Pinterest Q5, the week after Christmas: plan creative in October
Pinterest calls the week between Christmas and New Year's Q5 and advises testing creative at Halloween. A Sume bulk-run plan, with Pinterest's figures dated.
Pinterest's 2026 holiday guide defines "Q5" as the week between Christmas and New Year's Day and says holiday activity starts as early as September (read 2026-10-03). Its advice for creative is to test approaches at pre-holiday moments such as Halloween, then launch, then refresh.
That gives October one job: use Halloween-week spend to learn which creative to carry into November, and queue the Q5 version of that creative with Sume once you know.
What does Pinterest say about Q5?
The figures below are Pinterest's own and come from its guide, published July 30, 2026. They are not Sume data and are not guarantees for your account.
- Test creative at pre-holiday moments before full campaigns.
- Refresh budget and creative for each seasonal moment.
- Start from proven signals rather than from scratch in Q4.
| Item | Pinterest says |
|---|---|
| Q5 definition | The week between Christmas and New Year's Day |
| Launch window | September to November, with strategy running to early January |
| Weekly users still buying online in Q5 | 55% |
| Weekly users still shopping in store in Q5 | 45% |
| Average iROAS | 3.71 |
| SMB ROAS gain with Performance+ and ROAS bidding | 28% |
| Incremental sales from new buyers | Over 50% |
How should the three months split?
The plan is three passes. In October, run a small set of variants (see the A/B post for how). In November, queue the winner's variations for the main push. In December, make the Q5 set: same winner, new seasonal line, a different offer if you have one.
A 15-second winner can become a 6-second cutdown through video trim at $0.02 per job, which is cheaper than regenerating.
When do I queue the Q5 set?
Queue the Q5 pass in December from your approved list, not before. Late-December Formats can reuse the winning brief; change only the line that names the moment.
A bulk queue holds up to 100 items with a concurrency between 1 and 16. For Q5 that is usually plenty.
What Sume does not do
Sume does not run a Pinterest campaign or know your results. Pinterest's guide says nothing on file specs, so none are claimed. For Pin dimensions see the stored Pinterest ad-image post; for results, use Pinterest's reporting.
Sources
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Written by Sume