Two markets, one brain, exceptional results.
Motocaddy is a global golf brand selling direct to consumer; in Australia we’re bringing D2C alongside 15 years of distributor sales. In the US, D2C is already established and the biggest channel. Our role is to create widespread social-first awareness and prove that social commerce can significantly impact US D2C, without upsetting retail and distributor partners.
Different markets. Completely different starting points.
Same commercial goal: be the brand golfers think of before their next round.
Here’s what made it tricky. In Northern California, Motocaddy had some brand recognition. Press ads, product in golf clubs, a bit of social noise. They weren’t starting from zero. In Australia? Brand new Facebook page. Zero followers. No social proof. They’d sold through a distributor for 15 years, but never on social.
And we had to grow direct sales without annoying retail and distributor partners.
Different seasonality, different slang, different price points. We also use market-right language in all comms: Electric Caddy (US), Electric Buggy (AU), Electric Trolley (UK).
Different seasonality, different slang, different price points.
So we built two different plans.
Northern California: talk like a local, sell the walk
Northern California golfers walk the course. They feel the hill on the back nine. The M7 GPS Remote Electric Caddy makes that walk easier. Simple story. We just had to make it feel local, not like a logo parachuting in.
Our purpose is to reach Northern Cali locals with adverts that speak to them on a local level, helping them understand how Motocaddy aids and improves golf in Northern California. Delivering a global brand with local expertise right to their doorstep, fairway, or 19th-hole scrolling.
We mapped 827 golf course ZIP codes. Created a CSV file, imported the lot, layered core golfer interests and signals over the top. Meta would recognise when golfers meeting those criteria were heading to or in any of those ZIP codes. Weekend players, retired weekday members, all captured.
Vertical-first reels. Product in use. Hands in frame. Northern California copy. Captions on. Short cuts that sell the walk, not the widget.
The landing page? Motocaddy built a dedicated Northern California version. Same story as the ad, same vibe, same promise. So when someone clicked, it felt inevitable.
And the numbers. 1.16 million reach. 2.5 million impressions. 18,872 landing page views at $821 spend. Cost per landing page view: four cents.
Four. Cents.
Here’s the bit that matters. GA4 data stacks up with Meta data. Normally there’s a massive disparity because Meta and Google hate each other. But we’re using UTMs to ad ID level and server-side Conversions API. The landing page views are converting to sessions, not abandoning mid-journey. That speaks to resonance. The ad talks to Northern California golfers; the landing page talks to Northern California golfers. No friction.
Vertical-first reels. Product in use. Hands in frame. Northern California copy. Captions on. Short cuts that sell the walk, not the widget.
The landing page? Motocaddy built a dedicated Northern California version. Same story as the ad, same vibe, same promise. So when someone clicked, it felt inevitable.
And the numbers. 1.16 million reach. 2.5 million impressions. 18,872 landing page views at $821 spend. Cost per landing page view: four cents.
Four. Cents.
Here’s the bit that matters. GA4 data stacks up with Meta data. Normally there’s a massive disparity because Meta and Google hate each other. But we’re using UTMs to ad ID level and server-side Conversions API. The landing page views are converting to sessions, not abandoning mid-journey. That speaks to resonance. The ad talks to Northern California golfers; the landing page talks to Northern California golfers. No friction.
Even Meta confirmed the targeting we built is “very complex, but very smart.”
Australia: earn the right to ask
Australia was different. You can’t ask for a click when nobody knows who you are.
So we led with entertainment. A long-form golf film featuring two Aussie golf lads, Jackson and Joel, doing the “Motocaddy random club challenge.” Humour, golf entertainment, watchable. We targeted Australian golfers only, broad market with layered interest.
Not overtly pushing product. Just building recognition and stacking engagement. 3,552 ThruPlays at 2.4p each. 13,101 engagements at 0.43p. Warm the page, earn follows, build credibility signals.
Then after a week, once the warm pool cleared learning thresholds, we flipped. Retargeted 75–95% video viewers and engagers with Traffic campaigns. Short proof clips, product-led, landing page views. Same approach as Northern California, but with the context already earned.
That’s our nudge nurture process. Australia had to follow it to the letter because the brand was unknown. Northern California got to shortcut it because of existing recognition.
The hard bits we solved
Data gaps. Instagram reporting wobbles. GA4 and Meta often disagree. We used UTMs, server-side Conversions API, and parity checks before scaling. So we could trust what we were reading.
Warm pool maths. Retargeting only works when volume clears the learning floor. Small sets push costs up. We held for a week to stack ThruPlays and engagements before flipping to Traffic. Pools needed to be 2–3k minimum.
Geo without waste. Golf interest targeting is broad. Low CPM means nothing if it’s not golfers. We mapped 827 course ZIPs, layered core golfer signals, capped frequency around 2.
Creative credibility. Trolley videos can look like ads. Golfers scroll past salesy kit. So we made social-first, hands-in-frame, product-in-use, local language content. Short cuts that sell the walk.
What moved
Northern California. CPM: £0.24. Frequency: 2.20. Benchmark CPM: £9–£10. So we’re running 30–40× cheaper depending on format.
Landing page views: £0.033 each. CPC proxy benchmark: £0.55–£1.10. Traffic priced like a view.
Australia video awareness. ThruPlay: £0.024. Engagement: £0.0043. Benchmark: £0.01–£0.20. Credibility at a steal.
Just look at those results. We trashed the benchmarks. Squeezed all the goodness from the budget and delivered above expectation.
What’s next
Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas gifting. We’re building a Meta holiday catalogue ad set with the full Motocaddy product library. All that good Northern California data gets hit with the catalogue. We hooked them on hero products; now we’ll sell broader because of the season.
Australia follows the same path. Traffic campaign, then holiday catalogue.
Why it works
- Mission-based targeting. Real courses, real behaviours. The message meets the moment.
- Two-speed media. Entertainment earns attention. Short proof clips convert attention into clicks.
- Complete the moment. Ads and landing pages tell one story. No friction.
- Grown-up measurement. UTMs to ad ID. GA4 parity. Conversions API. Safer decisions, faster.
Right. Here’s the smart thinking in a table that shows how we solved each hard bit.
- We don’t guess. We build targeting from real-world behaviour, not platform defaults. Mission-based targeting. Real courses, real behaviours. The message meets the moment.
- Two-speed media. Entertainment earns attention. Short proof clips convert attention into clicks.
- We don’t rush the ask. We earn the right to ask for clicks by building recognition first.
- We don’t trust platform data blindly. We verify with UTMs, Conversions API, and GA4 parity before scaling.
- We don’t refresh creative on a whim. We respect learning phases and move on signal.
- Complete the moment. Ads and landing pages tell one story. No friction.
- We don’t create ads that look like ads. We make content that feels native and credible.
- That’s how you get landing page views at 3.3p when the benchmark is 55p. That’s how you get CPMs at 24p when the market’s paying £9–£10.
Smart targeting. Patient sequencing. Grown-up measurement