Expanding investment across premium publishers meant taking on some of the biggest advertisers in retail. By replacing platform attribution with independent Fospha incrementality measurement, Superdry gained something more valuable than stronger ROAS.
They knew where and when to compete harder for customers and turned that into their greatest acquisition tool.
7x ROAS
The Brief
Superdry wanted to expand investment across premium publishers and programmatic channels without compromising commercial efficiency.
Running during one of retail's most competitive environments, every additional pound of investment needed to generate genuine incremental value.
Anyone can increase spend, few can prove the additional investment is creating additional growth. That was the real challenge.
The answer was to build a scalable media programme where every optimisation was measured against Fospha's independent view of incremental growth, with a shared ROAS target of 5 guiding every investment decision.
The Opportunity
Scaling media is relatively straightforward, but scaling it profitably is considerably more interesting.
Platform attribution often rewards the channels closest to conversion, making it difficult to distinguish genuine commercial contribution from activity that simply captures existing demand. Key trading periods put pressure on efficiency as CPMs rise and competition intensifies.
At ByAtlas, we believe that measurement only becomes valuable when it improves decisions. The opportunity wasn't simply to improve performance.
The biggest competitive advantage isn't spending more. It's knowing when the next pound will create more growth than your competitors.
The Strategy
Rather than asking which campaigns appeared to be performing best, we asked a more valuable question.
Which campaigns were genuinely creating incremental growth?
Independent incrementality measurement allowed budget to move faster towards audiences and publishers creating genuine incremental demand instead of following platform attribution.
Every optimisation should earn the right to more investment.
Three principles shaped the programme.
1. Build a trusted foundation
A carefully controlled whitelist across premium publishers including GQ, Vogue, Esquire, The Times and Elle established a clean measurement baseline by separating brand activity from performance.
2. Optimise to commercial truth
Budget followed independently measured incremental revenue, even when platform attribution pointed elsewhere. Investment moved towards the audiences, domains and keywords proven to create additional demand rather than simply report it.
3. Stay disciplined under pressure
Independent measurement across prospecting and retargeting gave the team the confidence to optimise investment without compromising long-term growth for short-term platform signals.
Work that demands to be seen and designed to deliver
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Before
After
The Results
The campaign demonstrated that stronger measurement creates stronger commercial outcomes.
Within three months, independently measured ROAS exceeded the agreed target and remained above it throughout key trading periods. The campaign delivered an independently measured ROAS of up to 7.0x, alongside an overall blended Quarter ROAS of 6.0x, +24% higher QoQ.
The improvement wasn't isolated to a single tactic.
Every core strategy improved quarter on quarter, from publisher domains and keyword targeting through to category and lookalike audiences, demonstrating that disciplined optimisation consistently strengthened performance across the entire programme.
Rather than chasing volume, the team followed the evidence. Independent measurement identified where investment wasn't creating incremental value, allowing budgets to be redirected quickly while keeping performance above target for four consecutive months.
The Commercial Impact
This wasn't simply a stronger quarter, it fundamentally changed how media investment decisions were made.
Replacing platform assumptions with independent measurement gave Superdry greater confidence to scale investment, knowing every optimisation decision was based on genuine commercial contribution rather than attributed performance.
The best marketing strategies don't create better reports, they create better commercial decisions.
That confidence translated into stronger efficiency, more resilient peak trading performance and a repeatable framework for future growth.
Steal The Strategy
The principals behind this campaign aren't unique to Superdry, they're applicable to every ambitious brand. So next time you review your media strategy, ask yourself:
- Can you prove where incremental growth comes from?
- Would you confidently increase investment based on your current measurement?
- Are you competing for market share, or simply reporting it?
Every ambitious brand reaches a point where incremental optimisation stops being enough. That's usually where we come in.
What they say about us?
