CASE STUDY: Original Grain Doubles Ad Spend While Increasing ROAS and AOV by 35%
Original Grain is a premium luxury watch brand known for its unique materials and strong brand perception. Despite having a high-quality product, they faced a common hurdle for scaling brands: they didn’t truly understand the underlying emotional drivers that caused their customers to hit the "buy" button.
The Challenge
Before implementing TetherOS, Original Grain’s marketing strategy was largely tactical. They relied on high-level photography, surface-level metrics and constant testing, which often led to disjointed campaigns. The lack of a repeatable messaging system meant the brand was often forced to lean on heavy discounting to drive volume.
As Nate Lagos, VP of Marketing, put it: "We didn't really understand why people were buying and that meant we were guessing with our creative".
Solution: The TetherOS
Original Grain moved away from "gut-feel" marketing and implemented the TetherOS as their behavioral-insight engine. ]Instead of chasing trends, they used the platform to analyze actual customer language. The system uncovered a critical distinction between two primary audiences: (gifters and self-buyers) each driven by distinct emotional patterns:
The Insight: For gifters, the purchase wasn't about the watch’s features, it was about recognizing the person receiving the gift, specifically around the idea that the gift receiver was hardworking and often felt overlooked, overworked, and invisible, despite their hardworking attitude.
The Execution: The gift-buying audience segment wanted a way to show their loved ones they were truly seen and valued. The TetherOS helped translate these emotional truths into creative direction, replacing transactional messaging with images, copy, and marketing campaigns that resonated with their ideal audience.
Results
By shifting to an insight-driven strategy, Original Grain transformed their performance metrics within just six weeks:
Scaled Growth: They successfully 2X'd their overall Facebook ad spend at a more stable ROAS.
Better Efficiency: The brand achieved a better ROAS despite the increased spend.
Increased Profitability: Discount dependency dropped significantly as the perceived value of the brand rose.
Revenue Gains: The brand saw +25% revenue growth in 6 weeks, a +35% increase in AOV, and a +33% lift in LTV.
A Sustainable Engine: The "emotional truth" ads performed so well that top-performing assets like "Show Dad he’s worth every second" remained effective for a full year.
Key Takeaways
Emotional insights drive higher AOV. By identifying the specific emotional drivers of gifters versus self-buyers, the brand saw a 35% increase in Average Order Value.
Data-driven creative reduces discount dependency. Replacing transactional, discount-heavy messaging with "emotional resonance" allowed the brand to grow revenue without relying on price cuts.
Scalable systems stabilize ROAS. Moving from "guessing" to a repeatable system for creative allowed the brand to double its Facebook spend while actually improving its return on ad spend.
Long-term performance is possible. Creative built on "emotional truth" provides sustainable growth, with top-performing messages remaining effective for over a full year.
Original Grain already had a premium product and a strong brand presence. What they lacked was a repeatable system to understand the "why" behind their customer’s behavior and translate it into creative success. By implementing TetherOS, they made the strategic move to stop guessing and start building ads based on emotional truth.
That decision transformed their bottom line. Within just six weeks, Original Grain doubled their Facebook spend, saw a 25% surge in revenue, and boosted their AOV by 35%, all while finally breaking their dependency on heavy discounts.
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