WHO THEY WERE
Kate Farms is a plant-based nutrition brand serving adults and kids across DTC and retail. When I joined the account, the ad library was dominated by polished, branded studio content. Yet the brand was expanding into more defined adult health and kids' nutrition audiences.
The creative needed to catch up.
WHAT WAS THE CHALLENGE
Branded creative was generating sub-1x ROAS, while the account had no UGC infrastructure, trend research process, or distinct creative approach for its adult and kids audiences.
We needed to build a new creative engine from scratch AND prove it could outperform years of polished brand content.
The strategy
I started with platform research: identifying the behaviors, search territories, hooks, and cultural conversations already earning attention around nutrition. Two creative territories emerged.
Protein Force
People weren't just interested in protein shakes…they were incorporating protein into familiar foods & drinks. I translated that into UGC that positioned Adult & High Protein Nutrition within existing habits rather than asking audiences to adopt a new one.
Sweet Treats Force
For kids' nutrition, the opportunity was different: bridge the emotional appeal of a treat with the parent's desire for better nutrition. Kids Nutrition became the option that felt indulgent to the child and reassuring to the parent.
trends
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ugc brief
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EXECUTION
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paid
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Advance
The outcome
UGC changed the performance curve.
Our UGC-led creative generated 2.40x ROAS vs. 0.82x for Kate Farms' branded creative, while cutting CPP by more than half. The strongest concepts came directly from the trend-led frameworks: Protein Force produced multiple high-performing executions, while Sweet Treats became a scalable territory for the kids audience.