Case Study: The Dirty Cookie: How An Ai-Powered Creative testing Strategy Turned Performance Media into a profit center
Turning Negative Paid Digital Media Returns into a Profit Center for a DTC Gourmet Cookie Brand Was something that never existed in the brand’s 8 Year History. Generating revenue via performance media was largely a losing game.
ABOUT THE BRAND
ABOUT THE BRAND
Founded in 2015 by former Boeing project manager Shahira Marei, The Dirty Cookie is a gourmet cookie company that operates in B2B and B2C markets.
Its signature product (and the Shark Tank featured one) is the Cookie Shot, a shot-glass shaped gourmet cookie made of the finest and tastings ingredients. They're best consumed with something like milk (or Bailey's for grow-ups) but the possibilities are endless.
Dirty Cookie has been around since 2015, and has since introduced an even more popular lineup of products: Stuffed Cookies that come in flavors like Cookie Butter, Red Velvet, and Double Chocolate. Dirty Cookie has an online store on Shopify and has been in the DTC business for almost a decade.
PROJECT AIM + PROBLEM TO SOLVE:
the brand was struggling with its paid digital marketing efforts, with an overall return on ad spend (ROAS) in the negative. The brand’s CEO, COO, CMO, and Content Manager collaborated with Boujee Monster to re-evaluate their presence and coordinate creative production.
When we took over The Dirty Cookie’s ad accounts, their primary challenge was to turn around their paid presence and achieve at least a break-even 3x ROAS.
The team faced several obstacles in achieving this goal. First, there were privacy challenges, with increased regulations and restrictions on user data and targeting. Second, there were conversion rate optimization gaps, with ad formats and landing pages that were not optimized for maximum conversions. Finally, creatives that weren’t resonating with audiences were leading to low engagement + Conversion rates.
Activities + Outcomes
cAMPAIGN Current State AUDIT
We worked closely with The Dirty Cookie’s team to implement various strategies. First, a thorough triage period was conducted, we audited the brand’s existing campaigns in close coordination with their CMO. Together, we identified areas for improvement.
CREATIVE + TARGETING OPTIMIZATION
A coordinated effort was made to produce evergreen and seasonal campaigns that were optimized for conversions. Ad formats were re-evaluated to find the most effective channels for reaching target audiences.
STRATEGIC OMNICHANNEL PRESENCE
An omnichannel presence was established to maximize reach and engagement. We maintained an optimized presence on existing platforms like Google + Meta, and even introduced programmatic display and native ads to the mix.
just 5 months into our working partnership with Dirty Cookie, The results of these strategies were significant. By the end of 2022 we made these achievements:
Meta Ads ROAS
from >1.x to 1.6x
Peak ROAS
3.4x in Dec 2022
Google Ads ROAS
from 0.5x to 4.1x
Peak ROAS
6.7x in Dec. 2022
HARNESSING THE POWER of Generative AI to amplify iterative social ad testing
Where things saw another uplift to build on top of our early success was in 2023, at the advent of the generative AI craze, with ChatGPT having just taken the world by storm, and several enticing gen AI solutions and products were coming to life by the day.
The strategic and forward-thinking approach that we had with embracing gen AI as a first-mover/early adopted advantage, and returns grew even further, with an uninterrupted streak of 4 months of performance media returns of over 4x returns, with Google showing even better results of a monthly average of 7x platform ROAS. We attained this by using AI across a multitude of AI tools to generate hundreds of ads monthly for Meta (Facebook, Instagram and Messenger) and serve larger scale campaigns across Meta and Google's usual tried and true campaign formats like Shopping, Search, and Dynamic Creative campaigns, while embracing newer AI powered campaign formats like Advantage+ on Meta and Performance Max on Google to scale results.
BENEFITS
The DTC arm of the Dirty Cookie was never cash positive or return positive for Dirty Cookie despite having worked with several contracts and media buying agencies until their involvement with Boujee Monster and strategic / CMO-level guidance from partner agency Mediatonic Digital Communications.
Through a coordinated ongoing effort between The Dirty Cookie’s team and ours, the brand was able to turn around its paid digital marketing efforts and achieve significant results. By re-evaluating the brand’s digital media presence, coordinating creative production, giving input on creative direction, and implementing effective strategies for reaching target audiences, The Dirty Cookie was able to break past the 3x ROAS threshold on all paid media channels.