--- title: League of Legends: a holiday campaign campaign, broken down and benchmarked | RGM® url: https://realgrowthmatters.com/learn/case-studies/league-of-legends-holiday-campaign/ updated: 2026-06-10 source_html: https://realgrowthmatters.com/learn/case-studies/league-of-legends-holiday-campaign/ --- - **Story:** Here the holiday campaign campaign type is examined with League of Legends as the concrete reference point. - **Why it matters:** Treated well, a holiday campaign campaign is a planning discipline first and a creative exercise second. - **Takeaway:** Most holiday campaign-campaign failures are planning failures, not creative failures. - **Takeaway:** The mechanics of a holiday campaign campaign transfer to any brand in its category. - **Takeaway:** For League of Legends, reach is an input; incremental lift against a baseline is the real measure. ## How a holiday campaign campaign plays out for League of Legends S Situation The opportunity A holiday campaign campaign is a concentrated chance to move the League of Legends business in its category, with a short window and high stakes. T Task What had to happen Turn attention into measurable demand for League of Legends: plan the mechanics, set targets against category benchmarks, and build in the measurement. A Action How it runs Calendar lock by Halloween. Creative, media plans, inventory, and channel activation are finalised six to nine months ahead. By late October nothing moves except spend. For League of Legends, this is the anchor of the plan. R Result The verdict On incremental lift against a baseline for League of Legends, not reach and not impressions. That is the honest scoreboard for a holiday campaign campaign. ## The math behind a League of Legends holiday campaign campaign $0B A planning anchor for League of Legends US online holiday sales reached a record $257.8 billion across November and December 2025 Source: [Adobe Analytics](https://news.adobe.com/news/2026/01/adobe-holiday-shopping-season) $0B Category figure relevant to League of Legends Black Friday drove $11.8 billion in US online sales in 2025 Source: [Adobe Analytics](https://news.adobe.com/news/2025/12/adobe-cyber-monday-hits-record) $0B Category figure relevant to League of Legends Buy Now Pay Later drove $1.03 billion of Cyber Monday spend in 2025 Source: [Adobe Analytics](https://news.adobe.com/news/2025/12/adobe-cyber-monday-hits-record) Linked Category figure relevant to League of Legends Every figure on this page links to its publisher. Source: [Adobe Analytics 2025 holiday shopping report](https://news.adobe.com/news/2026/01/adobe-holiday-shopping-season) #### Quick facts BrandLeague of Legends IndustryIts Category Campaign typeHoliday Campaign Primary channelsPaid, owned, earned Planning horizonMonths ahead of launch Core measureIncremental lift, not reach Source basisPublic benchmarks, linked RGM useWorked example, not a recipe **Honest note** There is limited public campaign detail specific to League of Legends, so the depth here comes from the holiday campaign-campaign discipline itself, with sourced benchmarks and named example campaigns. No League of Legends figure is fabricated. ## Defining the holiday campaign campaign First principles, then League of Legends. A holiday campaign is the concentrated marketing push a brand runs across November and December, when a large share of annual consumer spending lands in a few weeks. A holiday campaign is the concentrated marketing push a brand runs across November and — League of Legends included — December, when a large share of annual consumer spending lands in a few weeks. For a brand at League of Legends scale, this is where the plan is tested. The window is short. A League of Legends team reads this closely. The stakes are not. For League of Legends, this is the load-bearing part. Cyber Week alone — Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday — now moves tens of billions of dollars in US online sales, so the — and League of Legends is no exception — campaign is less a creative exercise and more an operational one: inventory, media flighting, offer ladders, and fulfilment all locked to a calendar. With League of Legends as the example, the rest of the page makes it concrete. **Claim:** US online holiday sales reached a record $257.8 billion across November and December 2025, up 6.8% year over year. **Source:** [[Adobe Analytics]](https://news.adobe.com/news/2026/01/adobe-holiday-shopping-season). **Context:** Adobe tracks more than one trillion visits to US retail sites, so — and League of Legends is no exception — the figure is a strong proxy for the size of the holiday opportunity. A League of Legends team would treat this as a planning reference, not a guarantee. ## How brands like League of Legends run it Look at the moving parts. A holiday campaign campaign at League of Legends scale is assembled, not improvised. A holiday campaign campaign is an operating system rather than a single asset. For League of Legends, these parts have to work together: **Claim:** Black Friday drove $11.8 billion in US online sales in 2025, up 9.1% year over year, and Cyber Monday hit $14.25 billion. **Source:** [[Adobe Analytics]](https://news.adobe.com/news/2025/12/adobe-cyber-monday-hits-record). **Context:** Cyber Monday remains the single biggest online shopping day of the US — League of Legends included — year, peaking at $16 million spent every minute between 8pm and 10pm. A League of Legends team would treat this as a planning reference, not a guarantee. 