Transformed a Stagnant Brand into 20% YoY Sales Growth
Tightened structure, creative testing, and placement strategy boosted sales, CTR, and ROAS for a DSN brand.
20%
YoY Sales Growth
47%
Increase in CTR
23%
Increase in ROAS
The Challenge - Pinpointing the Barriers to Growth
A well known beverage lifestyle accessories brand on Amazon had grown quickly after launching in 2017 and reached eight‑figure annual sales by 2020. By 2024, performance was in decline. At the same time, category CPCs were surging—eroding efficiency and masking demand. The brand engaged Oceanwing for ad‑only support, setting a conservative goal of +10% YoY growth despite the headwinds.
Our deep-dive analysis uncovered two major obstacles preventing profitability:
Rising CPC costs: A 36% YoY increase in cost-per-click meant their keyword strategy needed an overhaul to maximize efficiency.
- Wasted ad spend: Up to 15% of the ad budget was underperforming due to ineffective bidding and lack of negative keyword implementation.
Strategic Approach - A Data-Driven Turnaround
Oceanwing rebuilt the media engine to prioritize efficiency and reliable demand capture:
Stopped wasting money: We cleaned up keywords every week, added negatives, and shifted spend away from low‑intent terms to proven search terms, improving ROAS.
Showed ads when people actually buy: Using advanced dayparting, we focused budget during high converting hours and cut back during low‑quality times (think late‑night browsers that rarely purchase).
Opened more doors for shoppers: We added Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display ads which not only lowered CPC’s, but also increased discovery of the brand in more places—not just at the bottom of the funnel.
Went after affordable intent: Through category and search‑behavior analysis on things like style preferences, usage intent and competitor gaps we leaned into long‑tail, non‑branded searches that aligned with shopper search trends. These terms have a stronger conversion potential at a lower CPC.
Results - A 20% sales surge and higher ad efficiency
Ad sales +20% on average across accounts (beating the +10% goal)
47% increase in CTR up to 0.56% (from 0.38%) after creative and targeting improvements
ROAS increased by 23.25%, demonstrating efficiency gains despite higher market CPCs
Maintained stable CPCs while expanding reach—evidence that growth came from mix quality, not bid inflation
Key Insights - Why it worked
- Reallocation > expansion: Cutting waste and redirecting to mid/long‑tail intent delivered growth without higher budgets.
- Timing matters: Hourly‑level ad spend pacing surfaced strong conversion windows and protected margins when traffic quality dipped.
- More doors in: Adding SB and SD created new discovery paths while SP harvested bottom‑funnel demand.
Category reality check: Planning against a +36% YoY CPC environment reset performance expectations and kept the team focused on controllable wins.
