Overview
San Diego Hat Company is an established, design-driven brand offering a wide variety of fashionable and functional headwear and accessories for women, men, and children. Their journey began with a passion for world travel and a love for hats, leading to the creation of the Original Cotton Crochet Hat during a trip to Bali, Indonesia in 1993. Initially operating out of a garage in San Diego, the founders’ dream of combining design, material, and craftsmanship has since grown into a 50,000-square-foot facility in Carlsbad, CA. With a solid history of success, the company decided to significantly ramp up their advertising budgets this year. The goal was to scale their returns, especially during the critical summer season, which peaks from May to August. This period includes Memorial Day Weekend (MDW), a pivotal time for sales and revenue. As a brand with a strong following, San Diego Hat Company aimed to capitalize on this high season with an airtight marketing strategy.
Challenges
Increased Budget Utilization: Effectively managing a much larger advertising budget than in previous years.
Competitive Digital Landscape: Navigating a highly competitive Google Ads environment to maintain and enhance their visibility.
Wholesale Distribution Balance: Balancing direct-to-consumer sales with their established wholesale distributor relationships (Nordstrom, Zappos, Amazon, Village Hat Shop, and Anthropologie).
High Seasonal Goals: Meeting ambitious sales targets during the peak summer season, particularly around MDW.
Platforms Leveraged
Google Ads
Meta (Facebook and Instagram) Ads
Data Feed Watch
Strategies
Google Ads
Top-of-Funnel Brand Awareness - Leveraging strong video assets to boost brand visibility and awareness, ensuring the brand stays top-of-mind for potential customers.
Middle-of-Funnel Consideration - Using Asset Groups to target historically successful qualitative and quantitative audiences, driving consideration among potential buyers.
Bottom-of-Funnel Conversions - Ensuring San Diego Hat Company outranks all wholesale competitors using Target Impression Share and retargeting through Pmax to capture and convert interested prospects.
Meta Ads
Prospecting - Identifying a $40 price point “sweet spot” to drive higher Average Order Value (AOV) through iterative testing and optimization.
Retargeting - Utilizing single video ads and tailored ad copy to effectively retarget potential customers who have shown interest but not yet converted.
Memorial Day Weekend (MDW) Strategy
MDW, a significant sales event, was a major focus for San Diego Hat Company. Our team deployed several tools from our toolkit to maximize the opportunities during the increased buying time.
Promotion: Offering up to 40% off all items to drive urgency and sales.
Execution: Spreading the word through targeted ad copy, engaging assets, and custom eye catching creatives.
Google and Merchant Center: Using promo assets, sitelink extensions dedicated to the sale, and sale bid adjustments to maximize visibility and drive conversions during this critical period.
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Results
San Diego Hat Company's focused strategy and increased budget allocation led to significant growth in sales and efficiencies. Our team was able to navigate the competitive landscape, balance San Diego Hat Company’s wholesale and direct-to-consumer sales, and capitalize on the high season. This highlights the power of strategic planning, precise targeting, and leveraging strong brand assets to achieve substantial returns.
Year-over-Year (YoY) Metrics for Memorial Day Weekend:
73.78% Increase in Sales Revenue
53.41% Increase in ROAS
68.32% Increase in CTR
91.74% Increase in AOV