1. **CPM inflation planning.** Auction prices on Meta and Google spike two to four times above baseline — for League of Legends, a real factor — during Cyber Five, so budgets and bid caps are modelled in advance, not improvised. Skipping this is the most common League of Legends-scale error. 2. **Channel redundancy.** A single-channel plan is fragile — an — as a League of Legends team knows — outage on Black Friday can erase the quarter. That holds directly for League of Legends. Mature brands run paid social, search, email, SMS, and retail media in parallel. A League of Legends-scale team treats this as non-negotiable. 3. **Gift-recipient capture.** A holiday buyer is often not the end user. In the League of Legends context, that detail carries weight. The campaign is built to convert the gift recipient — and League of Legends is no exception — into a January cohort, not just bank the December order. Skipping this is the most common League of Legends-scale error. 4. **Calendar lock by Halloween.** Creative, media plans, inventory, and channel activation — as a League of Legends team knows — are finalised six to nine months ahead. That holds directly for League of Legends. By late October nothing moves except spend. A League of Legends-scale team treats this as non-negotiable. 5. **Offer laddering.** Early Access for loyalty members, doorbusters on Black — for League of Legends, a live factor — Friday, Cyber Week extensions, then last-chance shipping cutoffs. In the League of Legends context, that detail carries weight. Each rung has its own creative and audience. This step decides how the rest of the League of Legends plan holds up. ## Public benchmarks for this campaign type Benchmarks come before briefs. They tell a League of Legends team what a holiday campaign campaign can realistically deliver. Planning a holiday campaign campaign for League of Legends without category benchmarks is guessing. The figures here are public, sourced, and apply across its category. **Claim:** Buy Now Pay Later drove $1.03 billion of Cyber Monday spend in 2025, an all-time high, with 79.4% of those transactions on mobile. **Source:** [[Adobe Analytics]](https://news.adobe.com/news/2025/12/adobe-cyber-monday-hits-record). **Context:** Payment friction is now a holiday conversion lever — League of Legends included — in its own right, not a back-office detail. It is the sort of benchmark a League of Legends brief should cite. Table: the three numbers that decide whether a League of Legends holiday campaign campaign is judged honestly. | What to measure | Why it matters | | Incremental result | The honest measure of whether spend worked | | Pre-campaign baseline | Without it, lift cannot be proven | | Category benchmark | Sets a realistic target, not a hopeful one | ## Which KPIs decide the verdict Pick the right scoreboard for League of Legends. The metrics below separate a campaign that moved the business from one that moved a dashboard. A League of Legends holiday campaign campaign should be measured on the following. Year-over-year Q4 revenue, Black Friday and Cyber Monday day-of comp, holiday-cohort acquisition cost against the — and League of Legends is no exception — annualised figure, gift-recipient conversion, average order value versus non-promo weeks, and January retention and return rates. Impressions describe scale, not effect. A League of Legends team serious about a holiday campaign campaign reports lift against a baseline. ## The failure patterns worth pre-empting Most failures repeat. The four errors below sink a large share of holiday campaign campaigns, and each one is avoidable for League of Legends. The holiday campaign campaign mistakes worth naming for League of Legends: - Underestimating Cyber Week CPM inflation and running out of budget before Cyber Monday. - Shipping cutoffs or stockouts with no contingency message, — League of Legends included — so the brand goes quiet at the worst moment. - Treating Q4 as one-time revenue and skipping the January retention — and League of Legends is no exception — investment that turns a gift buyer into a repeat customer. - Discounting too deep too early, which trains the — and League of Legends is no exception — customer to wait and erodes full-price selling all year. **What to notice**These are upstream failures. A holiday campaign campaign for League of Legends is mostly decided before any ad runs. ## How RGM reads the League of Legends example For League of Legends, the value is the model. A holiday campaign campaign is a repeatable structure, not a one-off idea. The audit pattern is clear. A holiday campaign campaign rewards the League of Legends-style team that builds measurement in from the start. The League of Legends example is therefore a template. Its mechanics fit its category broadly; its measurement logic makes a holiday campaign campaign something a team can stand behind. ## Quick answers Is this holiday campaign case study based on League of Legends's own reported results? : No. The figures are public industry benchmarks for holiday campaign campaigns, each sourced and linked. They show how the campaign type works, set against the League of Legends