AppLovin for Black Friday 2026: What to Copy, What to Skip, and How to Build Your Q4 Ad Plan

In this episode, I go through the whole playbook section by section. I cover what’s worth copying, where I disagree, and how I’d turn it into a real Q4 plan for brands doing $5M+ a year. Spending more and making more ads is not a strategy.

What I cover:
– Why your BFCM campaigns should be live in October, not Thanksgiving week
– ROAS vs. CPP: which campaign goal fits your offer, and why holiday bundles change the answer
– Day 0 vs. Day 7 conversion windows, and how to match them to your customer’s buying cycle
– Universal vs. Prospecting vs. Discovery: what each audience strategy is actually accountable for
– How much budget to start with and how to scale without wrecking your margins
– Dynamic Catalogs, Interactive Pages, and why 81% of AppLovin’s top-spending video ads run longer than 30 seconds
– How much creative the top 5% of advertisers upload every week, and why you shouldn’t copy it blindly
– The five shopper phases from Cyber Monday to New Year’s, and what to change in each

My biggest takeaway: don’t manage Q4 as six separate platform dashboards. Manage it as one business.

Want help planning your Q4?
✅ Elevate your brand’s Email & SMS marketing: https://breadloaf.typeform.com/to/rotiGDm7?typeform-source=www.youtube.com
🚀 Discuss your growth strategy: https://calendly.com/markmilutin/retention-audit-kick-off?month=2025-02