6 Years strong: A Legacy of Trust, Success and Growth
Starting with Paid Search in 2018, our partnership with Clarins expanded to include paid social and retail media. Success in the US led to managing additional markets and brands. By Q1 2023, we took on full-funnel US media (Digital AOR). Now in our 7th year, we manage paid search, social, video & display, retail media, OOH, partnerships, and creative/dashboarding.
Challenge
After a number years of managing Clarins bottom-of-funnel media, we secured an expanded contract to oversee all digital media. With this broader responsibility, we had numerous ideas on how to integrate all media and adopt a full-funnel approach and we formed hypotheses about which channels and campaign types would best achieve Clarins’ business goals. However, we understood the importance of justifying any strategic changes with a solid, data-driven approach and a well-structured test-and-pivot roadmap.
Discovery
We found that we inherited a poorly managed media mix where disparate media types were siloed and managed in isolation, without consideration of their comparative performance. Believing that every media type must justify its place in the media stack, TMI conducted a thorough audit. The findings from this audit were used to implement an overhauled and optimized media program.
We designed and implemented a testing roadmap that would influence our strategy shifts for the next planning cycle.
Hypothesis
Shifting from traffic campaigns to media-consumption (e.g., video views) for better mid-funnel KPIs.
A funnel-tailored creative strategy will enhance performance.
Design a dashboard consolidating media metrics and sales data; use brand lift studies to guide channel investment shifts.
Test direct partnerships with relevant publications to drive incremental performance.
Suspected always-on media is more effective than product-specific flighting; developed a testing matrix to validate.
Key Findings
Deployment
Quality vs Quantity
- A Strategic reallocation from low-quality display media to YouTube, TikTok, & Meta platforms.
- Conducted brand & conversion lift studies; although impression volume decreased, CTRs, onsite metrics, and brand uplift improved.
- Video campaigns, despite being more expensive and less ‘clicky’, achieved higher ad recall and brand awareness.
- Maintained display tactics by widening audience parameters on Google’s Performance Max campaigns and partnering with top-tier publications for contextually relevant rich creatives.
Media Formats
- Tested creative efficacy by funnel stage using a custom creative dashboard and A/B testing mid-campaign.
- Conducted brand & conversion lift studies; although High-production value assets performed best on CTV and YouTube.
- UGC style assets were most effective on TikTok and YouTube, with Meta reels benefiting from a mix of UGC and product-focused content.
Vetting Direct Deals
- Reallocated budget from open-market display to direct partnerships with high-quality publications (e.g., Hearst, Conde Nast).
- Negotiated low-budget minimums for like-for-like comparisons.
- Hearst was identified as the best option for reach, CPM,and audience quality.
Results
By the end of the process, TMI had entirely overhauled Clarins’ media strategy, and performance metrics demonstrated a significant improvement in full funnel performance.
+30%
Search Revenue YoY
+45%
Social Revenue YoY
+416%
Social Impression YoY
+16%
Video Impressions YoY
