Case Study
Goodway Group and Skai help a pro sports team expand their fan base in a new way with Sponsored Display
Goodway Group—a full-service, omnichannel commerce media partner for retail brands—wanted to reach fresh, untapped audiences to increase brand exposure and ultimately drive more ticket and merchandise sales for one of their clients, a US pro sports team.
Goodway had long been using search and social solutions from Skai, a leading omnichannel marketing platform that uniquely connects insights and performance media for informed decisions, high efficiencies, and optimal returns. As an Amazon Ads advanced partner, Skai gave Goodway the opportunity to participate in an Amazon Ads closed beta program for Sponsored Display, a display advertising solution for businesses that don’t sell on Amazon.
Reaching untapped audiences through Sponsored Display
Goodway had been successfully running display campaigns for the pro sports team through their existing demand-side platform (DSP). Recognizing that Goodway saw the potential of Amazon Ads audiences, excelled at display advertising, and was always quick to test, experiment, and innovate, Skai collaborated with Goodway in the closed beta program. The pair aimed to unlock new audiences for the pro sports team.
After setting up the account and campaign for the sports team within the Amazon Ads console, Goodway harnessed the power of Sponsored Display audiences, which are prebuilt audience segments that advertisers use to reach new prospective customers through awareness and consideration campaigns.
In particular, Goodway used the Lifestyle strategy to reach an audience that reflects various aggregated shopping and viewing behaviors, such as streaming sports on Prime Video. Goodway also used the Interests strategy to connect with prospective customers based on sports-related products or categories that they frequently browse and buy.
— Bailey Smith, media planning lead, Goodway GroupFor brands not selling on Amazon, Sponsored Display is an intriguing option. Using Amazon’s immense insights, brands could significantly expand their potential reach.
Boosting click-through rate by 70%
After setting up the campaigns within Amazon Ads, Goodway activated management capabilities directly within the Skai platform alongside cross-channel campaigns. With dashboards, Goodway could closely monitor budget and understand daily spending, which was crucial to track for a new ad type. Goodway adjusted their optimizations for page visits instead of reach based on the data to increase cost efficiency. Using automated alerts, Goodway received notifications if spending was too high so that they could take quick action.
Three weeks post optimization, the pro sports team’s campaign increased impressions by 7 times, number of clicks by 11 times, and clickthrough rate by 70 percent.1 In real time, Goodway evaluated Sponsored Display from the Amazon Ads campaign performance and compared it with other display campaigns running through their existing DSP. The Amazon Ads brand awareness campaign had 55 percent lower cost per click (CPC) and 60 percent lower cost per mille (CPM).2
After the success of the campaign, Goodway is looking to experiment with audience segments, creative features, and other campaign variations. All in all, Goodway’s campaign on Amazon Ads helped the pro sports team to spread awareness of their brand in the hopes of driving renewed interest in merchandise and ticket purchases.
— Paul Vallez, executive vice president business development, SkaiThe campaign’s success solidifies Amazon Ads as a powerful tool for brands not selling on Amazon to efficiently connect with new audiences. By combining Amazon Ads with Skai’s cutting-edge technology, we can achieve outstanding results.
1-2 Source: Goodway Group, United States, 2023.