Catalog ads commoditise
a brand with a real story.
Schermer Pecans is a multi-generational Southern pecan farm selling direct on Shopify, from bulk baking halves to cinnamon glazed gifting tins. The account was returning, and it was leaning on catalog ads and lower-funnel formats to do it.
The situation,as it arrived.
Catalog ads are efficient for retargeting volume and they flatten a brand at the top of the funnel. For a product with genuine provenance — the farm, the craft, the baking tradition — that story needs to carry prospecting audiences before anyone reaches a product page.
The second problem was the calendar. Like most specialty food brands, Schermer had demand concentrated in peak gifting windows and needed to build it across a longer year.
Four moves,in the order they happened.
Move spend from catalog to creative
Budget reallocated toward brand-quality video and static built on the farm and the craft, on the thesis that a story-led impression buys a better customer rather than only a cheaper click.
Let video lead and retargeting close
Two Meta campaigns — purchaser retargeting and Advantage+ prospecting. Retargeting outperformed acquisition on both efficiency and average order value, while story-driven video lifted the quality of the purchaser.
Layer Google by intent
Branded search for the most efficient return, Performance Max for volume at mid-funnel, non-branded acquisition search, and Demand Gen as low-cost top-of-funnel pressure that lifts branded search and assists conversions elsewhere.
Read the creative results honestly
A National Pecan Month static returned the strongest ROAS of April at a 4.2% conversion rate. Brand Video V2 produced the highest average order value. A low-spend Spring Snacking GIF took May. Winners and losers were both recorded.
Everything thatleft the building.
- Creative-led paid media across Meta and Google
- Brand video and static production
- Purchaser retargeting and Advantage+ prospecting
- Branded, non-branded, Performance Max and Demand Gen on Google
- Seasonal calendar coordination
- Creative testing and reporting
More like this one.One a month.
Written out of engagements rather than off a content calendar, by whichever principal ran the work. No sequence afterwards.
Your situation is not this one.Tell us what it is.
A senior strategist reads it and replies within one business day, with a straight answer about whether we are the right people.