ALLBIRDS

In a campaign to increase online sales, Allbirds ran Instagram and Facebook video ads using a variety of creative, and saw a 48% lift in purchases when using the full mix of creative.

THE STORY
Sustainable materials company

Allbirds produces environmentally friendly shoes and apparel. It was founded by New Zealander Tim Brown, who wondered why superfine, sustainable merino wool was virtually absent in the industry. Tim teamed up with co-founder Joey Zwillinger, an engineer and renewables expert, to craft a wool fabric specifically for footwear.

48%

lift in purchases for all creative

46%

lift in purchases for the brand storytelling creative

18%

lift in ad recall for all creative

We wanted to ensure that our spring 2020 product launch for the Tree Dasher was successful. Our key takeaway is that, when launching a new product on Instagram, always craft distinct value proposition messaging and creative that speaks to a range of benefits so that you reach the right person, at the right time, with the right creative and message.
KYLE SHERIN, DIRECTOR OF PERFORMANCE & GROWTH MARKETING, ALLBIRDS
THE GOAL
Boosting sneaker sales

Allbirds wanted to attract new customers and increase online sales of its new Dashers running shoe.

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THE SOLUTION
Testing ad creative

As Allbirds was preparing to launch its new Dashers running performance shoe in April 2020, it began to plan an Instagram and Facebook ad campaign to promote the product. To ensure that the campaign’s ad creative could drive the strongest bottom-line impact, Allbirds partnered with Facebook to test different concepts, and then compared them to see which performed best.

The team ran a four-cell split test, where three cells had a unique creative concept and the forth had all concepts together. Then, Allbirds measured the sales lift from people who viewed ads in each cell.

  • Cell 1: consisted of “brand storytelling” creative that showed the Dasher shoe in profile, then close-up shots of the materials, mesh and stitching, along with the text overlay messaging “Natural materials, engineered to perform.”

  • Cell 2: consisted of “product benefits and lifestyle usage” creative that showed a close-up product shot, then pulled wide to show runners on a beach wearing Dashers, along with text overlay messaging that said “Performance, done naturally.”

  • Cell 3: consisted of “innovation” creative that showed the innovative materials of the Dasher deconstructed, along with text overlay saying: “Natural materials, engineered to perform.”

  • Cell 4: consisted of all creative versions combined.

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Each ad had a “Shop Now” button linked to the Allbirds website. The team showed the ads to US adults aged 18 and over, excluding past purchasers. The brand re-targeted dynamic ads to people who indicated interest by viewing the original ads and clicking the Shop Now button, but did not purchase.

Allbirds used automatic placements to allow Facebook to deliver ads across its apps and services according to which were most likely to drive the best results at the lowest cost. Allbirds also used campaign budget optimization to automatically shift budgets to the best performing ad sets in real time.

Allbirds determined the results of its April 28–May 12, 2020 campaign using a Facebook conversion lift study, which revealed:

  • 48% lift in purchases for all creative

  • 46% lift in purchases for the brand storytelling creative

  • 18% lift in ad recall for all creative