How Your Brand Can Win the Holiday Gift Guide Game in 2025

There’s power in a good recommendation, and now, in the age of AI and lightning speed consumer discovery, the stakes couldn’t be higher for brands striving for a successful holiday shopping season and close to 2025

According to recent data from Accenture, 77 percent of consumers plan to use generative-AI tools to assist with holiday shopping, and 75 percent of heavy genAI users say they’re using those tools to explore new gift ideas. That shift means one thing: gift guides are no longer just about December sales, they’re actually shaping how algorithms learn what to recommend next now.

As the founder of Dreamday and co-founder of The Quality Edit, I’ve seen both sides of this evolution from the earned-media side, helping brands secure high-authority placements, to the owned-media side, deciding which products deserve to be featured.

Gift guides used to be simple: pitch an editor, land a placement, and hope for clicks. Now, gift guides and listicles are part of  a layered ecosystem where PR, affiliate, and editorial data all feed each other to culminate in a continuous cycle where insights from one channel fuel the next, creating smarter storytelling and measurable growth

Here are Five Key Takeaways and Brand Best Practices from My 14 Years in the Industry:

1. Pitching season started months ago, but it’s not too late.

Legacy outlets like Oprah’s Favorite Things and Goop’s Annual Gift Guide close their lists in the summer. Digital publications begin their early brand and product vetting processes up in September. But there’s still space in November (and even early December for “Best Subscriptions to Gift” and “Shopping Guides for the Procrastinator”), especially in quick-ship and creator-driven (even Substack!) guides. Editors update stories weekly up until the last few days before the holidays. The key is timing, in addition to fit. Know exactly who you’re pitching and make a strong case for why your product belongs in the shopping story.

2. Not all editors are the same.

A recent piece on Meredith & The Media’s Substack reminded publicists what many these days forget: a freelancer, a staff commerce editor, and an affiliate manager are three different decision-makers.

• Freelancers care about story fit and reader alignment.
• Staff editors care about performance and update potential.
• Affiliate managers (the quiet power players) care about commission structure, conversion, and data.

Pitching all three the same way and using the exact same pitch is like pitching into the void—a missed opportunity. The brands that will win this season are the ones that are approaching these three distinct, yet complementary roles at once, by aligning editorial relevance with affiliate readiness and commercial viability.

3. Relationships still matter most.

Editors, writers, and managers are all human. The best coverage usually comes from someone who’s been using the product for months, not weeks. At Dreamday, we seed early (sometimes in February), so by Q4, there’s authentic familiarity felt by the journalist. When editors genuinely love a product (and have been using it all year), they advocate for it in meetings you’re not in. 

4. Algorithms reward authority.

Gift guides are quietly becoming one of the strongest authority signals for LLMs and generative-search models. A Strategist or Vogue mention isn’t just a bragging right; it’s training data. These placements now fuel the trust graph, shaping which products AI recommends and surfaces next.

So while SEO and paid are still incredibly important pieces of the puzzle, editorial credibility has become the foundation of ChatGPT 5.0, which frequently references high domain ranking outlets and even press releases. The next wave of GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) isn’t built on backlinks; it’s built on trust.

5. Personalization and performance are the new metrics.

Editorial and commerce  teams are slicing gift ideas into hyper-specific, SEO-friendly angles: “for the minimalist traveler,” “for the wellness skeptic,” “for the skincare maximalist.” This isn’t particularly novel or new, but the most successful pitches I’ve seen match that same level of granularity. Paint a dynamic narrative via a compelling pitch that fits their reader’s mindset, and show affiliate data that proves it performs.

The takeaway

Gift guides may feel nostalgic, like something you’ve seen time and time again, but they’ve evolved into full-funnel growth engines. The smartest brands see them not as seasonal press, but as long-term, evergreen assets that compound credibility, performance, and discovery.

In a world where AI amplifies authority, the best gift you can give your brand this season is trust: earned, optimized, and built to last.

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