Read the full article published in CMO Australia in January 2022
More than 1.6 million unique impressions, a 30 per cent uplift in sales and a wider understanding of audiences open to non-alcoholic beverages are just a few wins for Lyre’s Spirit Company following a Covid-fuelled digital advertising play.
Lyre’s global SVP for ecommerce, Ashleigh Murray, told CMO a lot of the Australian-based business since its inception has stemmed from hospitality. However, with hospitality venues shutdown overnight as a result of the pandemic, a pivot to digital-focused engagement and commerce was vital.
Having always been an ecommerce, digital-first business, mechanisms were there to shift focus to the online realm, she said. Yet strategy from a digital perspective became very performance focused over that period to get the business through.
“We realised we do still need to fill more the top of the funnel and build brand awareness, especially during key period of sales for us, which includes Dry July, Ocsober and the Christmas period. That’s a key period to recruit new customers,” Murray said.
Armed with this ambition, Lyre’s worked with Bench to maximise brand awareness through a digital marketing play, focusing on impressions, reach and clickthroughs to drive people to its ecommerce site. As it drove more traffic, the teams also employed remarketing strategies to support conversion.
“There were two objectives depending on which part of the funnel,” Murray said. “Our ambition with Bench was across the funnel, engaging in peak periods. Then we engaged programmatic display and native, plus we experimented with social elements as well as the remarketing to our audiences, creating lookalikes plus targeting new audiences.”
The work with Bench kicked off in July 2020 and extended through to January. Five personas were identified by Lyre’s Spirits as most interested in non-alcoholic spirits: Health, fitness and wellbeing enthusiasts; parents; foodies; homeowners interested in decor and improvement; and entertainment lovers.