook for crafting your own high-impact content.
At Lapse Productions, we help companies build campaigns that don’t just look good—they perform. From corporate video production to event video marketing, our team understands what it takes to transform seasonal moments like Thanksgiving into long-term brand equity.
- Introduction
- Why Thanksgiving Video Ads Matter in 2025
- What Makes a Thanksgiving Ad Effective in 2025
- Thanksgiving Campaign Highlights & Trends (2024–25)
- 1. Target – “Thanksgiving Turkey” (2024)
- Why it works:
- 2. Fareway – Thanksgiving Day Parade Promo (2024)
- 3. Lamar – “Gives Thanks” Campaign (2024)
- 4. Ingles – Thanksgiving 2024 Community Spot
- 5. Laff Network – “Laffsgiving” Commercial (2024)
- 6. Arby’s – Deep Fried Turkey Gobbler (2024)
- 7. Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Promo (2024)
- How to Modernize Your Own Thanksgiving Campaigns
- Conclusion
- Let's Create Your Video Today
- Frequently Asked Questions
Why Thanksgiving Video Ads Matter in 2025
Thanksgiving isn’t just a holiday—it’s a revenue engine. U.S. consumers spent $95 billion online over Thanksgiving weekend in 2024, a 7% jump from the previous year (Adobe Analytics). That spike isn’t limited to retail—brands in finance, tech, food, and even healthcare used the moment to drive awareness and engagement through storytelling campaigns.
But here’s the shift: video is no longer optional.
- Social-first habits – Short-form platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts have become the default discovery engines for Thanksgiving content.
- Attention scarcity – The average user scrolls past an ad in under 3 seconds unless it hooks emotionally.
- Values-driven buying – 71% of Gen Z and Millennials say they’re more likely to buy from brands that align with their values during seasonal campaigns (HubSpot, 2024).
For marketers, Thanksgiving video ads are a way to:
- Humanize your brand when consumer sentiment is high.
- Position your company as community-driven rather than purely transactional.
- Capture share-of-mind at the start of the holiday shopping cycle—where the biggest spend is yet to come.
At Lapse Productions, we’ve seen firsthand how the right campaign can bridge brand storytelling with measurable ROI. It’s not about creating the “prettiest” video—it’s about creating content that converts attention into action.
What Makes a Thanksgiving Ad Effective in 2025
A decade ago, a warm family dinner scene and soft piano music could carry a Thanksgiving spot. Today, that formula falls flat. Audiences are savvier, attention spans shorter, and competition stiffer. To cut through, successful Thanksgiving ads now lean on four core pillars:
1. Emotional Resonance Without Clichés
Viewers want authenticity, not manufactured “Hallmark moments.” Campaigns that spotlight real people, diverse families, and genuine gratitude resonate more deeply than staged table shots.
2. Innovative Storytelling Formats
Brands are experimenting with short-form episodic ads, interactive polls, and UGC overlays to keep content dynamic. Think beyond the single 30-second spot—Thanksgiving storytelling now unfolds across multiple touchpoints.
3. Platform-Native Content
A TV spot repurposed for TikTok won’t cut it. The best-performing ads are vertical-first, caption-optimized, and under 15 seconds—engineered for TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts.
4. Social Currency & Shareability
The real KPI is shares, not views. Ads that spark memes, encourage duet chains, or lean into light humor see exponential lift. Thanksgiving is a moment where audiences are actively looking for content to share with family and friends—brands that facilitate that win big.
Thanksgiving Campaign Highlights & Trends (2024–25)
The strongest Thanksgiving ads of the past year didn’t just entertain—they mapped directly to consumer psychology and platform behavior. Here’s how leading brands executed:
1. Target – “Thanksgiving Turkey” (2024)
Why it works:
- Combines quirky humor with a visually arresting twist—turkeys at bargain prices—creating immediate shareability and memorability.
- It aligns with Target’s broader affordability narrative—this year, their Thanksgiving meal deal dropped to ~$20 for four, $5 less than 2023, reinforcing value messaging in a festive context.
- The ad clicks with TikTok-ready audiences while reinforcing campaign continuity (value + visual hook).
2. Fareway – Thanksgiving Day Parade Promo (2024)
Why it works:
- Leans into nostalgic, iconic parade imagery—immediately evokes tradition and emotional connection.
