The 2026 festive season starts now: A Pinterest guide to success

When you have more pressing priorities to juggle, festive-season planning is an easy thing to put off.

The problem? Your customers aren’t waiting—and you can’t afford to either. They’ve been planning for months, comparing options, saving ideas and forming opinions long before your first festive ad goes live. If you wait until November to show up, most festive decisions have already been made. That timing gap is where money gets left on the table.

This year, don’t follow the same script. Instead of treating the festive season as a final end-of-year push, show up early, stay present throughout the season and reach shoppers while decisions are still being made—on Pinterest.

Follow early shoppers, not just peak weeks

The number one reason people come to Pinterest is to shop.¹ That makes our audience unique: a growing group of high-intent shoppers that you can’t find anywhere else, actively planning everything from gifting lists and festive menus to party details and seasonal traditions. They also start early here, with our data showing that festive activity spikes as early as September.² 

So, the earlier you arrive, the more of those decisions you shape. That’s why a full-funnel strategy with Pinterest is crucial. An always-on, full-funnel approach keeps you present throughout the entire customer journey, and it’s where Pinterest unlocks incremental results. In a recent study, advertisers saw an average incremental ROAS (iROAS) of 3.71, with more than half of those incremental sales from new buyers. The iROAS that advertisers measured on Pinterest outperformed other platforms.³ And the biggest returns went to those advertisers who ran the full funnel for months, not a late sprint. 

Your roadmap to a winning festive strategy

Here’s how to build your festive strategy so that you get in front of festive shoppers early, and before they’ve made up their minds. 

1. Set your foundation. Before you spend a pound, get your house in order. Make sure that your product catalogue and feed are uploaded and ready, and settle on the goals and KPIs that you will judge the season by. Refine your measurement strategy to capture true impact and see what your spend is actually driving.

2. Put Pinterest Performance+ to work. Make sure you’re using Pinterest Performance+ heading into Q4 to drive results with less manual effort. It combines Pinterest’s automation and AI features to simplify campaign creation and scale what’s working. Recent updates to our ad delivery models unlocked an overall 28% improvement in ROAS during testing for SMB advertisers using Pinterest Performance+ campaigns with ROAS bidding.⁴ 

3. Test and learn. Before the Q4 rush, use other important moments relevant to your business—the back-to-school season, Halloween—to learn what works for your audience. Start testing creative and build new engagement and retargeting audiences. See what drives the most impact, then use those learnings to shape your strategy for the festive season.

4. Launch your festive campaign earlier. Launch your full festive campaign, built on what you learned, starting early and running all season. Aim to go live as early as possible between September and November. Then scale budgets and creative into Q4 using your best-performing ingredients, so you’re building on proven signals instead of starting from scratch. Keep optimising as the season goes on.

5. Don’t forget about Q5. The week between Christmas and New Year’s Day extends the shopping season on Pinterest. During this period, 55% of weekly Pinterest users keep buying online and 45% continue shopping in-store,⁵ creating more time for brands to capture shopper attention and drive purchases. Keep your campaigns running after the festive peak by refreshing budgets and creative to align with New Year inspiration and deals to take advantage as sales continue into early January.

Make the list this festive season

The brands that win the festive season aren’t the ones with the biggest December budget. They start early, optimise before the peak season starts and stay present for the whole journey. If you want to be their next festive decision, the time to start is now. Download your festive checklist and share it with your team, or click below to start your campaign.