Advertising Multiple CBD Product Lines

Key Findings

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cbdMD performed a variety of A/B tests for their 20% off sales campaign in January 2020: cbdMD tested between different creatives, products, background colors, and copy. The sleep aid creative slightly outperformed the CBD topical creative.

cbdMD is currently targeting females for their brand awareness campaign: In particular, their display ads feature young mothers, and women who are living an active lifestyle.

What Brands Should Be Thinking About

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Consider performing A/B tests for your display campaigns to discover top performing creative and copy for your target audience: For each A/B test make sure there is only one variable that is being tested to get the most accurate results. 

Consider performing an A/B test between creative that features models versus product-focused ads: Ads that feature models that resemble your target audience can often increase the likelihood that the ad will resonate with your consumers

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cbdMD drastically reduced their display ad spend by -78% ($254K to $85K) since January after they ended their 20% off sales campaign, which resulted in a -53% decrease in display web traffic.

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cbdMD ran 5 different creatives for their sales campaign, with two A/B tests:

1. CBD Oil A/B Test

• Creative test: Blue vs. Green Background
• Copy test: “The Power of Possibility” vs. “Nature in Every Drop”

Result: Both ads had the same CPM of $2.83

To measure the true impact of an A/B test,  it is recommended that you only change one variable - either only the copy, or image.

2. Paw CBD Sale Campaign‍

The creative is quite busy with 3 different images, making the ad look cluttered. There is less room for the 25% off code which is the key message of the ad. After ending their sales campaign, cbdMD is now focused on upper funnel brand awareness campaigns on Display.

3. Topical and Sleep Aid A/B Test

cbdMD performed an A/B test between two different creatives: CBD Topical and CBD Sleep Aid. The sleep aid creative had a slightly lower CPM at $3.19.

The ad states that the product was voted #1 in their respective categories to provide social proof. The ad also states “Winner: CBD Topical Survey of 40,000 consumers by Kantar” to provide further evidence of the claim.

After ending their sales campaign, cbdMD is now focused on upper funnel brand awareness campaigns on Display.

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For the majority of ads in the brand awareness campaign, cbdMD is targeting females. In particular the ads feature young mothers and women who have an active lifestyle.

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