Case study
Acadia, Challenger Brand Partner Awards winner, helps BODi grow protein category share 8x
Through a three-tiered approach focusing on strategic audience engagement, Partner Awards winner Acadia helped challenger brand BODi establish a strong presence in the competitive fitness category while maintaining profitability.
key insights
8X
Category share growth through strategic audience engagement
78%
New-to-brand share achieved via custom audiences
10X
Increase in page one share of voice
The Amazon Ads Partner Awards celebrate ingenuity and innovation in digital advertising. The Challenger Brand (AMER) category demonstrates how they used Amazon Ads solutions to help ambitious brands compete effectively and efficiently against category leaders to deliver measurable success. Acadia is the winner in this award for developing and executing a sophisticated strategy leveraging multiple Amazon Ads solutions to help establish BODi as a formidable challenger in a dynamic wellness category.
Goals
BODi is a wellness company dedicated to making fitness and nutrition accessible for everyone, from beginners to experts, through comprehensive step-by-step programs, tools, and support. They faced significant challenges when attempting to break into a new category during a period of macroeconomic uncertainty and volatility. They needed to build everything from scratch, including assets, processes, and workflows, while maintaining profitability in a challenging environment.
BODi needed to think strategically about how to leverage the full suite of Amazon Ads tools to grow their brand. BODi partnered with Amazon Ads advanced partner Acadia to develop a strategy that would help them grow category share and establish brand presence while simultaneously maintaining profitability.
Approach
Acadia developed a comprehensive strategy leveraging sponsored ads, online video ads, and display ads. They used Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) to create custom audiences for each funnel stage. Rather than focusing on high spending, they focused on strategic audience engagement.
The team implemented a three-tiered approach: engaging fitness-focused and new-to-brand audiences for upper-funnel awareness, addressing cart abandoners and reengaging audiences in the mid-funnel, and nurturing repeat and high-value purchasers in the lower funnel. This strategic segmentation enabled relevant messaging across the shopping journey.
Online video ads proved particularly effective for upper-funnel acquisition, with an 80% new-to-brand rate. As a result, their Amazon DSP budget was shifted to video. AMC audiences also outperformed standard segments in new-to-brand performance, prompting an increase in Q4 investment. These insights drove smarter budget allocation and significantly improved marketing efficiency.
Ross Walker, Director of Retail Media, AcadiaWe're thrilled with how we've grown BODi's brand by leveraging the full suite of Amazon Ads brand building tools.
Results
The campaign drove measurable gains across all key objectives. BODi's share in the protein blend category grew 8x from 0.1% to 0.9% in 2025.1 BODi either met or exceeded total advertising cost of sales (TACOS) across all product lifecycle stages, proving the strategy’s efficiency in driving profitable growth.
The strategy proved particularly effective at reaching new customers, with new-to-brand share increasing from 25% to 78%.2 This improvement was largely driven by online video ads, which maintained an impressive 80% new-to-brand contribution rate. This success validated the decision to shift additional Amazon DSP budget toward video content.
Brand visibility showed impressive gains across multiple metrics. The lead product’s sponsored search visibility increased 9x.3 Additionally, keyword coverage expanded 7x, while page one share of voice grew by 10%4. These results demonstrate how strategic audience engagement, combined with comprehensive use of Amazon Ads solutions, can help a challenger brand successfully establish itself and thrive in a competitive category.
Sources
1- 4 BODi, U.S., 2024-2025.