The Client
Proven Winners® ColorChoice® (PWCC) is the powerhouse behind some of the most recognizable and best-selling flowering shrubs in North America. They develop and promote a wide range of premium plant varieties, trusted by home gardeners, landscapers, and garden centers alike.
Renowned for their vibrant colors, unique blooms, and striking foliage, PWCC sets the standard for excellence in the industry by creating plants that are not only visually stunning but also exceptionally durable and easy to grow.
Vireo Services
channel audit
Content Strategy
Thumbnail Design
Video SEO
YouTube Advertising
Reporting
TLDR
We partnered with Proven Winners ColorChoice® (PWCC) to help maximize their seasonal YouTube strategy. While PWCC handled video production, scheduling and optimization, we provided channel strategy, content planning, packaging, and targeted ad campaigns to drive growth and awareness.
The results? 10.1M video views, a 121% increase in watch time, a 21% increase in average percentage viewed, and significant audience growth with a 41% increase in new viewers and a 35% increase in returning viewers. On the paid side, we achieved a 6x improvement in average CPM, a 2.4x improvement in average viewable CPM, while driving 827K website pageviews.
Our combined strategic efforts delivered huge results, solidifying PWCC’s channel as a key platform for engagement and growth during their peak season.
The Challenge
As a highly seasonal brand, PWCC has a limited window of just four months for active interest. They came to us to help them cut through the competitive noise and build strong brand awareness.
Our task was to ensure that when their audience is ready to purchase shrubs, they’re specifically asking for PWCC. When customers have questions about their plants, they’ll turn to PWCC for answers. And when they want to bring more color and life into their homes, PWCC will be top of mind.
Active Period
April 1 to August 31
Ad Budget
$400K
The Execution
goals
In the short term, our goal was to attract new viewers and grow subscribers while maximizing reach and impressions among the right audiences.
In the medium to long term, we focused on increasing returning viewers and boosting average percentage viewed, fostering deeper engagement with the content.
Organic Content Planning
We created an organic content strategy that balanced mid-length videos, Shorts, and a weekly podcast. By focusing on key considerations like climate zones and growing seasons, we engaged their existing gardening audience while successfully expanding into two new groups: landscaping professionals and city gardeners.
Existing Audience
New Audience
Mid-length videos were prioritized as a key format for attracting both new and returning viewers with educational and inspiring content.
While Shorts focused on drawing in fresh audiences by covering broad, engaging topics designed to appeal to a wide range of viewers.
This approach to content attracted new viewers while keeping their core audience engaged, driving channel growth and loyalty.
YouTube Advertising
We designed a targeted advertising strategy that aligned with Proven Winners’ seasonal goals, using a variety of creative to reach audiences at every stage of their journey.
Awareness
- Curated ads (storytelling): short, fast-paced vertical and horizontal ads designed to captivate audiences with relatable stories addressing specific pain points, encouraging viewers to subscribe.
consideration
- Long-form (education and support): informative how-to videos and garden tours offer practical tips and inspiration, helping viewers deepen their knowledge and connection to the brand.
Decision
- Long-form (engagement): a podcast series featuring 45-minute to 1-hour episodes provides in-depth discussions, fostering stronger engagement and audience loyalty.
Action
- Curated ads (product and brand specific): targeted vertical and horizontal ads highlight Proven Winners’ products and brand value, driving traffic and conversions with clear calls to action.
The Results
Organic
In collaboration with PWCC, we turned their seasonal YouTube strategy into a measurable, and massive, success! Here’s a look at the outcomes we achieved together.
When looking at the decrease in overall impressions, this was because of a strategic shift to focus on regions within Proven Winners’ selling and climate zones. Analytics showed a large number of impressions coming from countries outside PWCC’s sellable locations, offering no long-term value to the brand. By refining targeting to the right areas, we achieved fewer impressions overall but made them far more relevant and impactful.
Subscriber Growth
Views Period-Over-Period
Watch Time Period-Over-Period
Beyond these metrics, we were also successful in driving both new and returning viewers. Our content recommendations focused on attracting new viewers with engaging Shorts and educational how-to videos, while fostering loyalty among returning viewers through consistent mid-length content and podcasts.
New viewers
From 309K to 436K
Year-over-year
Returning Viewers
From 377K to 509K
Year-over-year
Advertising
Our advertising efforts for Proven Winners focused on maximizing reach, efficiency, and subscriber growth. By implementing a data-driven approach, we reduced CPM by over 83%, achieved 161 million impressions, and increased subscribers by 451%.
Awareness
Avg CPM improvement in the past 365 days
From $14.77 to $2.44
Awareness
Avg viewable CPM improvement in the past 365 days
From $8.77 to $3.60
Subscribers
Increase of 186K Subscribers, of which 134K came from paid ads
From 33.7K to 186K
Website Traffic
Number of pageviews, compared to no traffic before
This ad strategy not only boosted brand awareness but also drove cost-effective traffic and engagement, including 827,500 pageviews at just $0.48 per pageview.
Thumbnail Split Testing
We optimized 20 older PWCC videos, prioritizing content with high-potential to deliver stronger performance. We updated thumbnails, created split-test variants for each, and refined titles and descriptions to improve CTR and views. This backlog optimization resulted in a 155% increase in CTR.
CTR Before
8.4%
CTR After
12.9%
CTR Before
4.8%
CTR After
5.9%
CTR Before
4.6%
CTR After
6.5%
CTR Before
6.2%
CTR After
8.3%
Project Insights
Creative Performance and Recommendations
- Short and Dynamic Creatives Excel: Short-form creatives, especially those with quick hooks and dynamic content, performed better in terms of viewer engagement and cost efficiency.
- Highlighting Popular Content: Creatives focusing on trending topics like gardening tips and specific plants (e.g., Hydrangeas and Native Plants) received more budget because they showed better performance metrics.
- Future Creative Strategies: The recommendation to split long-form and short-form content budgets suggests a strategic approach to ensure both types of content receive adequate funding and evaluation.
Key Learnings from Campaign Setups
- Avoiding Custom Audiences for Awareness: Custom audiences led to a higher CPM ($8.81), suggesting a need to avoid them in awareness-focused campaigns to keep costs down.
- Importance of Ad Group and Campaign Structure: Separating campaigns by audience type and content focus (Keywords vs. Topics) and adjusting campaign setups based on performance insights allowed for better control and efficiency.
- Optimization through Testing: Continuous testing, including switching between Max Conversions and tCPA (target Cost Per Acquisition) bidding strategies, helped refine the approach to acquiring subscribers and managing costs effectively.
Project Contributors
Vireo Video
Sally Lamberton
Account Director
Kenzie White
Senior Strategist
Alex Prochshenko
Senior Ad Strategist
Proven Winners Color Choice
Stacey Hirvela
Marketing Manager
Adriana Robinson
Videographer
Emilee Walsh
Digital Marketing Specialist
