Elfster - Playbook Media

Performance branding: how Elfster achieved massive growth in Q4 2024

The Challenge(s)

Elfster is the #1 site and app for gift-exchanges, gift-giving, wish lists, and Secret Santa gift exchanges, serving over 40 million customers globally since 2005.

Elfster began working with Playbook Media in 2023 to drive acquisition of users creating new gift exchanges. In 2024, the brand challenged Playbook to:

Improve efficiency on Meta
Expand awareness to new audiences outside of Meta and Google
Increase conversions and CVR of paid channels within efficiency goals.

The Playbook

Over the course of 2024, Elfster evolved its strategy from acquisition to a performance branding approach, with an increased proportion of its budget allocated to four new upper-funnel channels: TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, and CTV.

Playbook’s approach included:

Ideating and developing a new portfolio of multimedia creative, including CTV commercials, short-form video, and static images conveying the brand’s story and value proposition
Implementing advanced measurement systems to ensure that budget was reallocated from non-incremental campaigns into the upper funnel, which would expand reach into net-new audiences, shorten the buying cycle, and lower Elfster’s overall CPA across all media.

As a result, Playbook also optimized Elfster’s media buying across Meta, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, and CTV, improving Elfster’s YoY results dramatically.

Results

+73%

Meta conversions

-23%

Meta CPA

+45%

Meta CVR

+46%

Meta Thumb-Stop Rate

+100%

Overall conversions

-10%

Overall CPA

Overall, Elfster’s paid media campaigns drove a 74% increase in business impact over 2023.

“Playbook Media has been an invaluable partner for Elfster. Together, we’ve put together a winning performance branding strategy that has yielded results for Elfster that have greatly exceeded our expectations. With the development of a high-performing creative suite of ads, new paid channels, and a solid measurement framework, Playbook has helped Elfster accelerate our growth with new dimensions to reach new audiences. We couldn’t be happier with our partnership.”