The Friends & Family sale in 2022/2023 was a record ecommerce period for Le Creuset thanks to an innovative digital marketing strategy.
Le Creuset introduced their infamous Flame-coloured Dutch oven in 1925, and it has been a mainstay for home cooks and professionals alike ever since.
The legacy cookware brand holds a distinct position in a wildly competitive market — brand awareness is high, but their luxury price point requires a specific messaging strategy in the consideration & intent phases of the marketing funnel. Sale periods present a rare opportunity to present potential buyers with strong promotional messaging designed to convert. Google Ads operated as the most efficient tool to mobilize these customers when demand was high; in the Managing Director’s words:
“Google Ads delivered. We hit the full marketing funnel, made the most of its powerful machine learning and reach, and achieved stunning results. This is performance marketing at its finest.”
Below you will find an in-depth marketing case study of this unprecedented period for our client.
The Goal
- Grow online sales during the Friends & Family sale for Le Creuset.
- Utilize Google AI-powered campaigns to maximize revenue and capture surge demand.
The Tools
- Google Performance Max (PMax) — Full-funnel machine learning orchestration across Search, Shopping, YouTube, and Display.
- Google Discovery Ads — High-intent visual prospecting across Discover, YouTube, and Gmail.
- Google Search — Bottom-funnel brand and high-intent commercial capture.
Marketing Case Study
Le Creuset Case Study Results
1. Removing budget limitations & lowering ROAS targets to a profitable “floor” allows smart campaigns to capture as many sales as possible while protecting margins.
Using a profitability calculator, we identified a minimum target ROAS our Google campaigns could hit while ensuring the ratio of spend to revenue on Google would not cut into overall site profits. In protecting this efficiency metric, we were able to keep campaigns at nearly unlimited budgets throughout the weekend and ensure sales were maximized.
2. Performance Max is the most effective way to serve users the most optimal ads to drive conversions on Google.
Google’s latest innovation in digital marketing strategy has proven to be the biggest efficiency driver since the advent of Smart bidding strategies. Ads serve across the Google inventory (YouTube, Display, Search, Shopping) allowing for optimal budget management between placements in real time. That ROAS target we set for each campaign is further respected between placements — PMax will only spend as much on YouTube, Display, and Search as will yield your overall campaign return target.
3. Advanced Smart-bidding controls give smart campaigns a “heads up” when periods of expected conversion rate increases are anticipated.
<imajery> uses “Seasonal Bid Adjustments” to make short-term adjustments to smart bidding algorithms, overriding the machine learning algorithms with human knowledge. Google allows digital marketing specialists to apply “conversion rate adjustments” to campaigns in order for bids to temporarily rise — even if performance from the last period does not support this action. This is a prime example of AI + marketers working together to achieve optimal results — no one is getting replaced!
4. Google Ads Editor increases promo ad setup efficiency.
Sitewide sales necessitate fast data entry in order to tailor messaging to query themes. Google Ads Editor makes this easy, allowing for spreadsheet uploads to instantly create and update Search ads at scale.
5. Pairing Remarketing Lists for Search Ads with Dynamic Search Ads allows for audience targeting + flexible search terms to ensure Google captures all relevant, ready-to-buy queries.
Pre-qualifying users searching for terms on your site by applying audience targeting to search campaigns allows you to bid freely on broad search terms without the risk of wasting budget.
6. Smart bidding + ROAS targets + PMAX are Google’s gold standard & should be utilized wherever possible for intent-based performance marketing.
Taking full advantage of Google’s machine learning powered campaign suite and tactics is the best way to capture demand, especially during high-stakes sales. This combination allows for flexible budget management, guardrails for bottom-line profitability, and agile creative combinations.
7. Iterative creative testing is a key lever for digital marketing success.
Iterative Creative Testing Process
Testing creatives and constantly using data to make decisions and improve on previous iterations is essential to a top-performing campaign. Using this as best practice has allowed us to develop better messaging and visuals for the brand over time.
Our goal now is to top these massive performance gains next year with further adoption of AI-powered Google techniques, updated campaign strategy, and stronger creatives. As we barrel towards Q4, here are key initiatives our digital marketing specialists focus on:
- Google’s “Power Pair” — broad match + PMAX
- Omnichannel full-funnel measurement
- Measuring holistic business impact against total e-commerce sales rather than siloed platform data
- High-velocity Demand Generation campaigns
