Old World Popcorn Campaign Optimization

Overview

Old World Popcorn (an Amazon product line under the ^[1] account) underwent a sustained campaign optimization effort that resulted in significant ROAS improvement over approximately two months. The account moved from underperforming to ranking as the second top-performing campaign in the portfolio.

This article documents the strategy, results, and ongoing approach as discussed in the ^[2].

Results

The ROAS increase from 2.5 to 3.91 represents roughly a 56% improvement in advertising efficiency.

Strategy: Bid Reduction on Exact Match Campaigns

The primary lever used was reducing bids on exact match campaigns that were generating high CPCs.

Rationale

Exact match campaigns were holding top-of-page positions on Amazon search, which drove high impression volume but at elevated cost. By reducing bids:

• Ads shifted from top-of-page to "rest of page" placements
• Impressions dropped
• Clicks became more qualified (lower volume, higher intent-to-purchase ratio)
• ROAS improved as spend efficiency increased

"What I did is that I decreased the exact campaigns, but these exact campaigns are actually having higher positions on the search engine of the Amazon. So instead of these ads at the top of the page, they're actually at the rest of the page. So they are being seen less, and that's why the impressions are less. So more of the sales are actually being clicked, but with less impressions." — Gilbert

Key Insight

Impression volume is not a proxy for campaign health. A drop in impressions accompanied by rising ROAS and sales indicates improved targeting efficiency, not deteriorating performance. The relevant signal is the ROAS trend, not the impression trend.

Top Products by Ad Performance

As of the review period (last 30 days):

1. 5-lb Yellow Cornmeal — #1 product by sales; inventory at ~3.56 months (recently restocked with 1,000 units)
2. 3-lb White Popcorn — #2 product; inventory within acceptable range

Both products are driving the bulk of Old World Popcorn's ad-attributed revenue.

Ongoing Approach

The team's guidance is to continue the current strategy without major changes:

"I think we keep letting it go up a little bit and kind of keep doing what you're doing, right? Everything's working good here." — Mark Hope

Specific ongoing actions:
- Monitor ROAS trajectory; allow it to continue climbing incrementally
- Maintain inventory at 2–3 months for fast-moving SKUs to avoid stockouts without over-investing in storage costs
- Watch advertising units vs. organic units ratio to ensure ad spend is supporting (not substituting for) organic growth

Related Concepts

• ^[3]
• ^[4]
• ^[5]

Source

Discussed during the weekly ad review call on 2026-04-05. Participants included Mark Hope, Gilbert Barrongo, and the broader Asymmetric team.