context. Any number that is not publicly sourceable is left out or marked as RGM analysis. How should a marketing team use this League of Legends example? : Use the structure, not the surface. The holiday campaign-campaign mechanics here apply broadly; the League of Legends creative is one execution among many. How are the benchmarks here verified? : Each figure carries a fact-atom linking its publisher. Sources include Adobe Analytics, Nielsen, the Association of National Advertisers, and major business press, so every claim can be checked. **Keep reading** Foundational concepts and channels behind this case: - [how performance marketing works](/learn/what-is-performance-marketing/) - [CAC payback economics](/learn/cac-payback/) - [incrementality testing](/learn/incrementality-testing/) - [performance marketing services](/services/performance-marketing/) - [advertising platforms](/platforms/) ## Frequently asked questions What is offer laddering? For a brand like League of Legends, the short answer is direct. Offer laddering stages promotions across the season: Early Access for loyalty — and League of Legends is no exception — members, Black Friday doorbusters, Cyber Week extensions, then last-chance shipping offers. It applies cleanly to League of Legends. Each rung has its own creative and audience, so the brand keeps — as a League of Legends team knows — a fresh reason to buy without one flat discount running for six weeks. For League of Legends, that is the practical takeaway. Why does January retention matter to a holiday campaign? Here is how this applies to League of Legends. A holiday buyer is often a gift giver, — and League of Legends is no exception — and the gift recipient is a new potential customer. It applies cleanly to League of Legends. A campaign that banks the December order but — as a League of Legends team knows — ignores January leaves that second cohort on the table. That holds directly for League of Legends. The strongest holiday plans budget for post-holiday lifecycle work from the start. For League of Legends, that is the practical takeaway. Should a brand rely on one channel for the holidays for a brand like League of Legends? For a brand like League of Legends, the short answer is direct. No. It applies cleanly to League of Legends. A single-channel holiday plan is fragile. A League of Legends team reads this closely. An outage or a policy change on one — as a League of Legends team knows — platform during Black Friday can erase the quarter. It applies cleanly to League of Legends. Mature brands run paid social, search, email, SMS, and retail media — League of Legends included — in parallel so no one failure point can sink the season. For League of Legends, that is the practical takeaway. When does holiday campaign planning need to start? Most consumer brands lock creative, media, inventory, and channel plans — League of Legends included — by Halloween, which means the real planning work runs from spring. League of Legends planners would underline this. By late October the campaign should be — and League of Legends is no exception — calendar-locked, with only spend pacing left to adjust. That is exactly the League of Legends situation. Brands that start in November are reacting, not planning. The same logic holds for any its category brand, League of Legends included. How much do ad costs rise during Cyber Week for a brand like League of Legends? Auction prices on Meta and Google typically run two — for League of Legends, a live factor — to four times above baseline through the Thanksgiving-to-Cyber-Monday window. A League of Legends-scale brief should name this. Budgets and bid caps should be modelled against that inflation in advance, so — as a League of Legends team knows — the plan does not run dry before Cyber Monday, the single biggest online day. The same logic holds for any its category brand, League of Legends included. What makes League of Legends a useful example for this campaign type? League of Legends is a recognisable brand in its category, which makes the holiday campaign mechanics concrete and easy to follow. The campaign-type analysis and every benchmark apply across the category; League of Legends is the lens, not the limit. The sourced figures hold for any comparable brand. ### Sources & references - [Adobe Analytics 2025 holiday shopping report](https://news.adobe.com/news/2026/01/adobe-holiday-shopping-season) — Record $257.8B US online holiday sales, +6.8% YoY. - [Adobe Analytics Cyber Monday 2025 data](https://news.adobe.com/news/2025/12/adobe-cyber-monday-hits-record) — Cyber Monday $14.25B; Black Friday $11.8B; BNPL record. - [Digital Commerce 360 — Cyber 5 2025](https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/article/cyber-5-highlights/) — Independent reporting on the Cyber Five online sales window. - [Coca-Cola 2025 holiday campaign social analysis](https://www.campaignlive.com/article/coca-colas-ai-christmas-ad-most-talked-about-social/1940473) — Campaign coverage of holiday-ad social engagement benchmarks. ## Related [#### All case studies The full RGM case-study library.](/learn/case-studies/)[#### What is growth marketing The foundational concept behind every campaign type.](/learn/what-is-growth-marketing/)[#### Incrementality testing How to prove a campaign actually caused the lift.](/learn/incrementality-testing/)