How Hyperice Turns Awareness Into Amazon Sales

How Hyperice Turns Awareness Into Amazon Sales Speaker 1: Hello everyone and welcome back to the Better Advertising with BTR Media podcast. Today I'm incredibly excited to have Justin Nuckols back on the podcast. Justin, thank you for joining. It's been a while since we've done one of these. Speaker 2: It has. It's about time we get back in and talk about all the busy stuff that's been going on this year. That's hence why I have not been here on the podcast. We've been deep in the weeds with so many accounts and excited to be back and to talk about it. Speaker 1: You have been deep in the weeds and I would hedge a bet that you have one of the most exciting books of business, one of the most chaotic books of business that we have within BTR, but you're working on a lot of really fun projects. Speaker 2: Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, Bias, I definitely think some of my clients are some of the most fun, most interesting kind of groundbreaking and how they're going about the e-commerce awareness plays that we're going to get into today. I'm doing some disruptive things. So excited to talk about that and go into it. Speaker 1: Something we frequently talk about at BTR Media and on the podcast in general is creating demand. And the reason we focus on creating demand is we've seen this shift where Amazon's incredibly competitive. And you type in any one search term and you're seeing hundreds of products with a lot of reviews, similar price points, similar PDPs. So how do you stand out in a crowded market? We've answered that question over and over, but I think hearing about brands that are actually doing it is a unique perspective, which is one of the reasons I wanted to talk to you today. Because as mentioned, your brands are doing a lot of really fun things. One of those brands is Hyperice made a huge splash at the Olympics, made a huge splash with their new product announcement through LeBron James and Kim Kardashian. You have a few other brands that also have some celebrity endorsements and I think those have been going incredibly well. Do you want to touch high level on what some of those partnerships have looked like and then we can get into how that's influenced the Amazon side of the business? Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. So, I mean, that's a big one to shout out right there is Hyperice back in, I think it was the Summer Olympics back in 2024 was when it was really debuted through the athletes that were participating for the USA team. So, as you said, LeBron James and many others were using this new collaboration product from Nike and Hyperice called the Hyperbase. Speaker 1: Nike. And we're here today to talk about Nike. I mean, it's my dream brand and now we're kind of wiggling our way into that. Speaker 2: So, yeah, we can't say we directly work with Nike, but I think through, yeah, that that chain of connection, we can kind of say we do. But nonetheless, yeah, that collaboration was huge to to drive awareness nonetheless to Hyperice. Going for sale live in the US earlier this year, back in May, was one of the huge points where we really got to lean into that branding element, right? We had to go through, we'll go through the specifics of what that looked like tactically, but definitely drove a lot of attention and eyeballs during that period of time. No, it's not found on Amazon, so we can't claim to drive the conversions out of it, but we definitely see some awareness lift out of that potentially. And then some other ones you were kind of forecasting into were a new Josh Allen created, which I'm sure anyone who watches ESPN, anyone who's going to the gym or going to a sports bar has seen this commercial from Natrol with Josh Allen. Showcasing their new sleep products saying, you know, this me where he's, you know, a doctor, he's on the red carpet and performing his best with this new sleep product. So that was a huge one that we've seen drive success for a new product launch this year with Natrol. Another one that we can get into is the brand Lucky Energy, which many people may not know of. It's such a crowded aisle between Red Bull and Monster Energy and Ghost Energy and all these name brands. And they're doing something really cool, not necessarily with celebrities, but just standout creatives, those scroll stopping to the And we're here to talk to you about some of the things that we're doing to the utmost extent that, you know, maybe a little controversial to some audiences, but I think it really gets people to stop and engage with our ads and drive into the detail page, which obviously is getting people down the funnel. So these awareness tactics, as we sum it all up, are definitely working in this kind of difficult economic market we've been in, where, you know, awareness is what you need to do to keep going forward. Speaker 1: Let's specifically talk about the Josh Allen launch. I think that was an incredible opportunity but also really unique because it was a bet. It was on a newly launched product and we were utilizing it to really drive awareness in the hopes that it would drive conversion at the end of the day, increase our reviews, increase our organic positioning on the page. Can you talk a little bit about how you viewed success on the upper funnel side of that launch, but also how it did tie into success on the kind of higher purchase intent side when we started looking at retargeting and sponsored product ads as well? Was there a correlation between those two? Speaker 2: 100% I think on the upper funnel side, like just the impressions were serving the search volume out of these newly created terms, I'm saying because people were not going to be searching for this product name on Amazon had they not been exposed to Josh Allen on ESPN talking about this new product. So we definitely saw that awareness impact in driving demand, as you said earlier, but During this period of time, we also had the TV media go on, turn off for maybe a couple of weeks and then turn back on. And we saw the direct correlation with things like budget utilization, click-through rate, all of those things kind of tanked in the period where TV media was turned off. And as soon as it turned back on, we saw those same metrics pop right back up. So we really see that impact on the lower funnel on the search platform where You know, people exposed to this ad are coming to Amazon and specifically looking for this product rather than the typical Amazon seller trying to launch their product and build that discovery, that awareness on platform, which is possible. It just takes a lot more money to do rather than, you know, how costly it is to go run a TV media ad. That's comparatively a lot cheaper than trying to do awareness on Amazon through search. Speaker 1: From the power duo here that's launched multiple, multiple supplement SKUs directly within search. I think we know how expensive it can be. So it was a unique opportunity to see how TV drove those bottom of the funnel conversion tactics. Now, the part that I think people miss when they're looking into the strategy is they maybe view Each strategy separately. They view their video performance in a silo of their sponsored product performance. We had a unique opportunity to view them together here and I think that's what really drove home the overall understanding of the performance. We were able to shift budgets much quicker across, you know, even our retargeting campaigns and things like that, in order to say holistically, this is how this campaign ties into our bottom of the funnel. I mean, Amazon gives us things like just general branded search increases. We can use search query performance report, if you're a seller, to start pulling things like, you know, Key terms related to Josh Allen. How did they start performing after a video campaign was ran? You have to piece a lot of the data and insights together and AMC also helps a lot in this arena. But when you do, you can say that investment into your video or your national media campaign, which maybe wasn't profitable in itself, drove a huge lift in this area. And I think that's the bet that this brand took that a lot of brands maybe wouldn't take. But when we were able to see the success of it, I think it really spoke for itself. Speaker 2: Yeah, and taking it even a step beyond that, not just measuring the TV media in a silo, but collectively with search is also not looking at the direct product it was focused on, right? Like we saw other products in the catalog all lift, like a rising tide lifts all boats. So, you know, that awareness definitely helped the overall brand, not just the specific product launch. So when you look at it collectively like that, or as you said, like not in a silo with your TV media, you can really see that ROI come to fruition very quickly. Unknown Speaker: Yeah. Speaker 1: Not to mention all of the other platforms that are available to drive awareness. I think leaning into the UGC side, the TikTok side, the meta side, all of it plays together. And I think the brands that are outperforming in the industry right now are the brands that are leaning into that. They're testing incredibly quick and they're moving budgets around maybe much quicker than what their financial teams would prefer. Speaker 2: Yeah, 100%. And to that point, TikTok, we also have another couple of brands that have really been leveraging UGC content that have made big pushes with TikTok shop and TikTok UGC creators and leveraging those videos, those top performing videos that you've tested and learned on TikTok and pulling those over to Amazon. Of course, there might be different spec requirements. So make sure that you just pull over your TikTok videos that you're meeting the Amazon ad requirements. But nonetheless, that UGC content has worked great because as you said, it's a game of ratings and reviews. But when someone I love it. It's a lot more believable than the brand saying, hey, buy my product. I promise it's the best thing you've ever had. Speaker 1: Absolutely. I was watching The Summer I Turned Pretty. So I would have been on Amazon Prime and I was served an ad where someone took their TikTok UGC video that went viral and they basically just input it into a PowerPoint deck. And added overlaid some words so that way it was formatted for a TV and it was just the tick tock video. It wasn't anything incredible. It wasn't any special effects edited for a commercial. It was just the UGC. And I thought it was pretty impressive that they took that bet because I would never have expected to see that work. But to your point, it's social commerce. When everyone's used to scrolling TikTok or Instagram or social in general and seeing that style of video format, it wasn't that shocking to then see it on my TV. And I believe it was an interactive TV ad at that. So in the last, um, End card, it was a QR code. So I could immediately open up the QR code and be driven to the Amazon listing. I thought that was a unique way to look at creative because I think when people think about video in general and they hear something like a Josh Allen campaign, they're like, that is way out of budget. And it could be for some brands. I mean, it was expensive. It was a really big national media campaign. Now, again, the rising tide did lift all ships in this case, At the end of the day, you don't have to have that large of an investment to start dabbling in this arena. You can lean into your UGC videos, as Justin mentioned, and get really creative with how you're applying that to your sponsor brand's video ads. Or you can launch a sponsored TV ad directly with an advertising console, or start leaning into streaming TV as well, if you can utilize these assets and figure out a way to multiply them across platforms, which is also what AI is allowing us to do really well. Speaker 2: Yeah, 100%. As you said, like, it doesn't have to be going out and creating a partnership with the NFL MVP. I'm sure that cost a good couple dollars. It could be as simple as UGC content. But nonetheless, as you also talked about with that, that QR code is it gets people down the funnel, like when we're running streaming TV ads, even if there's a QR code, we're not expecting And I'm here to talk to you about how to make immediate purchases off that. The best case scenario is video completion or going to the detail page, which through AMC and retargeting, we're able to further that customer journey. If they've been to the detail page, it makes