- Quietly powerful: it doesn’t need elaborate storytelling—just visual resonance and festive symbolism to embed into viewers’ cultural memory.
3. Lamar – “Gives Thanks” Campaign (2024)
Why it works:
- Uses public screens for emotional storytelling—a real, on-the-ground “thank-you” in cities, without flashy production.
- This approach capitalizes on authenticity and public sentiment, generating organic social conversation.
- Perfect for brands aiming to blend marketing with community goodwill.
4. Ingles – Thanksgiving 2024 Community Spot
Why it works:
- Likely centers on community warmth and localized storytelling—ideal for regional brand connection.
- Feels less like an ad and more like a neighborly message—powerful emotional glue.
5. Laff Network – “Laffsgiving” Commercial (2024)
Laff Network “Laffsgiving” Commercial (2024)
Why it works:
- Clever pun (“Laffsgiving”) aligns brand tone with holiday branding—straightforward and humorous.
- Messaging matches viewer expectations—comedy network, festive twist—making it sticky and brand-coherent.
6. Arby’s – Deep Fried Turkey Gobbler (2024)
Arby’s Deep Fried Turkey Ad (2024)
Why it works:
- Capitalizes on novelty and indulgence—deep-fried turkey sandwich taps into holiday cravings and comfort culture.
- Leveraged limited-time appeal (“here for a good time, not a long time”) to drive urgency.
- Authentic media coverage backs the food story, making the campaign feel bold, not gimmicky.
7. Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Promo (2024)
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Promo (2024)
Why it works:
It’s less about selling and more about brand association—perfect for emotional resonance and cultural relevance.
Leverages a universally beloved event—the Macy’s Parade—to piggyback brand sentiment onto widespread tradition.
How to Modernize Your Own Thanksgiving Campaigns
The biggest mistake brands make with seasonal content is recycling last year’s playbook. Audiences evolve fast—what worked in 2022 or 2023 feels outdated in 2025. To stand out, your Thanksgiving campaign needs to align with how people consume content today.
Here’s the framework:
1. Start With Story, Not Sales
Thanksgiving is about connection. If your campaign feels like a hard sell, it won’t land. Instead, build around themes of gratitude, inclusivity, and shared experiences—and let the brand message flow naturally. At Lapse Productions, we craft narratives that balance authenticity with brand goals, ensuring your story resonates.
2. Tailor Content to Platforms
Don’t cut a TV ad into a square video and call it digital. Think vertical-first for TikTok and Instagram Reels, create snappy 6–15 second cuts for YouTube Shorts, and reserve longer storytelling for web or email campaigns. Our videography services are designed specifically to adapt content for every platform.
3. Leverage Participation
Invite your audience in. Run a hashtag challenge, curate UGC, or create interactive story ads that feel like two-way engagement—not just broadcasting. We’ve highlighted this strategy in our case studies, showing how audience co-creation can elevate campaign reach and trust.
4. Plan for Repurposing
A single production can fuel dozens of assets if you design it that way. One hero video → short clips → GIFs → behind-the-scenes content. It’s not just cost-efficient; it’s how modern campaigns scale across channels. Our corporate video production services are structured around modular storytelling that maximizes ROI.
5. Track the Metrics That Matter
Forget vanity views. Focus on shares, saves, CTRs, and conversions. These tell you if your message resonated and drove action. If you’re unsure where to start, request a free competitive quote and we’ll help map out what success looks like for your holiday campaign.
Conclusion
Thanksgiving is more than a seasonal holiday—it’s a cultural moment where brands either connect deeply or fade into the background noise. The campaigns that win in 2025 aren’t just visually polished; they’re platform-native, authentic, and designed to spark participation.
If you’re planning your next Thanksgiving or holiday campaign, don’t wait until November to figure it out. Partner with a team that understands how to merge storytelling, production, and strategy into content that converts.
At Lapse Productions, we help brands capture attention and transform it into measurable results. Whether it’s corporate video production, event campaigns, or multi-platform content distribution, we deliver campaigns built for today’s fast-moving digital landscape.
👉 Ready to elevate your holiday marketing? Get a free competitive quote and let’s design a Thanksgiving campaign that positions your brand ahead of the competition.
Let’s Create Your Video Today
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