European CBD Brands Increasing Display Traffic By 220% in 12 Months

Key Takeaways

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Display Ads Tactic — News & Media Publishers: European CBD brands, on average, received 12% of their web traffic in 2020 from display ads. 2020 also represented a growth year for Display traffic, with the combined Display traffic of European CBD brands increasing by +220% YoY. 40% of this Display traffic comes from News & Media publishers (e.g., t-online.de, mirror.co.uk, express.co.uk, etc), with the rest coming from a mix of health, sports, and other web categories. Traffic driven by Display also tends to engage with web content just as much as visitors coming from other channels (when looking at pages per visit and bounce rate). 

With this in mind, it may be beneficial to A/B test Display ads in different publisher categories to see which ads resonate with your audience the most. 

Content & Messaging — Multiple Ad Creative Variants: European CBD brands have tested out thousands of Display ads in 2020, tailoring the creative for a wide assortment of use cases. 

• Canzon launched 36K ads with creatives focusing on pain problems, audience groups (e.g., gamers, athletes, and meditators), shopping online, and cosmetics. 
  

• CBDVital had 32K ads running from March to December 2020 focusing the creatives mainly on sleep & beauty. 
  

• Vaay has run 753 creatives since March of 2020 in both English & German, with their creatives focusing on discounts, online shopping, balance, and sleep.

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Display is becoming an increasingly important paid web traffic channel for European CBD brands.

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Brands started to see a large web traffic ROI on their Display investment in 2020, increasing as a whole by +220% YoY.

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Competitors are using a host of different ad networks for their Display ads.

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News media websites are responsible for an average of 40% of display ad traffic for the European competitor CBD cohort.

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CBII CBD is promoting a 20% off discount on all of their display ads and only alternates the key messaging. All ads are directed to the same landing page on their website.

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Vaay has launched 753 creatives total since March 2020 in both English and German languages. The ads promoted a 25%-33% discount.

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During March-May, Vaay aired a set of ads with a prominent “shop cbd now” call to action, directing traffic to their website.

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The brand, also, advertised “balancing” and “calming” effects of its products.

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Another set of Vaay’s display ads appealed to the audience cohort struggling with insomnia and showcased real people vs. products.

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CBDVital had 32K display ad variants running between March and December of 2020. The ads focused on either sleep or beauty routine enhancement.

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For the beauty-related ads, CBDVital leveraged the notion that CBD is “the secret of the stars” and featured women from different age groups.

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Canzon has launched 36K creatives focusing on different pain problems, audience groups, shopping online, and cosmetics.

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Canzon tailored ads for gamers, athletes, and those who meditate.

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Canzon highlighted that users are able to have CBD products shipped right to their door as they knew many were “stuck at home.”

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Canzon focused their cosmetic ads on fixing acne as well as trying out sample sizes before buying their full-sized items.

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Traffic driven by Display tends to engage with web content just as much as visitors coming from other channels.