Carhartt entered 2025 with its most aggressive eCommerce goals to date, pursuing record revenue and accelerated new customer acquisition amid a tightening economic climate. As inflation continued to pressure household budgets and consumer confidence remained volatile, shoppers became more deliberate, extending consideration windows, and delaying checkout. At the same time, competitive intensity increased across media channels, driving up costs and fragmenting demand. Heading into the critical holiday season, the brand was challenged not only to grow in a challenging environment, but to do more with less: maximizing efficiency, protecting margin, and converting cautious demand into profitable revenue.
To achieve its ambitious growth targets, Carhartt, in partnership with media agency of record January Digital, implemented a highly focused, full-funnel eCommerce strategy. This plan aimed to drive incremental revenue, attract new customers, and leverage social commerce, all while expanding content efforts.
Carhartt placed a strong emphasis on storytelling, delivering its highest volume of video, brand, and influencer content to date. The brand sought to showcase the hardworking men and women who make the world’s biggest stages possible such as the Buffalo Bills’ new stadium and CBS’s newest singing competition The Road. In partnership with the Buffalo Bills’ new Highmark Stadium, the campaign drew the attention of football fans across the country with the behind-the-scenes look of the stadium construction in placements ahead of the Bills’ marquee matchups throughout the season.
As social commerce continued to scale, investments increased across Meta, TikTok, and YouTube, alongside expanded influencer partnerships and a greater focus on vertical video. Media investments were strategically aligned to seasonal demand and weather patterns, with holiday campaigns launching earlier than in 2024 to capture demand within a shorter shopping window and drive incremental sales.
January Digital tapped premium inventory and leveraged advanced measurement to scale a full-funnel holiday strategy that delivered record brand and performance outcomes:
To address aggressive growth goals amidst many challenging external factors, Carhartt and January Digital aligned media strategies across the organization to:
Carhartt and January Digital partnered closely during a period of historic consumer pressure. To counteract these headwinds, we anchored the holiday strategy in Carhartt’s most iconic anniversary products, pairing nostalgia with fresh creative storytelling that reminded consumers why they loved the brand in the first place. By giving shoppers something emotionally resonant and culturally relevant to rally around, we drove strong sell-through on hero products while lifting overall revenue across comparable styles.
At the same time, we recognized that creativity had become the primary performance driver. Together, we built explicit monthly product support plans, ensuring every priority story was backed by coordinated full funnel assets with clearly aligned prioritization. This structure created organizational clarity while enabling real-time optimization. As product demand fluctuated, we dynamically shifted creative weight and investment to maximize efficiency and revenue impact.
Finally, we leaned into social and video as the brand’s most significant growth opportunity. Through rigorous data analysis, we demonstrated that YouTube, TikTok, and Meta were driving not only paid revenue but also halo effects across non-paid channels. With that proof, we executed one of Carhartt’s most meaningful media mix shifts in years, prioritizing high-reach, incremental channels over legacy last-click tactics like paid search. Within search, we further diversified toward strategies focused on incremental revenue and new customer acquisition. This holistic reallocation strengthened performance across the funnel and positioned Carhartt for a resilient, growth-driven holiday season.
Carhartt and January Digital's 2025 Holiday full-funnel eCommerce campaign exceeded both client expectations and industry benchmarks, driving record performance for Carhartt. Key results include:
