Running Successful Online Ad Campaigns for Retail

How we used YouTube Ads to Increase Retail Sales for RTIC… and won this Agency Excellence Award trophy from Google in the process. 🏆 The question: Could YouTube ads drive measurable lift in Walmart store sales for RTIC's ultralight wheeled coolers? The TL;DR Answer: YES! We achieved MEASURABLE retail sales lifts of 12-25% across 3 test regions with the following standouts: - Chicago: 25% - Salt Lake City: 25% - Oklahoma City: 40% - Little Rock, AR: 44% This came down to 3 things: 1. Creative Strategy 🎨 2. Targeting Strategy 🎯 3. Measurement Strategy 📊 🎨 CREATIVE Strategy Our best creatives relied on: Dramatic product demonstrations: - Pulling wheeled coolers behind sports cars or ATVs - Dropping coolers off bridges - Dropping coolers into campfires - Driving full-sized trucks on top of coolers Clear value proposition: overbuilt, not overpriced. Showing the value of RTIC coolers compared to higher-priced competitors. Clear call-to-action: Buy at Walmart (with links to nearby Walmarts and click for directions) These videos were REALLY great. 🎯 TARGETING Strategy The goal here was to find markets we felt had the best chance of success. We utilized Google Category Demand data (for coolers) and Brand demand data (for RTIC) to find markets where we felt we had the most opportunity to drive retail sales. This was all based on analyzing Google search trends. We also looked for DMAs with strong store coverage and good inventory levels. We formed 3 Test Regions made up of similar markets. Each test market had a control market for comparison. We then used the best of YouTube ads targeting (and leaned in pretty heavily to YouTube on CTVs). 📊 MEASUREMENT Strategy It's important with anything Top of Funnel to measure in multiple ways. We always think in terms of triangulation. How can we get at least 3 different, objective views on the impact of our campaigns? #1 Retail Sales Lift 📈 This was obviously the most important factor. It was clear with lifts ranging from 12% to 44%. #2 Search Lift 🔍 This is a measurement of the increase in searches for products online that happen AFTER someone sees your ads. Most campaigns achieve no noticeable search lift. These campaigns did. Up to 231% search lift in some markets. #3 In-Store Visits + Other Local Conversions 🏪 Google can track when a user sees an ad and then visits a Walmart store. Or sees an ad and clicks for directions, or clicks and calls. All of these are trackable, and we drove THOUSANDS of them at a low cost. #4 DTC Sales Lift 🛒 This wasn't the primary goal. Ads specifically mentioned Walmart. But we did see people who clicked the ads (or clicked send to phone from their CTV) and purchased. #5 Amazon Sales Lift 📦 Again, this wasn't our goal either. But some shoppers REALLY prefer to buy on AMZ. So we measured lift on Amazon in all markets. Want to learn how we can do this for YOUR brand? Hit me up! 🙋♂️

Meta Ads are a goldmine of audience building for consumer brands… if done correctly. Most Brands already run Meta Ad campaigns, often sending traffic to their Brand(.com) sites. This is an effective way to reach new customers, as Meta is often cheaper than other ad channels and the demographic and intent-based audience targeting abilities rival other networks. However, most brands also find that these Meta-to-Brand(.com) campaigns have a low conversion rate because consumers tend to prefer buying on retailer sites. That’s where a new strategy comes into play: Marketers can use those same audiences as the basis for a Meta-to-Retailer(.com) campaign using lookalike audience targeting. The shoppers initially identified in the Meta audiences are good customer profiles and have already exhibited product interest. Now, brands can send them to the retail site where they are most likely to buy. Even better, brands can leverage deep-linking to send these shoppers directly to the PDP. This cuts out unnecessary extra steps in the buying process leading to much higher conversion rates. And with a qualified audience built from cost-efficient Meta advertising, brands can realize a higher ROI across the board.

If more of your store sales start on TikTok lately, you might wanna read this. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘦. The checkout happens in-store. But the sale happens everywhere else. Here's the reality: This year 60%+, and in 2027, 70% of retail sales will be digitally influenced. I can't emphasize this enough; here's what most brands miss—digital influence isn't just about online sales. It's about shaping every moment before the customer even walks into your store. L'Oréal cracked this code: 100M+ AR try-on sessions driving real conversions. 31 brands orchestrating seamless experiences across 72 countries. No.1 in beauty influencer marketing (29% market share), 20-80% higher conversion rates through enhanced digital experiences. The new customer journey isn't linear—it's layered: - They discover you on social - Research you through reviews and UGC - Try your product virtually through AR - Get retargeted with personalized content - Finally purchase in-store (feeling confident they're making the right choice) Every touchpoint matters, and every interaction influences the final decision. The brands winning today aren't just selling products—they're orchestrating experiences across owned, paid, and earned media that guide customers from curiosity to checkout. Digital discovery is increasingly pay-to-play and shoppers are paying attention. ++ Tactical Recommendations for CPG / FMCG Brands ++ 1. Beyond just having perfect, high SOV product pages, create discovery ecosystems. - Optimize for "zero-moment-of-truth" searches. - Activate shoppable content at scale. - Leverage user-generated content as social proof. Brands that do these see a 35% higher conversion rate from digital touchpoints to in-store purchases. 2. Connect digital engagement directly to retail execution. - Geo-target digital campaigns to drive foot traffic - Create "store-specific" digital content CPG brands using geo-targeted social ads see a 23% higher in-store sales lift in targeted markets. 3. Most important one; stop flying blind—measure digital influence on offline sales. - Implement unique promo codes for each digital touchpoint to track conversion paths. - Use customer surveys at point of purchase. - Partner with retailers on shared data insights Brands with proper attribution see 15-25% improvement in marketing ROI within 12 months. 𝗧𝗼 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 ecommert® 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝟭𝟰,𝟲𝟬𝟬+ 𝗖𝗣𝗚, 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘁® : 𝗖𝗣𝗚 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿. #CPG #FMCG #AI #ecommerce Procter & Gamble PepsiCo Unilever The Coca-Cola Company Nestlé Mondelēz International Kraft Heinz Ferrero Mars Colgate-Palmolive Henkel Bayer Haleon Kenvue The HEINEKEN Company Carlsberg Group Philips Samsung Electronics Panasonic North America