it very easy to go back and remarket to that person. Playing these awareness plays is simply to move people down the funnel. Even when we have the ability to link directly to the detail page, we can't be measuring these things by immediate purchases. It has to be engagement down the funnel, and AMC is a great way in which we can do that, where people who are ad exposed, specifically in this Josh Allen example, Those that have been exposed to just the TV ad, we can get specific DSP ads and creatives and copy back in front of them when they're looking around Amazon owned and operated properties. So it's really a progression. It's not an immediate, they've seen this commercial, they're going to go purchase. It's just a walking this person through the journey that you want to take them on. Speaker 1: Absolutely. And you mentioned that Amazon owned and operated properties. That is getting larger and larger. I mean, just this morning, the partnership between Netflix was announced. So we're now going to be able to buy inventory on Netflix, which is huge. I want to give a big shout out if anyone's watched season two of Wednesday. So far, it's pretty good. I was impressed. But having the opportunity to serve assets on Netflix or Disney or Hulu is really expanding our addressable audience. And the lines between that performance marketing and brand marketing are definitely starting to blur. As Justin mentioned, we do have the ability to track things like engagement metrics. Or to make the ad interactive. And that's a really big opportunity because now we're exposing them to our product or brands while they're sitting on the couch. They're not distracted by a busy SERP. And then we can track Tracks not the right word. I'm going to take that back. We can move them throughout the funnel and serve them different creatives and different ads at different points of that journey. And it does take a lot of work. I mean, Justin mentioned custom creatives at different touch points. That's really the angle I think drives the most value there. But it's not always the most scalable. A lot of brands want to lean into it and maybe don't have the right partner for it, but it is an available opportunity operationally. It's just figuring out how to scale it out, I would say. Speaker 2: Yeah, and intentionality too, like brands that want to come join in DSP and have custom creatives. It's like, okay, well, why? Right? Like we can run a standard responsive ad in DSP and it will work great, but unless there's a reason to run that custom creative, it doesn't make sense. And so in this Josh Allen example, if they've seen The audience has seen that Josh Allen ad off platform, whether it's ESPN or anywhere on television, we can make sure that the very next ad that they're being exposed to is a static image of Josh Allen, rather than maybe for the first time, we're showing someone that responsive ad that's not custom creative. So it has to be very intentional. Like I said, moving people through the funnel and the steps you want. Speaker 1: Absolutely. At the end of the day, path to purchase, not linear, as we know. Speaker 2: It's so funny as I look back, you know, 10 years ago when I was in high school or so, and you think about how are these ads reaching me at just the right time? And now kind of going back behind the curtain and seeing all these AMC Abilities, where we can say someone exposed to this ad, if they've completed the video, we want to show them this very next ad. And in a very disruptive way, as you said, whether it's through Hulu, Disney+, Netflix. So it's really cool to see kind of the journeys we can take people on very intentionally, rather than just by some miracle, your phone listening to you and serving you an ad. It's all very precise and intentional. Speaker 1: I was going to say the same thing of your phone listening to your ad. I think we've all seen the really funny memes of like walking by your partner's phone and like whispering something into it so that way they'll buy you the right Christmas gift. There is a lot of indiginality and I think that AI is going to push the gas pedal on that even further. Things like Performance Plus and using all the right audience signals aligned with the appropriate creative is going to change the game. We have a lot of fun and innovative projects that our brands are working on and it's really exciting to, I would say, lead the pack in that regard. Speaker 2: 100% and going back to like custom creatives and an earlier name drop, we said, which was Lucky Energy and custom creatives, like, as I just said, why do you want to run custom creatives? Now, they don't have a big celebrity endorsement or partnership like Josh Allen, but they have these creatives that are just so standout, scroll stopping, almost, in my opinion, like nostalgic looking like back in the back in the 90s, I call it like the Marlboro type ads where it just gives that like nostalgic summertime feeling. Yes. And these ads are, like I said earlier, maybe a little controversial to some audiences and the way that the creative looks, but I think It definitely defines the brand identity and it drives that engagement. So again, we're a custom creative here, works really, really well to stop the scroll. Assuming we do our part in targeting the right audiences at the right time, these ads work great to drive awareness rather than trying to run top of search sponsor brand ads or top of search sponsor product ads on the word energy drink. So being a lot more intentional as we are kind of thematically calling it, it works really, really well as we said in this environment where it's so costly to play at the top of search in your category. Speaker 1: Absolutely. Well, I think we gave a lot of very good hands-on keyboard recommendations this episode. As always, thank you so much for hopping on. And for anyone listening in, Justin also posts a lot of content on LinkedIn. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, feel free to reach out to us. We are more than happy to address them or, you know, do quite a few more follow-up episodes answering any questions you have. So, Justin, thank you so much for joining. Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks so much for having me here. Great to be back.