Homesick Candles hired a fractional CMO to develop a media strategy
Homesick Candles, a home fragrance and lifestyle brand owned by WIN Brands Group, aimed to significantly scale its sales and brand presence.
Win Brands Group
The Client
- Company
- Win Brands Group
- Website
- winbg.com
- Industry
- Retail
- Headquarters
- new york, united states
About Win Brands Group
Win Brands Group is a private equity firm focused on acquiring and building consumer brands, particularly in the home, outdoor, and lifestyle categories. The firm employs a buy-and-build strategy, acquiring founder-led and entrepreneurial brands with strong fundamentals and scaling them through operational excellence, category expansion, and strategic…
The Challenge
Homesick Candles, a home fragrance and lifestyle brand owned by WIN Brands Group, aimed to significantly scale its sales and brand presence. Despite having a unique product line that resonated with consumers' emotions and memories, the company needed a strategic approach to amplify its reach and increase sales. It also needed to tightly synchronize the new product development, finance, and demand-generation functions to balance extremely tight cashflow demands (out of stock issues had caused significant missed opportunities).
Our Approach
John Leeman was hired as a fractional CMO to develop a comprehensive paid, owned, and earned media acquisition strategy. This strategy included aggressive social media prospecting and remarketing, targeted PR campaigns to feature Homesick in gift guides for various occasions, and an omni-retail approach. The omni-retail strategy leveraged Homesick's DTC Shopify website, app, Amazon, and key retail outlets like Bloomingdales. Additionally, the marketing efforts were tailored to capitalize on seasonal holidays and life milestone gifting occasions.
For the first time ever, the company conducted product concept research to inform a more reliable demand forecast and investment plan. Production, marketing and sales plans accompanied each of these campaign initiatives and continued collaboration with the CFO and head of merchandising & operations to ensure on-time delivery and available cash to fund inventory and shipping costs as well as marketing costs.
The Impact
The implementation of the new Homesick Candles media strategy led to a remarkable 250% growth in sales within less than a year. This foundational success positioned Homesick Candles for sustained growth, delivering an additional 400% increase in sales over the next five years. The strategic initiatives not only boosted immediate sales but also significantly enhanced Homesick's brand equity and market presence.
The Work
250%
growth in sales within a year
400%
additional sales growth over five years