DASH Water

Background

Within the DTC world, DASH Water stands out as a beacon of sustainability and innovation. Established by founders Jack Scott and Alex Wright, DASH Water addresses the critical issue of food waste by transforming misshapen British fruit into infused sparkling water. This unique approach not only provides a refreshing beverage but also contributes to a reduction in environmental impact. DASH Water’s products, infused with wonky fruits, prioritise taste over aesthetics. With no calories, sugar, or sweeteners, DASH offers a healthier alternative to traditional sugary fizzy drinks.

Paid Media Strategy

The first port of call was to ensure that DASH’s Meta and Google accounts were set up in line with best practice and designed to drive new customer acquisition at scale. Our partnerships with brands focus on delivering sustainable, profitable growth, so it’s crucial that we relentlessly test new strategies that incorporate new products, platform updates and campaign types like Advantage+, Broad Match and PMax to maximise efficiency at scale. Creative is also a core part of the paid media strategy, playing a pivotal role in engaging different demographics and driving conversions.

Paid Search

Google Broad Match

In March 2023, we tested Broad Match, an experiment that significantly changed our long-term paid search strategy for DASH.

This testing approach involved a shift towards broad keyword targeting, the impact was profound — not only did it drive higher reach, but it also facilitated the acquisition of new and relevant high-value customers, marked by a remarkable 106% increase in conversion value.

The success of this test prompted a strategic decision to shift to a Broad and Exact match setup across the entire account. Broad Match emerged as the standout performer, demonstrating its effectiveness in driving both reach and conversion value.

We tested Google Broad Match across a number of brands, and found that it was a really powerful tool, helping drive significant growth at Pom Pom London too.

Paid Social

Advantage+

As part of our strong partnership with Meta, we were one of the early adopters and testers of Advantage+ (Adv+), Meta’s latest, highly automated campaign type designed to drive a lower cost of acquisition within a broad audience.

We rolled out Adv+ with DASH and saw that it helped us drive incremental sales at scale, including a notable increase in conversion value at a more efficient CPA. Upon rolling it out in January, we nearly doubled our reach and achieved purchases at a lower cost despite higher spend.

Offer Restructuring

Over time, we helped DASH adapt their new customer offer structure, moving away from a discount model to focus on profitability.

Initially, DASH offered a discount of ~50% for new customers, however by July 2023 we had helped decrease their discount to 30% and were actually able to scale following the shift, some highlights below:

• A significant 18% rise in the average order value (AOV).
• A 15% increase in spend.
• Notably, despite increased spend and the lower offer, we achieved a higher acquisition ROAS in July YoY highlighting its effectiveness.

As a next step, we worked to transition away from the new customer discount completely which brought about:

• An additional 24% boost in AOV between July and November 2023.

TikTok

Recognising the growing popularity and impact of Tiktok for DTC’s we decided to introduce TikTok into DASH’s marketing mix in March 2023. Our paid media strategy coupled with strong creative strategy not only maintained stable top-level figures for DASH but also expanded its presence on an emergent platform.

This approach ensured visibility amidst changes on Meta and Google, providing a solid foundation for sustained growth. By July 2023, just four months post-launch, our TikTok strategy saw a remarkable 60% increase in spend, an 84% increase in orders, and a 61% decrease in Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC).

When launching TikTok for a brand, some key takeaways we’ve learnt are:

• Creative Strategy is critical, you need a different approach for TikTok, duplicating your Meta content won’t be optimal.
• Ensure you have a strong creative pipeline to fuel your TikTok campaigns as content fatigues very quickly!
• The latest trends matter more on TikTok, where making use of trending music, hashtags or just general content can significantly increase your reach and decrease your CPA.
• Prioritise tracking setup and data collection from the outset to ensure accurate measurement of campaign effectiveness and user behaviour.
• Start with a diversified content strategy tailored to resonate with TikTok’s audience, experimenting with various formats, trends, and messaging styles.
• Optimise campaigns based on data insights, gradually shifting the budget towards objectives that drive tangible business outcomes such as purchases.
• Conduct rigorous testing and iteration throughout the campaign to identify and capitalise on strategies that yield the most significant results.
• Adapt quickly to emerging platforms and evolving user behaviours to maximise brand visibility and drive growth.

For a full breakdown of the work we did with DASH on TikTok, see here.

Creative Strategy

Throughout our work with DASH, a key part of our role was developing their creative strategy to improve their paid media performance.

One notable success was the introduction of User-Generated Content (UGC) ads featuring our network of content creators, which not only drove highly efficient growth but also became synonymous with the brand.

We also delved into different types of content, exemplified by the impactful “Sober October” campaign. Additionally, we suggested incorporating recipes into creatives, transforming them into more native, useful, and engaging ads.

We worked with the DASH team to produce a more diverse range of static content, tailored creatives to appeal to diverse audience segments, and explored approaches such as testing auto-captions on TikTok to improve performance.

Throughout our partnership, we actively provided feedback on their ad creative, suggested new ideas, and even assisted in scriptwriting for content creators. The challenge lay in maintaining a delicate balance between building brand and driving performance.

We worked alongside their in-house team to create content, with our insights into what works, coupled with collaborative idea generation, playing a pivotal role in helping them diversify their creative approach and make it more performance-oriented. This collaborative effort significantly contributed to driving DASH’s growth.

Dark Posting

‘Dark Posting’ is a sponsored post, advertising under an influencer’s account rather than the brand account. As UGC content has skyrocketed, dark posting allows us to run sponsored content in a way that feels more organic, rather than using influencer content under a brand handle which can feel less authentic.

Our exploration of Dark Posting allowed us to experiment with the impact of influencer collaborations on overall marketing effectiveness. This approach involved running campaigns through influencer-owned Facebook and Instagram ad accounts. For DASH, this strategy proved successful, constituting approximately 11% of the total orders according to a code based attribution model.

The Results

Working alongside the fantastic DASH team, in 2023 BARK helped increase ad spend by 48%, contributing to a 39% increase in new customer revenue, all whilst staying within their cost of acquisition target.

Our approach, emphasising adaptability, is reflected in strategic shifts like transitioning from a discount-focused to a profitability-centric model. Notable achievements include the success of Broad Match testing, the positive impact of TikTok integration, and the early adoption of Advantage+.