Case Study
SEVEN BEAUTY drove success and cut CPC by 11% with expert-produced video ads
Product(s) used
Goals
- Expand product awareness
- Increase sales
Approach
- Created video asset that can be used for Sponsored Brands or Sponsored Display
- Used high-performing Sponsored Products keywords and product targeting
- Switched from self-produced to 15-second videos with static images
Results
- -11% CPC: 11% reduction vs. similar campaigns as of December 2024
- -5.2% ACOS: 5.2% reduction vs. similar campaigns as of December 2024
SEVEN BEAUTY Co., Ltd. (brand name: Seven Esthe) is a beauty manufacturer founded in Tokyo in 2000. The company handles products across more than 20 categories on HAQM.co.jp. After starting to use Fulfillment by HAQM (FBA) to improve its credibility as a seller, the company began running HAQM Ads in 2017 to help increase product awareness and sales.
Re-shaping video ads strategy
While the company had been running Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Sponsored Display ads, it had not previously seen much success with video ads using self-produced assets. So, in August 2024, the company started collaborating with an external video production company.
Benefits of outsourcing video production
Hirokazu Enomoto from the e-commerce department of SEVEN BEAUTY Co., Ltd. emphasizes "not having to allocate man-hours" as the benefit of having the video production done externally. Also, videos that had become overly elaborate when produced in-house were made simpler by having an outside professional create them with an objective perspective.
Outsourced video for Sponsored Brands video ads
For HAQM’s video ads where exposure time is short, even videos that combine static images with motion (a style we didn't do) can stand out among the crowds. Rather, they feel simpler and more visually appealing.
— Hirokazu Enomoto, E-commerce department, SEVEN BEAUTY Co., Ltd.
"The only drawback is the speed of making revisions," Enomoto reflects. However, based on the campaign results, he hopes to continue using external production even if it incurs a small cost.
Setting up the Sponsored Brands video advertising campaign
With their deep ad expertise, the company set up the campaign as follows, using the effective keywords they had been leveraging for Sponsored Products ads:
- Daily budget: 1/3 of Sponsored Products budget
- Campaign goals: Page visits, Cost-Per-Click (CPC)
- Bids: Start at 1/2 of Sponsored Products bid
- Destination: Product detail page
- Targeting: Keywords (all match types) and product targeting (by category)
As success metrics, they monitored new-to-brand customer rate, CPC, Advertising Cost of Sale (ACOS), conversion rate, and impressions post-launch. They regularly reviewed the performance and made minor adjustments, such as to the bids.
Results
"More ad placements help increase product awareness and the potential to drive sales growth, so we plan to continue utilizing video ads going forward," says Enomoto. Through this initiative, the CPC, an important performance metric, decreased by 23% compared to 47 yen for video ads without outsourced production.1 And despite the high-traffic season, they maintained a 6.1% ACOS, which was effective compared to the 11.3% average of other campaigns.2
- CPC 36 yen: 11% reduction vs. similar campaigns
- ACOS 6.1%: 5.2% reduction vs. similar campaigns
1-2 Advertiser-provided data, Japan, December 2024. The results reflect the campaigns of the advertiser, SEVEN BEAUTY Co., Ltd., and do not represent future outcomes.