01: What
Shoe HQ was a new marketplace in Australia under parent company W.M. Ritchie, having launched just two years prior, when they partnered with Ribbon Gang to scale their digital advertising efforts. The focus was on building a performance-driven strategy across Meta and Google to increase direct-to-consumer revenue, strengthen the brand’s online and market presence, and position Shoe HQ as a one-stop shopping destination in the competitive eCommerce landscape.
02. How
The Challenge:
- Shoe HQ’s advertising efforts were fragmented, with multiple campaigns running across Meta and Google without a cohesive structure or unified objective.
- A limited budget further constrained performance, making it difficult to optimise campaigns effectively or scale results.
- As a relatively new marketplace, brand awareness was still growing, resulting in inconsistent traffic and revenue generation.
- The platform needed to drive results for multiple brands under one roof, including Easy Steps, Sandler, Wide Steps, Jane Debster, and others - each with their own positioning and audience.
Why Ribbon Gang:
With a limited budget and a complex multi-brand portfolio, Shoe HQ needed a partner who could make every advertising dollar work harder. Ribbon Gang was brought on for our proven ability to craft high-performing, data-driven paid strategies; combining sharp creative, platform expertise, and strategic budget allocation to maximise ROI and drive meaningful business growth.
Constraints:
- Budget limitations were a key constraint, especially given the need to advertise across multiple brands under the Shoe HQ umbrella.
- The goal was to build a sustainable advertising framework that could deliver results in the short term while setting the business up for long-term success - both internally (through improved processes) and externally (through stronger brand presence and revenue growth).
- Campaigns needed to be managed across Meta and Google, with a focus on performance, efficiency, and scalability.
03. Our Approach
We adopted a full-funnel advertising strategy, segmented into top-of-funnel (TOFU) and bottom-of-funnel (BOFU) campaigns to ensure efficient budget use and better customer targeting.
1) Top-of-funnel (TOFU):
- Focused on prospecting and broad targeting to increase brand awareness and reach new audiences.
- Leveraged catalogue and category-led creatives to showcase Shoe HQ’s wide product range.
2) Bottom-of-funnel (BOFU):
- Utilised hyper-targeted campaigns for high-intent users, including those who had “added to cart”, “viewed product pages”, or “initiated checkout”.
- Integrated Meta with Klaviyo to allow advanced segmentation using email engagement data, improving audience precision and retargeting effectiveness.
- Developed high-converting creatives using urgent messaging, promotional hooks, and visually appealing assets to drive action.
- Structured campaigns into distinct categories, including: Top-of-funnel catalogue campaigns; Product category-specific ads; Always-on promotional activity; Seasonal or offer-led bursts.
Tools & Techniques:
- Meta Ads
- Google Ads
- Klaviyo
- Google Search Console
Creative Highlights:
Ribbon Gang introduced creative tailoring across the funnel to improve performance and relevancy at each stage of the customer journey.
Top-of-funnel creatives:
- Emphasised broader product discovery and lifestyle appeal.
- Messaging took on a softer, more inviting tone to introduce the brand without overwhelming new users.
Bottom-of-funnel creatives:
- Designed with bold visuals, punchy headlines, and urgency-driven messaging to prompt immediate action.
- Creative elements were optimised to stand out in feeds and convert high-intent users.
This nuanced creative approach ensured users saw the right message at the right time, significantly improving engagement and conversions.
