5.75x Growth: Creator Gifting Drives Tentpole Event Success for New Products
While advertisers pour millions into Sponsored Products this holiday season, the strategy that delivered 5x+ growth for a GO client costs a fraction—and most brands aren’t leveraging it.
Every brand is looking for an edge during Amazon's most competitive shopping events. Advertisers pour millions into Sponsored Products and DSP campaigns for Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and throughout the holiday shopping season, but many miss the opportunity hiding in plain sight: creator partnerships that generate awareness at scale.
Influencer marketing is projected to reach $32.55 billion in 2025, a 35.6% jump from 2024, and 94% of U.S. social shoppers who make influencer-inspired purchases do so on Amazon. Influencer marketing is an opportunity for every brand, but especially for those launching a new product during this tentpole season.
Influencer Marketing Can Boost Your New Product Launch this Tentpole Season
Without dozens of verified reviews or organic user-generated content, new products lack the social proof established items carry into tentpole events. But, as shoppers scroll past polished ads, they’re stopping for genuine recommendations. 85% of Gen Z says social media influences their purchasing decisions, with 45% naming TikTok and Instagram as top platforms driving those choices.
GO recognized this opportunity and developed a systematic creator gifting strategy for a client launching new products across two distinct categories. The approach combined volume gifting to generate organic content with strategic paid amplification through Amazon's Sponsorship program—all timed to maximize impact during a major tentpole event.
Case Study: Creator Strategy Delivers 5.75x Growth
Opportunity
A hardlines client with multiple brands preparing for a major tentpole event sought GO's expertise to drive traffic and awareness for newly launched products through Amazon's Creator Gifting program. Without established review history, these new SKUs needed authentic voices to break through the competitive noise during a major tentpole event.
Solution
GO developed a multi-brand creator strategy targeting each brand’s category and demographics to maximize reach and engagement across two distinct product categories.
For Brand 1 (Home, Kitchen & Grocery), GO worked with them to strategically select creators for dedicated Instagram Story content. The approach prioritized creators with engaged audiences in home and lifestyle niches who could authentically integrate the products into their daily routines—particularly valuable for categories that see increased demand during holiday shopping periods.
Brand 2 (Women's Lifestyle, Gen-Z focused) required a different playbook. GO worked with the brand to identify Gen-Z creators with younger audiences on TikTok, capitalizing on the platform where 68% of Gen Z consumers discovered new products in 2024—critical for health and personal care brands targeting New Year wellness trends.
Results
GO's creator gifting strategy delivered exceptional tentpole event performance:
5.75x YoY increase in Affiliate Sales (+7% above benchmark)
703,870 total impressions across both brands
53 organic posts for Brand 1
17 organic posts for Brand 2
Your Creator Gifting Framework for Tentpole Event Success
Platform-Specific Creator Selection
Match your product category and target demographic to the right platform. Home goods and established audiences lean Instagram; trend-forward and Gen-Z products belong on TikTok.
Strategic Gifting Volume and Amplification
Tier your creator strategy from nano-influencers (gifting only) to mid-tier creators (100k-500k followers) for paid sponsorships.
Performance Tracking Across Platforms
Utilize affiliate links and attribution tags to capture key performance metrics across your creators and platforms. For instance, in the case study above, Brand 1’s Instagram creators generated more direct sales while Brand 2’s TikTok approach drove more efficient awareness. This gave us insight into platform differences between conversion (Instagram) and awareness building (TikTok).
Bonus - If a particular piece of content seems to be driving greater performance, look for ways to amplify that content by adding it into your video ad campaigns.
The Creator Advantage
Traditional advertising builds visibility. Creator partnerships can marry that visibility with trust. And during the year's most competitive shopping events, trust can help convert. GO's systematic approach generated 5.75x affiliate sales growth by matching products to platform-appropriate creators and amplifying authentic content. The result: new products gained the social proof needed to compete during one of the most critical events on the retail calendar.
Want to leverage creator marketing for your next tentpole event? Let's connect.