GOAL: HELP A GLOBAL SNACK BRAND GO FROM NICHE TO KNOWN, BOOSTING AWARENESS AND DRIVING REAL SALES GROWTH.
The Challenge:
Despite strong sales in Asia and limited brand awareness in a handful of U.S. cities, this snack brand was not a household name to most U.S. shoppers. In a highly competitive category dominated by established players, we needed to build awareness, drive engagement, and establish a path to purchase—all without a national media budget.
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Adding complexity, the brand appeals to children, which meant developing an ethically sound media plan that targeted parents, but avoided media channels geared to children. Additionally, because this was the brand's first significant U.S. media investment, measurement of the sales and awareness impact were imperative.
The Strategy:
To meet the challenge, we executed a high-frequency, regionally-flighted campaign in three East Coast DMAs, backed by a rigorous attribution and brand measurement framework.
Highlights:
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Flighted Regional Approach: Concentrated budget in key test markets to achieve meaningful frequency and saturation.
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Omnichannel Planning + Frequency Modeling: Video-forward strategy across Meta, YouTube, OLV, OTT, and Cable.
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Custom Attribution Framework: Partnered with Pathformance to track incremental sales via holdout methodology.
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Brand Lift Measurement: Brand lift, affinity, and purchase intent surveys tracked upper and mid-funnel impact.
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Ethical Audience Curation: Avoided under-13 targeting; focused on reaching parents through curated placements.
Regions:
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Channels:
Measurement Tools:
THE RESULTS: THE CAMPAIGN EXCEEDED ALL BENCHMARKS, DELIVERING MEASURABLE RETAIL IMPACT ACROSS EVERY TEST MARKET. USING A TEST/CONTROL METHODOLOGY, PATHFORMANCE VALIDATED A SIGNIFICANT SALES LIFT DIRECTLY ATTRIBUTABLE TO MEDIA EXPOSURE.
Sales Performance:
+13.3%
Overall sales lift in
test markets vs. control
4.75X
$189,332
CPG snack brand
sales lift benchmark
Total campaign sales
in test markets
All test regions experienced a sales lift—confirming the campaign's real-world impact.
Hero Product Spotlight:
Regional Impact:
The hero product—a 7oz bag—delivered
58% of all incremental sales
Media Delivery:
86.2M
Impressions delivered
CPMs were lowered
55-82%
from original forecasts through a combination of optimizations, tactic testing, and negotiated programmatic deals
98%+
Video completion rates on YouTube & OTT
Brand Awareness Lift:
Absolute lift in awareness—nearly 2.5X the benchmark
+5.81%
Cost per lifted user— 20% lower than $0.54 benchmark
$0.43
THE CONCLUSION: THE CAMPAIGN DIDN'T JUST PERFORM WELL, IT PROVED THERE'S A SMART, RESPONSIBLE WAY TO GROW A SNACK BRAND IN THE U.S.
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By developing a strategy tailored to real-world constraints (regional markets, limited budget, and brand safety concerns), we delivered results typically associated with national efforts. We exceeded impression and CPM goals, lifted brand awareness by nearly 6 percentage points, and most importantly, drove measurable incremental retail sales.
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Every test market saw growth, with Washington, D.C. leading the way at nearly +18% in incremental sales.
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The campaign showed that with the right measurement in place, even a new brand in the U.S. can make a big splash and set the stage for growth.
