When artisan-bread subscription brand Wildgrain set out to diversify beyond paid social, it turned to Connected TV — and the results speak for themselves. Working alongside tvScientific and Rockerbox, Wildgrain saw a meaningful performance lift from a focused, outcome-driven CTV strategy. Carpe Canum produced the appetite-forward creative that powered the campaign.
The Challenge: Reduce CAC Reliance On Social
Like many DTC brands that launched during 2020, Wildgrain leaned heavily on Meta and affiliates to acquire customers. As growth goals rose and profitability became the priority, the team looked for incremental channels that could help lower blended CAC without another funding round. CTV finally felt viable.
The Approach: Outcome Pricing + Clear Measurement
Wildgrain adopted tvScientific’s cost-per-outcome model — paying only when agreed-upon goals are hit — and connected attribution through Rockerbox, which the brand already used to set deduplicated CAC targets across channels. A short testing phase set expectations, then tvScientific launched with a DTC/subscription “playbook” for publisher mix and frequency, while its bidding algorithm optimized toward the KPIs that mattered.
The Creative: Appetite Appeal, Built To Last
With only a library of social-media clips to start, Carpe Canum assembled two simple, product-first spots: tight, tactile close-ups of bake-from-frozen loaves and pastries paired with clear value props and streamlined CTAs. We reframed vertical footage for CTV, stabilized and color-matched shots, added purposeful sound design, and overlaid modular title cards/offer blocks. That simplicity proved durable — only lightweight swaps were needed as the campaign progressed, keeping production overhead low without sacrificing performance.
Seasonality And Flighting
Wildgrain’s first CTV push ran January–March 2024, with a longer-than-usual tail into June despite the brand’s typical April–September slow season. The team plans to restart in early September to capture “grow season” demand.
Results That Matter
Across the initial campaign, Wildgrain recorded a 27% lift in conversion — statistically significant for the business and a clear proof point that CTV can operate as a performance channel when priced on outcomes and measured consistently.
Why It Worked
- Aligned incentives. Outcome pricing reduced risk and kept attention on business results.
- Measurement continuity. Rockerbox alignment made CAC targets consistent across channels.
- Creative clarity. Appetite-driving visuals and straightforward CTAs gave the algorithm high-quality signals.
- Creative flexibility. Easily updatable creative to be able to quickly change to feature special offers, A/B Test and more.
- Operational simplicity. Minimal creative refreshes maximized run time and budget.
Our Take: Production Built For Performance
Performance TV doesn’t require flashy stunts — it requires clarity, craft and speed. For CTV, we design creative that’s modular (for quick title-card/offer swaps), lightweight to version, and easy for platforms to optimize against. When seasonality shifts or new segments open up, we use our High Volume Personalization workflow to scale variants by offer, audience, and region — without ballooning costs.
Ready To Move At The Speed Of CTV?
If you’re a DTC brand looking to turn TV into a performance engine, we’re ready to help — from strategy and creative to high-volume personalization and versioning. (AdExchanger)
Ready to learn more? Let’s talk!
Credits
Creative & Production: Carpe Canum
Platform & Outcome Pricing: tvScientific.com
Attribution: Rockerbox.com
Delicious Bread: Wildgrain.com