Case Studies
Ocean Media has been instrumental in launching and growing many companies into nationally recognized brands. Listed below are five case studies of five very different companies and how Ocean Media helped them find success. We are proud of these accomplishments and even more proud of having helped these companies achieve a combined compound annual growth of almost 35% over the last three years! We regularly add more success stories to our list, so be sure to check back often.
Click the tabs below to view each case study.
Ocean Media has been Priceline.com’s media planning and buying agency since they launched in April of 1998. According to the Brand Institute, an independent marketing company, Priceline was branded nationally faster than any other company in history. Our success was noted in helping “Priceline.com achieve awareness of 62.5 million customers in only 150 days of its April, 1998 launch”.
Over our 10 year relationship, we have worked with five different CMOs and had several agency reviews. Each CMO has repeatedly made the choice to keep us as their planning and buying partner. They’ve also worked with four different creative agencies over this time, and we’ve collaborated with each one seamlessly.
Priceline was obviously successful in the early years, but it was working together through the lean years after the dot com bust that really cemented the relationship. Admittedly, Ocean Media is just one arrow in their marketing quiver, but we feel our media approach, execution and analytics have been a big contributor to their success over the years. This year Priceline is enjoying record sales domestically, and has had a compounded annual growth rate of over 20% over the past 3 years.
How we sustain performance over time:
TEST
- Creative offers and length
- Media vehicles used
- Flighting & GRP weight
TRACK
- Identify traffic and sales highs and lows
- Correlate changes in media/creative with changes in sales
OPTIMIZE
- Continue to optimize as data is gathered and analyzed
- After changes are implemented, restart testing phase
We’ve been working with eHarmony since 2002. They originally started with a $150K test campaign but had a host of reservations:
- “TV is too expensive”
- “Difficult to measure”
- “Hard to execute”
We managed to debunk those myths.
Where are they now?
- Currently the #1 player in the “serious relationship” dating category and #2 in the overall U.S. online dating market
- ~60% unaided brand awareness with adults
- ~90% with “singles”
- #1 Trusted Online Relationship Service
- Responsible for 2% of all marriages in the United States today
- Many happy couples……
How did we do it?
Track
- Tracked pixels on TV ads (CMR/BVS)
- Developed data repository
- Tracked ad components (creative, spot length, network, day part, etc)
Correlate
- Determined relationship between ad airings and website activity
- Developed direct response and time series perspective
Attribute
- Calculated cost of acquisition for registrants (leads) and subscribers
- Comprehended response rates and impact of specific advertising units
As the campaign scaled, we’ve maintained our efficiency of acquisition by focusing on analytics
FreeCreditReport.com, an Experian Company, had tested and given up on radio when their marketing group first approached us regarding their media planning and buying. After researching their consumer’s media consumption patterns, we were able to provide an initial local radio test that produced efficiencies 30% lower than their target cost per order.
That was back in 1999, and today, ten years later, we are continuing to find new ways to optimize their campaign through research analytics, and media plan optimizations. This commitment has helped them attain double digit acquisition growth in each of the past three years.
With the contributions we provided, FreeCreditReport.com was able to create, and lead the credit monitoring business category from its inception. Despite increases in competitive spending over the past decade, they have continued to remain the category leader through our commitment to better target their consumers.
Overstock.com, a leading online retail site, came to Ocean Media in 2003 after their online advertising had become less effective. Ocean Media met with Patrick Byrne to discuss the possibility of launching an offline media campaign. We recommended an offline media test to determine the viability of an ROI positive campaign.
The marketing team’s biggest concern was that people would not respond and the campaign would be difficult to track. Patrick made it clear that if the campaign was not ROI positive… the partnership between Ocean Media and Overstock would be brief.
The Solution:
Ocean Media developed an initial media test that launched in September of 2003. Based on early traction, the campaign expanded throughout the 4th quarter. The campaign included network radio, local radio, national cable, print and opportunistic network television.
Results- the launch:
Overstock.com attracted 744,000 new customers during the fourth quarter of 2003. In addition, their sales increased from $41.5 million in Q4 2002 to $123.2 million in Q4 2003. Traffic during the quarter jumped from 5 million unique visitors to over 11 million unique visitors (comScore). For the 4th quarter, Overstock.com beat Wall Street estimates by thirty million dollars (1/28/04) and has credited much of their success to the marketing initiatives.
Five year partnership continues to expand:
Ocean Media and Overstock.com have been working together for over five years. We continue to review performance metrics on a daily basis making the media accountable. Tracking the campaign has allowed us to develop and refine the most effective media mix.
In 2005, Overstock.com purchased a spot during the Super Bowl. That was a first for them and for Ocean Media. They have been an advertiser in three of the last four Super Bowls. As always ROI was measured very closely- albeit over a longer time frame.
As we embark on another year, Overstock.com’s media mix has grown to include national cable, local broadcast, network television, radio and interactive. In 2008, our interactive tests including pre-roll have shown very encouraging results.
The brand awareness for Overstock has grown as a result of our ROI efforts. In 2004 their brand awareness was at 4% and as of 2008 it reached 68% (source Abacus Study).
Ocean Media became the television Agency of Record for LegalZoom, the legal document website, in August of 2007 after they conducted an agency review. Ocean Media set out to achieve more efficient CPMs, greater analysis and deliver superior service. After meeting those goals in Q4 2007, their campaign was expanded on national cable in 2008 and saw 50% growth year over year.
LegalZoom and Ocean Media have focused on delivering ROI positive growth through targeted media campaigns. We have worked hard to make the media accountable through extensive tracking, research and analytics. This has helped us to constantly adapt and refine the media mix for maximum efficiency.
As the campaign continues to expand today, LegalZoom focuses on profitability, growth, testing, and analytics. The efforts now include national cable, broadcast television and pre-roll on the interactive side. Even in the current economic downturn, LegalZoom has continued solid growth in 2009.