Welcome back to The Brick-by-Brick Newsletter - where 7-8 figure brands learn how to scale efficiently.

This week, I wanted to break down a recent case study from one of our clients - an overnight oats brand we partnered with in 2025.

Over a relatively short period, we helped scale the brand to a $595k month (↑ 282% YoY), while improving efficiency across the board:

• CPA ↓ 22%

• Subscriptions ↑ 34%

There wasn’t a single “silver bullet” here.

This was the result of tightening fundamentals across:

• Customer understanding

• Creative strategy

• Media buying

• Conversion

Below is a detailed breakdown of what actually drove that growth:

The Core Challenge: Expanding Beyond a Niche Audience

When we first came into the account, the brand was heavily positioned towards:

• Fitness enthusiasts

• Bodybuilders

• High-protein / performance-focused consumers

That positioning made sense historically - and it worked.

But it also created a ceiling.

Through research, it became clear that a large portion of existing customers didn’t actually identify with that niche.

To validate this, we looked at:

• Post-purchase survey data

• Customer support tickets

• Historical ad engagement

• Direct customer interviews (led by the brand team)

What came through consistently:

Customers weren’t buying this product because they were “into fitness.”

They were buying it because:

• It was convenient

• It tasted good

• It helped them stay consistent with their diet

• It removed friction from their mornings

This insight reframed the opportunity.

Instead of a niche product for performance, this was:

→ A broadly appealing, convenience-led breakfast product

That shift in understanding became the foundation for everything that followed.

1. Research-Led Creative & Positioning

Persona Development (Grounded in Real Data)

We segmented customers using:

• Shopify + GA data

• Survey responses

• Purchase behaviour

• Qualitative feedback

Rather than building personas based on assumptions, we mapped:

• Motivations

• Objections

• Use cases

This allowed us to move away from generic messaging and towards persona-specific communication.

Creative & Messaging Evolution

We expanded messaging beyond performance and leaned into:

• Convenience
  “Ready in seconds. No cooking, no hassle.”

• Balanced nutrition
  “A mix of protein, fibre and healthy fats for sustained energy.”

• Taste & enjoyment
  “Flavours you actually look forward to eating.”

• Lifestyle fit (particularly for women & busy professionals)
  “A filling, low-effort breakfast that keeps you on track.”

This wasn’t about abandoning the original audience.

It was about layering additional entry points into the product.

Creative Execution

We introduced:

• Lifestyle-led imagery (non-fitness environments)

• Testimonial-driven ads (especially female-led UGC)

• Story-driven short-form video (Reels/TikTok style)

• Multiple copy angles (health, convenience, taste, cost)

Importantly, this wasn’t done all at once.

It was structured around testing frameworks, not creative volume.

2. Media Buying & Scaling Approach

Creative-Led Performance Shift

One of the more meaningful insights came from early testing:

Short-form video (Reels) consistently outperformed static formats:

• Higher engagement rates

• Lower CPA

• Better scalability

As a result, we:

• Reallocated spend towards video-first creatives

• Built testing pipelines specifically for short-form content

• Iterated on structure (hooks, pacing, framing)

Campaign Structure

We used a mix of:

• ASC (Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns) for scale

• Segmented campaigns for:

  • Existing fitness audience

  • New personas (busy professionals, women, general health)

• Retargeting based on:

  • Engagement

  • Site behaviour

  • Purchase history

The key was separating intent levels and personas clearly, rather than blending everything into one structure.

Creative Testing Framework

We ran structured tests across:

• Formats (video, static, carousel)

• Hooks (problem vs benefit vs lifestyle)

• Creative styles (UGC, branded, testimonial)

A key principle here: A test was only valid if it answered a specific question.

This allowed us to:

• Double down on proven angles

• Eliminate wasted spend quickly

• Build a clearer roadmap of what to produce next

Scaling Methodology

Rather than aggressively increasing budgets across the board, we used a controlled approach:

• Test creatives at $50–$100/day

• Identify winners at ~2x ROAS

• Scale incrementally (+20–30% every 2–3 days)

• Push proven creatives into higher-spend ASC campaigns

Top performers were scaled from ~$100/day to $1,400+/day.

Retargeting & Post ID Strategy

We:

• Retargeted high-intent users (engagers, site visitors)

• Reused winning post IDs from previous campaigns

Maintaining post IDs allowed us to retain:

• Social proof

• Engagement history

Which improved conversion rates at scale.

3. Website & CRO Improvements

Alongside paid media, we ran a full CRO audit and worked with the brand’s internal team to implement changes.

Key Areas of Focus

1. Navigation & Clarity

• Simplified category naming

• Reduced brand-specific jargon

• Improved product discoverability

2. Product Page Improvements
We recommended a broader mix of:

• Product shots

• Call-out visuals (benefits)

• Lifestyle imagery

• UGC

• Product-in-use content

This ensured the page catered to different decision-making styles.

3. Offer Testing
We tested:

• Tiered discounts

• Spend thresholds (e.g. spend X, get Y)

This helped increase AOV without damaging margin.

4. Landing Pages

We built:

• Advertorial-style pages

• Collection-based landing pages

These aligned closely with specific personas and traffic sources.

Result:
→ Advertorial pages converted 18% higher than standard PDPs

5. Site Speed Improvements

• Desktop: 32 → 96

• Mobile: 13 → 66

This had a meaningful impact on conversion efficiency.

6. Post-Purchase Feedback Loop

Using tools like KnoCommerce, we gathered:

• Purchase drivers

• Objections

• Points of hesitation

These insights fed directly back into:

• Creative

• Messaging

• Landing pages

4. Omni-Channel Integration

We aligned Meta with:

• Google Search

• YouTube

Key areas:

• Using search query data to inform Meta messaging

• Maintaining consistent messaging across platforms

• Supporting retention through email and direct mail partnerships

This created a more cohesive customer journey and improved overall efficiency.

5. Creative × Media Buying Feedback Loop

One of the most important operational shifts was ensuring tight alignment between teams.

We implemented:

• Weekly performance reviews

• Creative briefs built from actual ad data

• Modular creative systems (swappable hooks, scenes, CTAs)

• Real-time feedback from media buyers to creative

This reduced lag between: → Insight → Execution → Iteration

Which is where most accounts lose momentum.

Results

• $595k month (↑ 282% YoY)

• CPA reduced by 22%

• Subscriptions increased by 34%

• Conversion rate increased to 2.8%

Key Takeaways

A few things that stood out from this:

1. Positioning often limits scale more than targeting
   Expanding the “who this is for” unlocked a much larger market.
   

2. Creative performance is a function of insight, not volume
   The best results came from structured testing, not more output.
   

3. CRO and paid media need to move together
   Scaling traffic without improving conversion creates inefficiency.
   

4. The feedback loop is the system
   The speed and quality of iteration mattered more than any single tactic.

What’s Next

The next milestone is the brand’s first $1M month.

The focus now is:

• Expanding creative variation without losing signal

• Continuing to refine persona-specific messaging

• Supporting new product launches with the same framework

If you’re running paid acquisition at scale, this is usually where growth comes from:

Not doing more.

But tightening the system behind what you’re already doing.

Ready to Break Your Growth Ceiling?

If you're doing $200K+ monthly and feel like you've hit a wall, this is exactly the type of work we do at Brick.

We don't just run ads. We diagnose constraints, build systematic testing frameworks, and execute strategies that actually scale.

If you want to explore what this could look like for your brand:

» Book A Call With Me Here «

Until next week,

Toby.