Dunks & Threes
DUNKS & THREES. HOW ADVERTISING SHOULD MODEL BASKETBALL
While it is still the middle of NFL season, the NBA is back in a couple weeks. For anyone that watches basketball at the NBA level knows the game has evolved (for better or worse). The mid-range jumper has vanished as the game leans further into either aggressively attacking the paint or tactically scoring three-pointers. For the fellow data nerds, there is even a blog out there called Dunks & Threes that analyzes performance by team at how well they do on both fronts.
The idea behind this new wave of basketball is you need to run your offense efficiently – shots in the paint are very high percentage and 3s are worth more than 2s (duh). Simply put, shooting 33% with 3-pointers is the same as shooting 50% with 2-pointers over the course of a game. So, a team shooting 35-40% from the three-point arc is going to win a lot of games (assuming their defensive is strong too).
How the heck does this relate to advertising?
Performance media and low-hanging fruit media channels (Google, Meta, etc..) are the “dunks” while brand awareness marketing is the three-pointer. The problem is, many brands are seeing the high field goal percentage of dunks and neglecting the tactical three-pointers (awareness media) to help reach their brand goals. Over time, the three-point shooting of brand awareness can often be the differentiator in the success of a brand.
At DNW we often work with brands that have a $200,000 - $2,000,000 per year to spend on media. Many brands with this budget range tend to lean the majority, if not all, of their media budget on the dunks of performance media because it’s easier to attribute, can be highly successful, and looks good on paper. But we would argue that just like basketball, there are only so many dunks of easy media and the reality is, three-pointers of branding are just as crucial to a strong offense and building a strong brand..
Too many brands are forgetting about awareness media because they don’t feel their budget allows for it and brand marketing can be risky. In any given game, one might shoot 25% from the three-point line and lose, leaving an empty feeling. Just like teams shouldn’t let the poor performance of one game bleed into this next, brands shouldn’t focus solely on a single brand campaign. Awareness campaigns can be difficult to measure and tie back to key business indicators. Without the budget to run big, splashy plays (Super Bowl commercials, billboards in Times Square, etc.), the question always comes back - is it even worth it? As any NBA team would argue, yes, it is imperative to keep improving with the three-pointers of brand awareness.
“Trust the process” is another phrase said in basketball, and that is how we feel about Dunks & Threes. Every brand would love to focus purely on points in the paint to help strong brand growth, but the formula for success, regardless of budget, is to find ways to shoot 3s effectively in combination with efficiency in the paint to maximize performance and wins.
Case Study
It’s all good in theory, but we have been working with a client for 3 years and want to share how we have approached their yearly budget and how we find the right balance to grow their business.
The Client + Goal
A West Coast CPG beverage brand that is looking to gain market share while improving eCommerce across its website and Amazon.
Approach
Our annual budget is between $1-2 million digitally. We are pushed to focus more on “lower funnel” media to help drive direct sales and plan the year around 2 campaign pushes and some evergreen media that drives traffic to the site/Amazon.
Example channels per campaign type
Evergreen Campaigns are made up of direct revenue drivers.
Platforms used: Google, Meta, TikTok, etc…
Campaign pushes (specifically a Q1 campaign) included a mix of awareness and conversion tactics.
Platform/Partners used: Google, Meta, Publisher + Content Partners, Amazon Video, Podcasting
Results
We look for opportunities to get more efficient on the dunks with 12-month media to our core audience, driving direct clicks/engagement while still finding broader brand initiatives to hit some threes as well. Below are some results from the year.
Content Partnership: Well & Good.
We utilized Well & Good for multiple campaigns, and by evolving our tactics from 2022, we saw a 3x increase in brand lift vs the previous year.
On top of awareness, our revenue on Amazon increased 17% on days we did takeovers of the site.
Expanding with Amazon to run CTV helped increase awareness by 13% vs the control group. Along with broader awareness, there was a nearly 100% increase in New to the Brand purchases YoY (Q1 2022 vs Q1 2023) showing that working with traditionally “low funnel” partners on more awareness campaigns can help your down funnel campaigns as well.
Organic traffic to the site increased 31% YoY while transactions increased 26% and revenue increased 69%.
Evergreen Meta: Traffic to Amazon.
Always on effort that drive traffic to their Amazon storefront for 2 product lines. Direct attribution is difficult, as tracking drops off on Amazon, but the client has seen a lift in Amazon sales when this campaign is live. The reverse is also true, when the campaign is off, there is a dip in Amazon revenue.
A consistent presence in the market along with incremental creative improvements resulted in CTR increases for both product lines YoY (Q1 2022 vs Q1 2023).
Product line 1: 187% increase
Product line 2: 260% increase
Summary
Regardless of your overall budget, finding ways to be more brand-centric with your media helps your lower-funnel media perform better. It helps tell the brand story in ways that you cannot just do in a Meta or Google ad, and although very difficult, you can tie back your broader media approaches to action on your site. Media is harder than ever and, at the moment, it may not always feel like progress is being made, but when looking back at YoY gains, you start to see the payoff nearly every time. Keep shooting those 3’s because its what’s going to win you the game.