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How Zipify turned Q4 panic into a unique Black Friday ad with $110k+ in adspend 💵
🕯️ “Please… somebody help me.”
This is not just a funny idea. It’s one of the smartest Black Friday ads we’ve seen in 2024 - pulling over $110K in ad spend. |  Author: |
Watch the ad for yourself right here and see we’re so impressed:
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🧠 The concept: Marketer horror story
Instead of the usual “SALE!” barrage, Zipify dramatized what every DTC brand secretly feels in Q4: pure chaos.
Let’s quickly sum up what this 3+ minute ad looks like:
Three Shopify merchants head into “the woods” to plan their Black Friday sale…
They quickly lose signal, sanity, and strategy.
“We’ve been out here for days… and our ad costs keep going up.”
It’s absurd, hilarious, and painfully real.
The parody references The Blair Witch Project, but instead of ghosts, the threats are “AOV,” “CPM,” and “ROAS.”
Then, just as panic peaks, the twist lands:
Ezra Firestone, the founder himself, appears calmly offering a free Black Friday training that solves every problem they’ve just dramatized.
It’s the perfect character arc: confusion → crisis → clarity.
🧱 The structure behind the chaos
Even though it feels chaotic, the ad follows tight direct-response fundamentals:
Hook (0:00–0:08): “Please somebody help me…” - Emotional + curiosity trigger.
Escalation (0:10–1:50): Mounting conflict and pain points - no strategy, ad costs rising, confusion.
Payoff (2:00–3:00): The guide appears - Ezra introduces his free Q4 planning system.
CTA (3:00–3:24): “Go through my free training and have your best Black Friday ever.”
It’s story-first direct response - tension anchors attention, education resolves it.
If you look at this ad’s stats inside VidTao, you’ll notice the ad was launched in September 2024 - which was no accident:
Most brands wait until start to mid-November to mention Black Friday.
Zipify made “planning Black Friday” itself the product.
That early timing did three things:
✅ Captured marketers before ad fatigue hit.
✅ Made Zipify top-of-mind before the rush.
✅ Turned the stress narrative into a teaching moment.
It wasn’t a Black Friday sale ad.
It was a Black Friday survival ad!
🧩 Important takeaways from this ad
1️⃣ Use emotion outside your niche.
Zipify borrowed horror tropes - tension, fear, absurdity - to make a marketing topic thrilling.
2️⃣ Teach by satire.
Every “pain point” in the ad (no strategy, no plan, rising ad costs) mirrors real marketer struggles, but presented through storytelling, not slides.
3️⃣ Launch early, own the narrative.
The ad’s long lifespan shows that the planning phase is an underused campaign window. Most brands miss it entirely.
4️⃣ Blend entertainment with expertise.
By the time Ezra (the founder) appears, the viewer wants a solution. That’s when selling feels like saving.
This ad wasn’t just a creative stunt; it’s a framework for long-form ad storytelling in 2025:
🎥 Start with emotion.
🎭 Escalate conflict.
🧩 Resolve with authority.
🎯 Anchor with a clear, generous CTA.
Zipify’s ad proves that education can sell when it’s disguised as entertainment, and that humor, horror, and a sense of humanity can outperform hype.
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If you’re serious about crafting offers that sell, don’t skip this.
Want to brainstorm with us on new ways to scale your business with YouTube Ads (and other performance video platforms)?
Join us for a free YouTube ad brainstorming session here:
| Kristina Jovanovic, Social Media Manager & Content Writer Fascinated by human behavior, Kristina graduated with a degree in Psychology and joined our agency to put her knowledge to good use as a Media Buyer. She later transitioned into her current role, where she draws on her knowledge of the human psyche and marketing strategy, as well as hands-on experience in creative development and media buying at Inceptly, to share useful insights with our readers. |
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