Australian-born supplement brand The Collagen Co. didn’t reach for a prewritten playbook as it prepared for last year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday sale period – it rewrote it. Instead of relying on one creative direction or an attractive sales hook, the brand built what The Collagen Co.’s performance marketing specialist Carrie Ho calls “a continuous loop of testing and iteration” or a rhythm of experimentation that turned its campaigns into a living laboratory. “All o
All our campaigns start with lots of research, looking at customer reviews, performance data of previous ads and team insights brainstorming,” Ho explained to Inside Retail.
“We run tests on a weekly basis, with each creative asset going through a seven-day test window to gather meaningful data. At the end of each cycle, we review results and double down on the winners, scaling them into larger campaigns.”
The combination of science and an instinctive approach helped the direct-to-consumer supplement label achieve a 72 per cent increase in conversion rates and a 15 per cent lift in return on ad spend by the end of last year.
However, what’s more notable is how the team translated those seasonal spikes into sustained year-round growth.
Volume, velocity and variety
Ho claims The Collagen Co.’s testing process revolves around three pillars: volume, velocity and variety.
Every week, creatives are tested across two key dimensions: what the brand says and how it says it.
“A winning creative is one that not only grabs attention but also drives efficient, repeatable sales growth,” Ho said.
To measure success, the team uses performance metrics that sound more like a tech company’s dashboard than a wellness brand.
Thumbstop rate, hook rate, click-through rate, conversion, cost per acquisition and new customer acquisition cost all feed into the feedback loop. Poor performers aren’t discarded but edited until they find new life.
It’s a process that gives the brand agility during a period where most marketing teams halt their creative slate weeks ahead of Black Friday.
“Continuous testing means we can adapt in real time — if something’s not working, we pivot fast,” Ho said.
Price cuts and countdowns often dominate Black Friday campaigns. For The Collagen Co., the challenge was standing out without losing sight of the sale.
“We explored a range of messaging angles, from urgency-led copy to ‘biggest sale ever’ positioning,” said Ho.
“We paired them with diverse creative formats, UGC, hi-fi, lo-fi content and scroll-stopping hooks. Our strategy of pairing bold creatives with more traditional discount-driven messaging ensured that our messaging and product remained equally prominent,” she added.
A blend of data-led testing and bold creative expression allowed the brand to stay authentic while still meeting commercial pressure.
It also reflects a broader trend in how Australian-born direct-to-consumer brands are treating the sales season, not just as a revenue-generating opportunity, but as a rapid feedback engine.
While The Collagen Co. leans heavily on Meta’s Advantage+ suite, Ho says human-led testing still plays a vital role.
“Because we run structured A/B tests, a human-led layer of analysis gives us clearer, more actionable learnings to feed back into both paid and organic channels,” Ho said. “That’s what constantly improves performance.”
The mix of automation and analysis has allowed the brand to scale with confidence while keeping the creative voice distinct, a balance many brands struggle to maintain once they delve into algorithmic advertising.
Preparing for peak
Black Friday and Cyber Monday might be the industry’s pressure test, but for The Collagen Co., it became a masterclass in understanding what really converts.
“Running our Black Friday campaigns through Meta’s platforms meant we had a unique environment to test creative formats and messaging angles truly at scale,” Ho said.
“The ‘stop what you’re doing’ hook proved highly effective – and we’ve since adopted that approach across ongoing campaigns and other sale moments.”
With another mega sales period approaching, The Collagen Co. has refined its framework into a disciplined, three-week creative cycle:
Week 1: Launch new static and video ads
Week 2: Scale top performers while introducing new assets
Week 3: Double down on proven winners with “last chance” messaging
This model, Ho explained, ensures they maintain “creative volume, velocity and variety, while entering peak week periods with validated, high-performing assets ready to scale”.
It’s an agile approach that reflects the evolution of performance marketing itself, a space now defined as much by learning velocity as by brand voice.
For Australian direct-to-consumer players heading into Black Friday, The Collagen Co.’s story can be viewed as proof that creativity, when paired with rigorous measurement, can be both artistic and algorithmic.
Further reading: Black Friday 2024 results showcase the growing power of AI and chatbots
