Target Product Ads by Roundel™ Case Study

A robust search campaign and smart optimizations through Criteo Retail Media, a partner platform, helped a premium dog and cat food brand reach more pet owners during the pandemic.
Objective
As workers relocated to home offices and pet adoption rates skyrocketed at the onset of COVID, more pet owners wanted to ensure the best for their furry family members. In response to this surge in pet love and ownership, a premium pet food brand sought to achieve its key objectives:
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Engage more online shoppers close to the point of sale
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Boost awareness among new pet owners and pet-category guests
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Drive sales of its premium products
Approach
Engage dog and cat owners who shop at Target where and when they searched.
- Leverage Target Product Ads by Roundel™ to connect with pet owners as they shopped online for dog and cat food and drive awareness for the pet brand’s products.
- Generate a list of 880 pet-related keywords, including branded, unbranded, and product-specific words.
- Build a 14-day click + 14-day view model that best represents the customer journey using flexible attribution reporting through Criteo Retail Media.

Pet food search campaign
Duration: April1, 2021 – July 1, 2021
Media channels:
- Target.com desktop
- Target.com mobile
- Target App
Digital placements:
- Product Detail Pages – 81%
- Category Pages – 10%
- Search Pages – 9%
Results
Through Criteo Retail Media, the brand was able to view performance and optimize according to what worked best by product type for each segmented campaign. After the first two months of the campaign, the premium pet food brand decided to break out the campaign more granularly based on products promoted.
Optimizing by product type allowed the brand to see a major ROAS boost:
Campaigns with all products
342%
ROAS


Multiple product- specific campaigns
669%
ROAS
The powerful capabilities of Target Product Ads by Roundel™ augmented the pet food brand’s demand and increased awareness among key audiences.
Overall campaign ROAS: 437%
surpassing the industry benchmark of 388% ROAS in the cat and dog food treats category
59 million total impressions
$700K in sales
generated during the course of this 13-week campaign
67% of sales
tied back to just 20 of the 880 keywords, including “dog food,” “cat food,” and “puppy food.”
How ad placements impacted results:

81%
of total campaign
impressions came from Product detail pages
99%
of total sales
resulted from Search and Browse placementsWhat helped make this campaign the best in show?
Strong category volume driven by rising pet adoption rates during COVID
High price point for premium products drove higher ROAS
Relatively low competition, as Target has a select assortment of premium pet food brands
Invested audience of pet parents who are more willing to spend more money on pets, whom they treat like family
Strong category volume driven by rising pet adoption rates during COVID
High price point for premium products drove higher ROAS
Relatively low competition, as Target has a select assortment of premium pet food brands
Invested audience of pet parents who are more willing to spend more money on pets, whom they treat like family
Conclusion
With Target Product Ads by Roundel™ and Criteo Retail Media, this premium pet food brand can access first-party data and near real-time insights for greater campaign optimization.
Grow.
Reach more shoppers where they shop on Target.com and the Target app.
Improve.
Optimize campaigns in near real-time with flexible attribution reporting.
Amplify.
Stay top of mind while audiences are shopping to drive demand for your brand.
Learn how you can partner with us at
or contact us at roundel.com/solutions/targetproductads
Let’s change media for good.